I was having a think last night and have come up with a rough plan of the topics I will be covering, and in what order. I think this will be best:
1. Taiji
2. Dolphin captivity and implications
3. Lesser publicised slaughters
4. Dolphin and orca intelligence
5. Orca captures in the past
6. Orca breeding today
7. Orca captivity and implications
8. Mortality rates in captivity
9. Famous cetaceans
10. Navy use of dolphins and whales, and dolphin therapy.
11.Whaling and the IWC
12. Current campaigns
13. List of dead, killed and living captive cetaceans
14. Shark finning, and shark product industry
15. Galapagos Islands
16. Current shark campaigns
17. Key cetacean and shark breeds
And before you say 'hey sharks are not cetaceans!'- yes I know, but I think that their welfare and the issues surrounding them at the moment are just as relevant to any cetaceans. And to be honest I just really like sharks too, so thought I would include them to help get the word out about shark finning.
So onto the next topic, dolphins in captivity and its implications. This is such a huge topic and deserves a huge post, so here goes. At the moment there are thousands of dolphins in captivity, in all the far reaching corners of the world. There is such a demand for them nowadays, and people just cant get enough. There are swim with dolphin programs, therapy, shows, you name it. Its as if every little girl now wants to be a dolphin trainer, or an orca trainer, and it is so sad to know how little they really know. This craze seemed to have started when the Flipper show was being aired on TV way back in the 1960s. It portrayed dolphins as intelligent, happy creatures that craved human contact and would risk their lives to save them. Like a cetacean Lassie almost. The role of Flipper was shared between several dolphins, but the main dolphin used was a female called Cathy. She and all the other 'Flippers' were trained by Richard (Ric) O'Barry, who back then was an aspiring young trainer based in Miami Seaquarium. He soon became a very famous trainer and was at the top of his game, that was until the death of his beloved dolphin Cathy. It was after the last series had finished that Ric had begun to notice she was looking depressed. It was then that she committed suicide in his arms. As he explained to Oprah Winfrey: 'She was really depressed... You have to understand dolphins and whales are not [involuntary] air breathers like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. They can end their life whenever. She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye, took a breath and didn't take another one. I let her go and she sank straight down on her belly to the bottom of the tank.' A heart-felt interview with Ric about the incident and about his work on Flipper can be seen here. It was from this point that he became a dolphin and whale activist, releasing and helping to liberate countless other captive dolphins. The argument that dolphins can commit suicide may indeed seem a far-fetched one, but it is not unknown that their emotional and indeed intellectual capacities are not far off our own, so suicide may in fact be a viable explanation for several incidences involving dolphins, and other cetaceans.
Recently there has been the story of the false killer whale jumping out of its performance tank in Japan. It attempted the leap once and failed, and then succeeded on the second try while his pool companions watched on in horror. It is safe to point out that the false killer whale was obviously aware of the implications of his actions- he could plainly see there was no water on the other side of the glass. So why did he try and escape? Ric argues that it was a suicide attempt, and it is one opinion that I would agree with. You can see the video of the incident here. Another interesting article on the idea of dolphin suicide can be found here. Another important point to raise here would be the story of Hugo the captive orca. He was originally captured in 1968 and was taken to Miami Seaquarium. He was used to keep Lolita company (more about her in the Famous Cetaceans topic), yet began to behave aggressively in shows. He eventually went into a very traumatised and depressed state, continuously banging his head on the tank wall, resulting in several serious injuries. He eventually had a brain aneurysm that caused his death in 1980. More on Hugo here.
Recently there has been the story of the false killer whale jumping out of its performance tank in Japan. It attempted the leap once and failed, and then succeeded on the second try while his pool companions watched on in horror. It is safe to point out that the false killer whale was obviously aware of the implications of his actions- he could plainly see there was no water on the other side of the glass. So why did he try and escape? Ric argues that it was a suicide attempt, and it is one opinion that I would agree with. You can see the video of the incident here. Another interesting article on the idea of dolphin suicide can be found here. Another important point to raise here would be the story of Hugo the captive orca. He was originally captured in 1968 and was taken to Miami Seaquarium. He was used to keep Lolita company (more about her in the Famous Cetaceans topic), yet began to behave aggressively in shows. He eventually went into a very traumatised and depressed state, continuously banging his head on the tank wall, resulting in several serious injuries. He eventually had a brain aneurysm that caused his death in 1980. More on Hugo here.
Hugo being lifted after his death. (Photo from Google images)
So, captivity- what exactly are its implications on the dolphins it holds onto? Well, lets start with the living conditions for these dolphins. According to US regulations, a dolphin tank needs to be at least 30ft by 30ft, and 6ft deep. So that means in order for a dolphin to swim the length it does in the wild everyday, up to 50 miles, it would have to swim around the tank about 1700 times. Also, when you think that two or more dolphins may be sharing the tank at any one time, it makes the guideline size look like a swimming pool. The chemicals used in the tanks are also incredibly harmful, as they are difficult to keep clean and sanitary. The mental implications these small, boring tanks have on captive dolphins are extremely detrimental, and will be discussed later in this post.
The other important thing to consider when discussing captivity is of course the mortality rate, which is beyond justification. Dolphins die at an unbelievable rate when in captivity, from disease, depression, the squalid conditions, performance accidents, the list goes on. They are merely expendable commodities, their deaths do not matter, just as their lives do not matter. They can be replaced in a number of days and they are completely expendable. Some examples of deaths and causes of death are collisions during performance, one of which resulted in the death of 30 year old Sharky at Discovery Cove in 2008. They were performing a trick in mid-air and collided, resulting in the death of Sharky. This is purely unacceptable, to die whilst performing a trick for the public? It is immoral and beggars belief as to why they continue these shows. Anyway, I shall try and keep my rant to a minimum and just deal with the facts. Another death that was insignificant to the dolphinarium industry, yet so important to those opposing it, was the death of Poncho the dolphin at Miami Seaquarium in 1982. They found an array of objects in his stomach and it is a wonder her survived as long as he did, as they had obviously been in there for some time. A picture of this can be found here. It is no wonder why they wanted to keep that one hidden. More recently however, has been the deaths of four dolphins in the dolphinarium called Sealanya in Turkey. They all died within a week of each other, the reason yet is still unknown I believe. Although it will be surprising if any reason comes out at all, as it is in the interests of the park that they stay quiet. A very good news report on the full story can be found here. It is important to point out that these dolphins, and the others still at the park (and indeed all throughout Turkey) are from the drive hunts in Taiji. As quoted in the news article, 'They died psychologically while heading for Turkey'. A more successful story is that of Misha and Tom, two bottlenose dolphins trapped in a tiny 11m by 22m swimming pool in the middle of the Turkish town of Hisaronu. The conditions were appalling and they had endured 5 years of being fed frozen fish and floating on stagnant water before being brought to the attention of the Born Free Foundation. They have now been rescued and are currently living in a sea-pen. It just goes to show what public pressure can achieve. It is also important to include the recent death of Kalina the orca too, which unsurprisingly has not had a full explanation yet. She died at Seaworld Orlando on the 4th of October.
The other important thing to consider when discussing captivity is of course the mortality rate, which is beyond justification. Dolphins die at an unbelievable rate when in captivity, from disease, depression, the squalid conditions, performance accidents, the list goes on. They are merely expendable commodities, their deaths do not matter, just as their lives do not matter. They can be replaced in a number of days and they are completely expendable. Some examples of deaths and causes of death are collisions during performance, one of which resulted in the death of 30 year old Sharky at Discovery Cove in 2008. They were performing a trick in mid-air and collided, resulting in the death of Sharky. This is purely unacceptable, to die whilst performing a trick for the public? It is immoral and beggars belief as to why they continue these shows. Anyway, I shall try and keep my rant to a minimum and just deal with the facts. Another death that was insignificant to the dolphinarium industry, yet so important to those opposing it, was the death of Poncho the dolphin at Miami Seaquarium in 1982. They found an array of objects in his stomach and it is a wonder her survived as long as he did, as they had obviously been in there for some time. A picture of this can be found here. It is no wonder why they wanted to keep that one hidden. More recently however, has been the deaths of four dolphins in the dolphinarium called Sealanya in Turkey. They all died within a week of each other, the reason yet is still unknown I believe. Although it will be surprising if any reason comes out at all, as it is in the interests of the park that they stay quiet. A very good news report on the full story can be found here. It is important to point out that these dolphins, and the others still at the park (and indeed all throughout Turkey) are from the drive hunts in Taiji. As quoted in the news article, 'They died psychologically while heading for Turkey'. A more successful story is that of Misha and Tom, two bottlenose dolphins trapped in a tiny 11m by 22m swimming pool in the middle of the Turkish town of Hisaronu. The conditions were appalling and they had endured 5 years of being fed frozen fish and floating on stagnant water before being brought to the attention of the Born Free Foundation. They have now been rescued and are currently living in a sea-pen. It just goes to show what public pressure can achieve. It is also important to include the recent death of Kalina the orca too, which unsurprisingly has not had a full explanation yet. She died at Seaworld Orlando on the 4th of October.
Dolphins quite literally jumping through hoops at Sealanya. (Photo from Google images).
When considering captivity, it is often a common assumption that these dolphins and orcas live in lovely, clean, bright blue waters, with the best health care and experts on hand. This is not always the case, especially in countries with lesser implicated animal rights, such as Egypt, Dubai, Korea, and as discussed earlier, Turkey. One of the most infamous places at the moment is Egypt, where there has been the case of the Taiji Four. At the end of September, four dolphins had been transported to Hurghada in Egypt from Taiji. They are to be the main attraction at a new oceanarium being built there. Note: it is no where near completion. They were being held captive in someones back yard swimming pool, which was green with waste and must not have been any bigger than your average kids' swimming pool. The dolphins must be an a terrible condition, both mentally and physically, and it is a wonder how they expect them to survive long enough to be moved to the oceanarium, let alone be trained to perform there. Fortunately, Ric O'Barry and his son have been out there trying to free them, or at least get them moved to a proper enclosure. You can follow the updates by looking on the Save Japan Dolphins blog, or follow this link to the first part of the story.
So the question you may be thinking now is, why captivity? Why allow it? Well, apart from the immense profit for all those involved, from the hunters, breeders and trainers, all the way up to the owners of the oceanariums and dolphinariums, there is always the argument that it is for education and conservation, and when regarding dolphin therapy, therapy and rehabilitation. This of course is nonsense. All of it. And I am ashamed of those who believe that by paying for a ticket to a dolphin show they are getting some eductaion, that they are experiencing a real dolphin, and worst of all that they are helping to preserve them. The claims that the parks make about them providing an educational service to the public is absolute nonsense. They are in it for profit. They make millions upon millions of dollars a year profit and it is all because of the uneducated public buying a ticket thinking they will learn something from dolphins if they see a show. The behaviour shown by dolphins, and indeed orcas, in a show are a million miles away from their natural behaviours. How can they be expected to represent themselves and their species when confined in a space that is not even 1% of the size of their natural habitat? How can the paying public even think that by watching them perform tricks and sing and dance and jump through hoops, that they are watching a real dolphin? Or orca? All they are watching is a trained, submissive circus animal. They are trained not because they are happy to do the work, but because the trainers use negative reinforcement and food deprivation techniques to get the required results. These animals are just puppets that have been dominated and broken down, to the point where they have had to do drastic things in order to communicate their despair. Here I am obviously talking about Tilikum the orca at Seaworld Orlando, who in his captive life has demonstrated his unhappiness several times, leading to injury or death of the people involved. Yet still the show goes on, as the incidents were of course only described as 'horse play'. A good article on training dolphins can be found here, it has a good few insights from Ric, who trained at Miami Seaquarium. And of course, lets not forget Turkey here, as in the article I posted earlier it quotes: 'There are 11 dolphinariums in Turkey, but the number of dolphin experts is quite limited'. Thus proving that it really is all about profit.
The 'swim with dolphin' programs offered so widely are also just as bad, but not only for the dolphins. Studies have shown that being in the water with the dolphins puts people at risk from various bacteria and microorganisms. The full facts can be found here, as well as the full report on the hyperlink in blue. There have also been reports of dolphins trying to 'hump' people in the water, which may just seem like innocent high jinks, but in fact may be very dangerous, especially if the person is a child or lesser-able bodied, and the dolphin weighs up to 1200 lbs. In fact, there is a video of such an incident on youtube. Note that it seems to be trained to perform such an action, as do the other dolphins in the other videos. Its appalling enough that any trainer would encourage that behaviour, let alone train it in the first place.The issue regarding 'dolphin therapy' is a complex one, and will be discussed in the later post- navy use of dolphins and whales, and dolphin therapy. So, back to the claims of education and conservation. Claims which are so ungenuine they are almost laughable. A few points to note here then, firstly the fact that the dolphins caught in Taiji who are sent to the Japanese oceanariums (in particular Taiji Whale Museum) to perform, are accompanied by their dead family members who are packaged in the restaurant for the paying visitors to eat during show intervals. Secondly, the Miami Seaquarium who claims to be educating the public about killer whales, and in fact has not got a clue. Their educational poster is totally incorrect, the 'false eye patch' does not exist.
The 'swim with dolphin' programs offered so widely are also just as bad, but not only for the dolphins. Studies have shown that being in the water with the dolphins puts people at risk from various bacteria and microorganisms. The full facts can be found here, as well as the full report on the hyperlink in blue. There have also been reports of dolphins trying to 'hump' people in the water, which may just seem like innocent high jinks, but in fact may be very dangerous, especially if the person is a child or lesser-able bodied, and the dolphin weighs up to 1200 lbs. In fact, there is a video of such an incident on youtube. Note that it seems to be trained to perform such an action, as do the other dolphins in the other videos. Its appalling enough that any trainer would encourage that behaviour, let alone train it in the first place.The issue regarding 'dolphin therapy' is a complex one, and will be discussed in the later post- navy use of dolphins and whales, and dolphin therapy. So, back to the claims of education and conservation. Claims which are so ungenuine they are almost laughable. A few points to note here then, firstly the fact that the dolphins caught in Taiji who are sent to the Japanese oceanariums (in particular Taiji Whale Museum) to perform, are accompanied by their dead family members who are packaged in the restaurant for the paying visitors to eat during show intervals. Secondly, the Miami Seaquarium who claims to be educating the public about killer whales, and in fact has not got a clue. Their educational poster is totally incorrect, the 'false eye patch' does not exist.
Also, the other poster explaining 'natural' behaviour is laughable. The 'behaviour' seen in the show is trained and totally unnatural.
(Photos from Orca Network, Peter.P, 2007)
I shall now briefly go on to explain some academic arguments against captivity, from the book The Animal Ethics Reader, 2nd edition, ed. Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler. He argues against captivity for cetaceans, due to the mental and emotional consequences it has on them, and also the difficulty in keeping the facilities well managed. When talking about dolphins, he explains that 'for the most curious, exploratory, mobile, playful creature on the planet, an aquarium must be very boring indeed' (page 498). He also explains the morbidity of the life expectancy of captive dolphins and orcas, when compared to their natural life expectancy in the wild. He also stresses the need for social interaction for dolphins and whales in captivity. The human-dolphin relationship when under 'captive conditions' is so 'incredible' that is may prove how desperate the dolphins are to have a family-like bond and feel loved. It seems so meagre that they have to settle for the love and companionship of the paying customers and not their own kind.
No comments:
Post a Comment