One of my best friends over
the years was a marine mammal veterinarian. He looked after the health of
animals like dolphins, sea lions, and whales while they were in captivity. A
great but very controversial job!
Because all of the marine
mammals are fairly intelligent, they require stimulating environments. Over the
years many people have come to believe that being held in captivity just
doesn’t meet those requirements and that these ‘more cognitive’ animals need to
lead more acceptable and ‘freer’ lives.
We often talked about the
pros and cons of marine mammals in captivity; and yes, there are pros and cons
but these seem to be shifting toward the negative and so collecting and moving
marine mammals is now very difficult. Most new additions are offspring of those
kept in captivity for many years.
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Let’s look at the arguments.
First let’s look at some of the
biological questions;
Q. Dolphins eat fresh food in the wild but in captivity, they have to eat frozen seafood. Does that affect the dolphin's health?
A. Dolphins are aggressive predators and spend as much as half of their time hunting. In captivity, they don't have to do this and miss out on some of their behavior. 'Fish' is frozen not only to make it easier for aquariums to store but to kill parasites that invade the dolphin's digestive system in the wild. Frozen seafood is also supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Dolphins are too expensive for aquariums to risk their health because of bad food. I would say that they eat as well or better in captivity.
Q. How big would a tank have to be to keep dolphins in captivity?
A. This is a difficult question because in the wild, there really aren't any border; dolphins can go where they like and travel great distances. In the wild they can swim up to 200 km a day and some species spend much of their time in very deep water. Others like the Chinese Humpback dolphin don't move around much in the wild and stick to the familiar surroundings.
Q. Are dolphins physically stressed when they live in captivity?
A. Dolphins are highly intelligent animals and live in complex social groups. It is argued by aquariums that dolphins live longer in captivity due to less disease and predation. " Pro-dolphins groups argue that they live longer in the wild because they lead more natural life and belong to social groups. Stress and odd behaviors are sometimes seen in dolphins held in aquaria but then they aren't subject to shark attacks and parasites either.
Q. Is it a good idea to put different 'kinds' of dolphins in the same tanks?
A. Captive dolphins often come from different regions and populations. While wild dolphin groups do stick together, there is quite a lot of movement of individuals between groups. If this were not so then dolphins would quickly become inbred and genetically weakened.
Dolphins in captivity sometimes share tanks with other marine mammals but this is avoided by better aquariums. Competition and fighting between species damages the animals and my friend's medical work was very expensive.
Now lets look at some of the ethical questions that relate to keeping intelligent animals in captivity;
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Q. Is it a good idea to put different 'kinds' of dolphins in the same tanks?
A. Captive dolphins often come from different regions and populations. While wild dolphin groups do stick together, there is quite a lot of movement of individuals between groups. If this were not so then dolphins would quickly become inbred and genetically weakened.
Dolphins in captivity sometimes share tanks with other marine mammals but this is avoided by better aquariums. Competition and fighting between species damages the animals and my friend's medical work was very expensive.
Now lets look at some of the ethical questions that relate to keeping intelligent animals in captivity;
Q. Do dolphins enjoy performing in shows?
A. Because of their intelligence and social nature they do enjoy challenging activities (performing). Most of the performance behaviors are based on their natural behaviors and dolphins will not do them if they don't feel like it. They literally go on strike. Left alone, they will play with balls and hoops just as they will play with debris and seaweed in the wild. Another question could be "Do dolphins prefer to play with balls in captivity or seaweed in the wild?" My guess is they would find the wild much more interesting.
Q. Dolphins and other marine mammals have very large brains so are very intelligent. Do they suffer mentally in captivity?
A. The Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) has an absolute brain mass of 1500 - 1700 grams. This is slightly greater than that of humans (1300 - 1400 grams) and about four times that of chimpanzees (400 grams). They are intelligent but most of that brainpower goes to processing underwater sound and echo-location. Our best estimate is that they are of similar intelligence to elephants and some apes. So, yes, they would suffer if they didn't get a stimulating environment. we don't know if they long for the wide open spaces.
Q. Are dolphins forced to live in mentally stressful situations?
A. While aquariums do their best to remove stress, the fact is that limited space and social interactions take their toll. Dolphin males spend a lot of time fighting over females and the loser finds it easier to get away in the wild; there can be more damage through continued aggression in aquaria IF the managers don't keep competing animals apart. Unnatural social relationships are probably the biggest mental problem faced by dolphins in captivity.
Q. Would dolphins escape if they could?
A. An
interesting question. The U.S. Navy uses dolphins to search the bottom of ships
for explosives, locate mines in harbours, and ‘spot’ enemy divers. The dolphins
are released from captivity and go off to do their jobs. When they are finished
they return to captivity.
My friend, the
marine mammal veterinarian, says that like dogs dolphins build bonds to humans
and see us as their ‘family’. And like dogs they come home after they have been
released.
Have a look at
some of the photos of his work with dolphins.
Prior
to 1980, more than 1,500 bottlenose dolphins were collected from the United
States, Mexico, and the Bahamas, and more than 550 common and 60 Indo-Pacific
bottlenose dolphins were brought into captivity in Japan. By the late 1980s,
the United States stopped collecting bottlenose dolphins and the number of
captive-born animals in North American aquariums increased from only 6 percent
in 1976 to about 44 percent in 1996. It is well over 50 percent now.
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STOP LYING! YOU HAVE AN AGENDA AND CAPTIVE DOLPHINS ARE MISERABLE. THE WHOLE INDUSTRY IS WICKED AND EVIL.
ReplyDeleteI want you to look at the Dolphin research Center or Alaska SeaLife Center and then tell me the whole industry is bad. I have lots of knowledge in the field of captivity and wild lives. Also look at the story of Keiko. He was perfectly healthy in Captivity and only a year after being released he died. Stop thinking blackfish is the only side of the story but really look into the different facility's and what they have done to save these animals. Ric O'Barry was a trainer and just because one dolphin died he started this campaign to release all dolphins. Look at the stories of Louie or Jax they both would be dead if their was not captivity and now their not only living but thriving. Now tell me captivity is all bad. I dare you.
DeleteThanks Haylee, I do hate to see wild animals in captivity but I also understand the positive sides to this issue. I grew up seeing dolphins in captivity and often wondered what they were 'feeling' but they introduced me to the rapidly growing field of conservation. This led me into the eventual declaration of the Great Barrier Reef's marine parks.
Delete"In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum
@Haylee you really should do some more research on the story of Keiko...,
Deleteand on Ric O'Barry's motivations,
and on the effect of captivity on dolphins and whales in general.
And your two last sentences, by the way, are no argument for not being against captivity for entertainment purposes.
@Gerry
DeleteYour personal path to conservation is honestly no argument to promote captivity by supporting (this type of use of) such a declaration by the GBR's marine parks. I used to eat meat. And as a child I often used to wonder how the animals involved would have felt. This introduced me to the world of animal protection. That, however, is of course no argument for me to promote the eating of meat. We should be teaching people that we don't have to harm first, before doing better.
In light of this let's look at the declaration:
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." Senegalese conservationist Baba Dioum
The funny thing is that you can use this as an argument against marine parks so perfectly. After all, you do not get to know, learn to understand or love dolphins by watching them perform tricks in dolphinaria or teaching people that this is okay.
A dolphinarium has, after all, nothing to do with the nature of a dolphin. No matter how large the basin may be, it is always less than 0,000005% of the animal's natural living area, the animals can never swim 50 to 80 kilometres a day, can never dive to great depths or hunt for live fish. The animals grow up in emotional isolation in an artificially composed, small group of animals. Family ties (often started through artificial insemination) are broken unnaturally early at a regular basis. Sonar sound are reflected constantly in captivity against the (concrete) basin walls that surround the animals permanently. And in nature dolphins will, of course, never be exposed to blaring music and the noise of large groups of clapping people asking for their attention.
And what we teach people by visiting dolphinaria is basically that it is okay to dominate animals, deprive them of their freedom and natural behaviour for our own pleasure. Nothing more, nothing less. Temporary rescue and rehabilitation is one thing. Captivity for entertainment, on the other hand, is only in the interest of one animal: the human.
There are many ways that people can really get to know, understand and love wild animals without restricting them in their freedom and natural behaviour. Visit rescue centers, visit animals in their natural roam, watch nature documentaries etc.etc. The internatinal outcry against whaling, and the popularity of programmes such as Whale Wars, exists even though no one has ever seen those animals in a zoo or dolphinarium.
Last but not least: when you imply people come to love dolphins thanks to dolfinaria, you are only speaking about the feeling they themselves feel inside. Love, though, is not only a feeling, it's also a verb. And when you love, you wish those you love the very best and you put their interest first. That goes for people, and animals.
Regarding question 1: not being able to hunt is - of course - not only a question of whether the frozen fish has health impact. It is also very much a matter of the impact on mental and physical health caused by simply not being able to perform this form of natural behaviour. The fact that you do not even include that in your response makes me wonder about your objectivety and, to be honest, doesn't really form a motivation to read the rest of your Q's.
ReplyDeletewhy
ReplyDeleteThere is a HUGE difference between dolphins in captivity and in wild. Even though dolphins are highly "intelligent" and have fantastic capabilities to play and communicate, doesn't mean they must be kept in captivity just for human entertainment. It is scientifically proven about psychological, immunity and physical disorders dolphins get in captivity. There are some misconception about dolphins being and doing tricks around people,worth to be noted in any case.
ReplyDeleteFirst of them is dolphins easily perform tricks. However, turns out that performing tricks are on food motivation. They are always kept slightly hungry before the performances.
Second, people think dolphins are smiling and they are happy in aquariums. However, their smile is nothing more than anatomical structure of their jaws, which creates the illusion of constantly happy creature.