Keeping #dolphins, #orcas and other cetaceans in #captivity is cruel. Depriving them of the vast open spaces and social bonds that they would normally have in the wild, and confining them to small, concrete #tanks to perform tricks for dead fish is highly unethical for these complex marine mammals. No matter how sophisticated the enclosure, no man made facility can ever hope to replicate the wild world of dolphins and whales.
You can help protect cetaceans from captive #exploitation with the following action steps!
Below are a few petitions you can sign, and people you can write to make a difference in mere minutes. Take it a step further and ask your friends and social media followers to sign, too!
Take The Pledge To NOT Buy A Ticket To A Dolphin Show 🐬🌊
ASK CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES TO END ALL TIES TO DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY
Dolphin Project is requesting that #CarnivalCruiseLines — Carnival Corporation & #PLC end their collaborations and partnerships with the #DolphinCaptivity industry. The dolphin captivity industry is responsible for the immense #suffering and premature #deaths of #dolphins and other #whales across the world.
Save the Disney Dolphins (#SADD) together with #DolphinProject, are asking #Disney to retire the captive dolphins at #Epcot, and to cease sales to any captive dolphin programs on #DisneyCruises.
END ALL IMPORTS & EXPORTS OF DOLPHINS ACROSS U.S. BORDERS
#CaptiveDolphins and #whales are transported across the world to #aquariums and #MarineParks. These animals are ripped away from their families and all they know, forced to live in barren concrete #tanks. Transportation is a stressful process for these animals. The journey itself poses significant risks. Stress-induced illnesses and health problems are an issue and in the worst cases it can lead to #death.
END ALL CAPTURES OF DOLPHINS FOR PUBLIC DISPLAY IN U.S. TERRITORIAL WATERS
There has not been a dolphin capture for public display in U.S. Territorial waters since 1993 due to the #MarineMammalProtectionAct. It's incredibly difficult for an #aquarium to obtain permits to capture #dolphins humanely, but unfortunately it is still not considered illegal. We need an amendment of the MMPA to include a clause that will end the #capture of dolphins for public display.
#CaptiveDolphins that perform in swim-with programs are kept intentionally hungry so that they are forced to interact with park visitors. Wild dolphins do not usually swim with people and they certainly do not kiss or tow people around because they do not like to.
Swim-with-dolphin programs pose a huge #risk to the public. There are hundreds of documented cases of #injuries from participants, including reports that humans have been rammed or bitten
by dolphins during their interactions. It is next to impossible to determine the behavior of a #cetacean on a daily basis, especially considering captive dolphins are stressed and frustrated. Expecting the #dolphins, children and adults to follow the rules is extremely far-fetched.
Captive dolphins are kept intentionally hungry, at facilities with #PettingPools so that they are forced to interact with park visitors. The fish portions are very small, to keep the dolphins constantly coming back for more. The animals endure poking and prodding from thousands of guests everyday.
Sometimes the dolphins are touched in a rough or painful way by well-meaning tourists. Inevitably, #garbage is dropped in the pools,
Dolphin-Assisted Therapy has become a very lucrative #business that presents a serious threat to the welfare of dolphins in that it creates further captures, trade, and captive breeding of #dolphins worldwide. Furthermore, it takes advantage of desperate and vulnerable parents who readily pay large sums of money to give their ill or disabled children what the billion-dollar dolphin captivity industry advertises as a life-enhancing
There is no scientific evidence to substantiate the claim that spending time in a tank or sea enclosure with dolphins has a healing effect on ill and disabled people. Even if there was, could this really justify the high price that dolphins pay for our desire to be close to them? When considering whether or not using dolphins to heal people is acceptable, it is important to note the following:
#Dolphins are free ranging, social, sonic, and highly intelligent #MarineMammals. The vastness and #BiologicalDiversity of the open #sea, in which dolphins and other #whales have developed over more than 50 million years, cannot be duplicated in a tank or an enclosure in the sea. Consequently, the complexity of dolphins’ behavioral repertoire cannot be accommodated in #captivity. Based on today’s knowledge of cetaceans’ sophisticated physiology and highly developed emotional sense,
one must conclude that confining #dolphins and other #whales to a small space inevitably causes #stress in the animals. This negative effect is reinforced by the fact that dolphins used in swim programs have to be trained by the means of #FoodControl to endure the constant pressure of being treated as #pets. If they don’t perform, such as pulling people along through the water or “kissing” people, they don’t eat.
It is hardly surprising that dolphins used in #SwimPrograms have demonstrated agitated and aggressive behaviors under the stressful conditions of #confinement and #ForcedInteractions with people. These behaviors have resulted in #injury to swimmers. There are accounts of human injuries in the form of lacerations, tooth rakes, internal injuries, broken bones, and shock. As a matter of fact, the decision to put an end to the television series #Flipper
was in large part based on the fact that it became too #dangerous for the #actors to be in the water with the #dolphins. Obviously a 3-400 pound frustrated animal can cause serious injury to a human being.
The issue of using dolphins as a tool to obtain a feel-good experience is not one of #science, but of #ethics: It is inherently hypocritical to capture and confine dolphins — thereby destroying the quality of their lives — in an attempt to enhance our own.
Dolphin-Assisted Therapy is bad for dolphins and bad for #patients. It is a #scam that brings in huge amounts of money; it is bad for dolphins that are confined to #captivity separated from their #freedom and their loved ones, and it is bad for patients and their families who are getting soaked in more ways than one.
Please join us in asking #Congress to please end all Dolphin-Assisted Therapy programs.
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