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Dolphin Captivity |
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Farewell to Freedom ~ Truth hidden behind Dolphin's smile |
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What do you think of when you think of dolphins? I am quite sure the captive dolphins in oceanaria would cross your mind immediately: they are cute and are forever smiling; and they are so intelligent that they can follow the trainers' instruction to perform difficult tricks. |
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Well yes, in modern days, almost every one has had a chance to take a glance at the dolphins in dolphinaria. People clap because the dolphins jump through the hoop, and they are delighted just because they can feed or even touch a dolphin. Some fall in love with this animal after experiencing all these. However, should we look at the reality hidden behind the dolphin's smile if we truly care for them? |
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| History of Dolphin Captivity |
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| Sporadic attempts to keep dolphins in captivity were made at least a century ago. Since the 1860s, several species of cetaceans have been kept in captivity in North America and Europe. And the first oceanarium with captive dolphins as a selling point opened in 1938. Since then, the popularity of captive dolphins has been growing all over the world, with bottlenose dolphins as the main target species. Today, you can still see how admired the dolphin captivity industry is in many parts of the planet. In Hong Kong, several dolphin species have also been kept in captivity, including nearly 100 bottlenose dolphins (from Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia), 2 orcas (from Iceland), 15 Pacific white-sided dolphins (from Iki, Japan), 5 pilot whales (from Taiji), and 19 false killer whales (from Iki, Japan), but now only a small number of bottlenose dolphins remain. |
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| Dolphin captivity issues have never stopped being controversial. Besides depriving the dolphins of freedom and welfare, dolphin captivity has also been accused of bringing negative impacts to the spectators and even undermining conservation efforts dedicated to the wild dolphins. Of course, dolphin captivity operators disagree. Now, let’s see the arguments for and against dolphin captivity, and you may figure out the truth eventually. |
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