There are several controversial topics
pertaining to dolphins, and because I won’t be talking about them all, I
encourage you to research them because they are very interesting things to
learn about and it is excellent knowledge to have. The topic I will be talking
about however is dolphins and other marine mammals in captivity. Orca whales
are technically considered dolphins and therefore they will also be represented
under this category.
The reason behind choosing the topic of
captivity is because it encompasses several different aspects of the controversies
with dolphins. First and foremost, I would like to invite you to watch two
different documentaries that will shed a better light on this subject than I
ever could, “The Cove” and “Blackfish”.
Because I had no access to online
streaming of “The Cove”, I included a few links below of short videos to help
you get an understanding.
And
here is a link to the “Blackfish” trailer, followed by a link of the online
streaming of this movie.
In my next section of posts, I will be
going more into depth, inspecting and discussing this topic further on the
blog. Therefore, I will only be shedding light on a few aspects in this post.
The Cove, as mentioned under Speciesism
in a previous post, is a documentary covering the live slaughters of thousands
of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. This is a yearly event and causes mass, brutal
death to colossal numbers of dolphins. This is relevant because this massacre
happens due to the need for dolphins in captivity. Places that have dolphins in
captivity for any reason, had to get them from somewhere and although some may
not participate and may never have due to breeding in captivity, the fact still
stands that some marine captivities do still retrieve dolphins from Japan in
the dolphin round up and after a few have been chosen for different businesses
all the dolphins remaining are slaughtered and sold for meat; meat that is
incredibly dangerous for human consumption that is.
These dolphins are used for the
entertainment industry all over the world for various reasons, also discussed
in previous posts. Initially, I had always realized that dolphins and other
animals in captivity probably aren’t as happy in captivity because they aren’t
free and don’t always have the opportunities to express their natural
instincts. I did not, however, think that it could cause psychological problems
for them. I assumed if they were taken young enough that they didn’t remember
being taken then maybe they would just think that this life in captivity was
normal. In some cases, that maybe true, but in others the animal does remember
the freedom in the ocean and their pods and this causes them severe trauma. I
am disheartened that this capturing still happens when other places breed them
in captivity just fine. But overall, I am sad knowing that these animals could
potentially be severely depressed with life. Some of what I read made it appear
as though this is much worse in orca whales than in dolphins, but not uncommon
in dolphins. Without being able to talk to the animals, it is very difficult to
communicate their feelings, and thus we will probably continue to use them
however we’d like unfortunately.
Resources:
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