Dolphins In Captivity Site:
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/irisivo2.htm
Whales In Captivity Site:
http://www.btinternet.com/~Jess.Jones/captivity.htm
Dolphins in captivity.
Many of us would be thrilled to dive with dolphins, and would probably never even see them in the wild. To experience the wonder and thrill of being with such creatures must be a fabulous experience, and probably would be with other appealing animals too. Swimming with dolphins in captivity is no doubt an enjoyable and deeply moving experience. But at what expense?
Aquariums and marine parks say that they enhance the lives of marine mammals in captivity by protecting them from the dangers of the natural environment. The truth is that marine mammals have evolved to survive such conditions. For example, nearly every kind of marine mammal, from sea lion to dolphin, travels large distances daily in a search for food. In captivity, natural feeding and foraging patterns are completely lost. They may not get the exercise that they need and worse. Their behaviour patterns change drastically and they soon lose their ability to return to their natural environment. They develop aggression towards humans and lose their instincts towards other sea- creatures. Other natural behaviours, such as those associated with dominance, mating, and maternal care, are altered greatly in captivity. Viewing captive animals gives people a false picture of the animals' natural life. Worse yet, people are unaware of the cruelties that they experience in captivity and many think they enjoy it because of their appearance- it’s hard to imagine an unhappy dolphin and almost impossible to tell. Also, for virtually all of the captive marine mammal population, the world is a tiny enclosure and it is not natural.
In any marine park or aquarium, the needs of the visiting public come before the needs of the animals. Facilities are designed to make the animals readily visible, not necessarily comfortable. Swim-with-the-dolphin programs do not always allow the animals to choose the levels of interaction and rest they prefer.
Some marine parks, aquariums, and zoos promote themselves as animal protection agencies. But rather than enhancing wildlife populations, facilities engaged in captive breeding may only create a group of animals that may never be released into the wild. Placing animals in captivity does not necessarily increase their chance of survival and certainly not their happiness and best interests. For example, did you know a dolphin lives one third of its life in captivity?
Orcas/ Killer Whales- The Scary Facts.
1. In the wild, the female Orcas can live to be up to 80 years old, and males up to about 50. The average life span for a captive killer whale in 5.2 years.
2. Wild Orcas live in highly social, extremely close-knit families called pods, and even sons remain with their mothers throughout their lives. It is highly unnatural for killer whales to be split from their families.
3. Each pod has its own particular 'dialect'. In 'killer whale language', there are some sounds that occur all over the world, but others that only one particular pod will make. So, for example, if a killer whale from Canada and a killer whale from Iceland are placed in the same tank, they will either misunderstand each other or not understand each other at all, which may lead to aggression.
4. Wild Orcas travel up to 100 miles a day. In captivity, even the largest and most technologically advanced tank cannot allow for the exercise wild Orcas would have.
5. A British study stated that an Orcas tank should be at least 10 metres deep and have a volume of at least 20,000 cubic metres of water for every five whales. Every facility claims it is officially adequate, but only one facility currently exceeds these dimensions.
6. Aggression has never been witnessed within or between wild Orca families. In captivity, several acts of aggression have been recorded. In 1989, Kendo, an Icelandic female with an 11-month-old calf, rammed Corky, a Canadian female (see Case History - Corky). In the late 80s, Kadoka, also Canadian, shared a tank with Icelandic whale Kotare. Aggression between the two males was obvious.
7. Aggression does not end with whale-to-whale aggression. Several trainers have been seriously injured and in February 1991 Keltie Bryne, aged 20 and a part-time trainer at Sea land of Canada, accidentally fell into the whale tank and was drowned by 3 Orcas. There have been several other acts of aggression against humans by whales and dolphins, but most cases have been settled out of court and have confidentiality clauses.
8. 65% of the 45 known captive pregnancies (up to and including 1996) have ended in the death of the calves, 31% of which died within two months of birth. In 7% of cases, the mother died with the foetus during pregnancy or labour.
9. Whales and dolphins in captivity have often shown psychotic behaviour. For example, at Sea World of California, one captive Orca female was seen to breach and deliberately land on the hard concrete 'slide-out' area of her tank. She did this several times over. The female was pregnant at the time and the calf was stillborn a few months later.
10. Captive cetaceans are usually forced to breed with animals they would never have naturally bred with in the wild (i.e. whales and dolphins from other pods, sometimes other parts of the world.). This is especially unnatural in killer whales.
11. Whales are often forced to spend hours on end in holding tanks behind the main pools.
