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| General argument AGAINST Dolphin captivity |
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- Removal of individuals from the wild population to supply captive facilities poses menace to the wild stock, even leads to their decline...
- Dolphin captivity is inhumane. No matter how well does the mankind care for them in artificial environment, they are already deprived of freedom and welfare...
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Dolphin captivity is inhumane. No matter how well does the mankind care for them in artificial environment, they are already deprived of freedom and welfare |
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| Exactly. Dolphin captivity is atrocious from the start. Have you ever thought of how the captive dolphins come to the dolphinarium? They are actually captured from the sea by force. According to a prominent organization against dolphin captivity “The Dolphin Project”, dolphin capturing boats first chase dolphin pods to exhaustion or into a shallow bay, then the dolphins will be surrounded by a net. At this time the dolphins will be lassoed and dragged onto the boat. After selection, those inappropriate (the lucky ones) are thrown overboard, while the selected are brought ashore, without the chance of returning to their home and seeing their pods again. |
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| How do captors select “appropriate” dolphin for dolphinaria? They prefer dolphins aged between two to four years old. However, dolphins of these ages are usually still associated with mothers. The fact is, mothers and calves are usually brutally separated at the time of capture. Dolphins are sociable and sentimental. Separation with pods and even mothers can be greatly damaging to them. According to some documents, a number of dolphins die of shock resulted from separation. |
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| After capture, the dolphins are usually transported to somewhere distant. Long-time transportation poses additional stress to the animals. Last year, six belugas captured in Russian waters were transported to an aquarium in Taiwan. Normally beluga only occurs in polar waters, but Taiwan is situated at subtropical area, so belugas there are greatly stressful. Two of the belugas fell dead soon after arriving Taiwan. |
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| Even after arriving at the aquaria, the dolphins are not humanely treated. They lose their freedom forever, and are forced to do all sorts of tricks to amuse mankind, just like those animals performing in circuses without dignity. Tricks like jumping through hoops are not dolphins’ natural behavior, then how can the trainers make them to do so? The answer is food. Dolphins in captivity rely entirely on man to feed them. Trainers take advantage of this and use food as a positive reinforcement, making the animals do the tricks they require. Particularly during training session and before show, hunger is deliberately induced to make the dolphins more compliant. For the rest of their life, the dolphins have to revolve compulsively around the food given by the trainers. Do you agree this is a humane way to treat dolphins? |
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| Under such conditions, a great number of dolphins are much stressed. According to the "Dolphin Project" and some people in the vocation, captive dolphins often feel anxious and even act abnormally, like breaching incessantly in the tank, not obeying trainers' instructions, or even biting trainers. You can imagine the fate of these "disobedient" dolphins. They will be punished in various ways, until they comply with the instructions again. The punishments include not feeding them, and frightening them by throwing object into their tank. Once I have even witnessed that a trainer of an oceanarium shut a "defiant" dolphin in a very tiny tank, and even yelled at it. I was just wondering what the dolphin had done wrong. Is not following instruction the dolphin's fault? It is mankind who caught the dolphin from the sea. Who makes fault first? |
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Removal of individuals from the wild population to supply captive facilities poses menace to the wild stock, even leads to their decline. |
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| In fact, interminable capture of individuals does threaten the wild stock. At present, the dolphin population status in various places of the globe is still unknown, particularly in Asian regions, but the capturing process still goes on. No one knows if the hunting processes will extinguish the local population. To those populations known to be declining or even endangered, hunting process poses a great risk. One of the orca populations in Canada abruptly dwindled due to the unregulated capture conducted in 1960-70s. Baiji in China is another victim. They were once the target of researchers for captive breeding. But they are so few that even catching a few individuals affects the viability of the population. Even though in some regions the wild population is large enough to tolerate some catches, it should be noted that the revenue gained from capturing dolphins will simply encourage more people to catch more, subsequently threatening the local population. Therefore, capturing dolphins for captivity does nothing good to the species. |
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“Swim with the dolphin” programme |
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“Swim with the dolphin” programs have become rather popular across the US and Europe, and are mostly held by oceanaria. They will first hold a briefing for the participants explaining the dolphin conditions and things to note; then let the people down in the tank to touch and swim with the dolphins. Some may even allow the participants to get on the dolphin's back. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the US conducted research on the impact of such a program on dolphins and tourists in 1994, revealing the potential risks of such activity. |
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In the interactive program, the dolphins are forced to touch those who pay to interact with them. They might have to serve a few customers a day, so it is extremely stressful. NMFS requires that all such facilities in US must provide a refuge in the pool for them to take rest, where access of man is prohibited. However, it is found from the study that the haven is not very effective in fact, as the dolphins in the refuge are usually recalled by the trainers to continue their interaction with the customers.
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Without adequate rest, dolphins involved in such programs may become aggressive, which may then even threaten the safety of the program participants. In foreign countries, injuries caused by dolphins are not uncommon, while in severe cases, injuries may include broken bones and shock. Dolphins do not intentionally hurt humans, but they may hurt people accidentally when they are annoyed. Another risk is disease infection. In fact, though intensive care is offered by the vets in the oceanaria, dolphins in captivity are subject to lots of infections. As dolphins are mammals, some diseases they contract are potentially transmissible to humans, including the bacterium Salmonella, and even the lethal meliodosis. That's why people have to think twice before taking part in this kind of activity. |
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