Behind The Dolphin Smile
The name of the book that I read was Behind the Dolphin Smile written by Richard O’Barry and Keith Coulbourn. It has 288 pages, and was Published July 7th 2000 by Renaissance Books (first published September 1st 1991). Behind the Dolphin Smile is a book that is based on the true story of a dolphin trainer that was holding the dolphin that played Flapper on TV in his arms as it died of stressed. It was then that he realized that his career training dolphins had been a mistake and that dolphins deserve the same freedom as humans. He then made a promise that he would not rest until every single dolphin was put back into the wild.
The main subject of this book is that Dolphins do not belong in captivity, and that it is the dolphins’
impeccable intelligence that makes them able to learn the tricks and things that they can do, not the trainers. He believes that dolphins are too intelligent to be our pets or our “slaves”. While training dolphins, O’Barry learned a lot about dolphins that are in captivity. He learned that dolphins hate to be enclosed in their holding tanks and are often not fed until it is time to perform their daily routines. O’Barry learned dolphins had true feelings – they would get depressed, stressed out, even suicidal. In some parks, the trainers have to give the animals Maalox and Tagamet to treat the ulcers that develop from their stress. Richard O’Barry did everything in his power to untrain dolphins and set them back into the ocean. So much, that he was arrested once for trying to free a dolphin. I enjoyed this book very much. I think that the authors main reason for writing this is to show people how dolphins are treated in captivity and to tell the story of the steps that he has taken to free the dolphins. In the first chapter, O’Barry states that his mission is to free all of the dolphins in captivity. About 75% of the way into the book, it shows his actions to do exactly that. His first step of action is to train a single dolphin, in captivity of course, to train other dolphins to be free. His first dolphin, dies from neglect. Fine, he’ll get another. However, this one is as well neglected. O’Barry gets angry with the people that care for the dolphin when they interact with him. This book was presented very well. I think what held my attention was the ugly truths about captivity. I remember going to Seaworld and aquariums and watching the dolphins and wanting to swim with them and wanting to be trainer but the book really opened my eyes to the truth and now i think that really it is disgusting that they treat animals in captivity the way that they do.
The main subject of this book is that Dolphins do not belong in captivity, and that it is the dolphins’
impeccable intelligence that makes them able to learn the tricks and things that they can do, not the trainers. He believes that dolphins are too intelligent to be our pets or our “slaves”. While training dolphins, O’Barry learned a lot about dolphins that are in captivity. He learned that dolphins hate to be enclosed in their holding tanks and are often not fed until it is time to perform their daily routines. O’Barry learned dolphins had true feelings – they would get depressed, stressed out, even suicidal. In some parks, the trainers have to give the animals Maalox and Tagamet to treat the ulcers that develop from their stress. Richard O’Barry did everything in his power to untrain dolphins and set them back into the ocean. So much, that he was arrested once for trying to free a dolphin. I enjoyed this book very much. I think that the authors main reason for writing this is to show people how dolphins are treated in captivity and to tell the story of the steps that he has taken to free the dolphins. In the first chapter, O’Barry states that his mission is to free all of the dolphins in captivity. About 75% of the way into the book, it shows his actions to do exactly that. His first step of action is to train a single dolphin, in captivity of course, to train other dolphins to be free. His first dolphin, dies from neglect. Fine, he’ll get another. However, this one is as well neglected. O’Barry gets angry with the people that care for the dolphin when they interact with him. This book was presented very well. I think what held my attention was the ugly truths about captivity. I remember going to Seaworld and aquariums and watching the dolphins and wanting to swim with them and wanting to be trainer but the book really opened my eyes to the truth and now i think that really it is disgusting that they treat animals in captivity the way that they do.