Dolphin Captivity Research Paper

Dolphin Captivity
Dolphins in tanks or dogs in doghouses, is there a difference? Currently in the U.S. alone 62% of the population owns a household pet (AAPA). With household pets such as cats or dogs, an intellectual wild animal, is taken in and given a home, as well as food, medical, and personal things, like love, that may otherwise not be obtained in the “wild”. Dolphin captivity is essentially the same thing and is not solely based on using the animals for profit; there is much to learn about the intelligence and science of the animals. For many dolphins it creates a home much like an animal shelter. Keeping dolphins in captivity allows for the research that scientists want as well as allowing for a public continuation of awareness.
Now days there are few houses that do not own some sort of household pet. According to the 2011-2012 APPA National Pet Owners Survey 72.9 million homes in the U.S. own a household pet with is equal to 62% of the population (APPA). A household pet would include animals such as birds, cats, dogs, fish both saltwater and freshwater, reptiles, and other small animals. In the U.S. alone there are 78.2 million dogs as well as 86.4 million cats that are owned as pets the highest number of pets owned according to the survey was freshwater fish, which is at 151.1 million(APPA). Currently in the U.S. the number of captive dolphins is far less, only reaching numbers of 410 in the U.S. and worldwide only about 1800 captive dolphins (Boyle, 2011). The number of captive dolphins compared to captive cats or dogs is simply a small fraction.
The 1870’s is when humans started taking in stranded dolphins but it was not until the late 1930’s the modern dolphin training methods began (Bradford et al., 1998). Many people who oppose dolphins in captivity feel that forcing dolphins to perform in front of audiences is degrading and humiliating. However, it is the equivalent of seeing a human who is sitting in a cubicle with no decoration and no enrichment, without that stimulation any animal or person would suffer, but captivity for a dolphin is not a boring cubical. Dolphins are naturally gregarious animals who appreciate applause and enthusiasm (Boyle, 2011). Enrichment of the animals is giving animal’s things that they can recreate occurring behaviors. One on one personal bonding between the trainer and the dolphins is much like a play date for children they have all the toys provided. The key is to have an intellectual show, showing the average person that animals such as dolphins shouldn’t simply sit in a glass case that they have much more to show humans than flips while allowing the dolphin to have fun and do things they would naturally do to pass time (Boyle, 2011).
Unfortunately some exhibits are not in appropriate conditions for dolphins but when Ric O’ Barry says the best way to save the dolphins is to not participate in seeing them does not hold to be true. Just because a large number of people do not go to places such as Sea World does not mean dolphin captivity will go away, nor should it. One bad exhibit does not take away from all the good ones. In comparison it is like saying one bad cat owner means that all cat owners are terrible people. This would be a false statement. Many programs not only provide over the top exhibits and homes for the animals but 50 percent of the funding that goes for the research and conservation is coming from the institution itself, the governments aren 't paying for it and the public 's not paying for it, the public is indirectly through their participation (McBain & Andrews, 2011). Institutions are taking the money that is earned and putting it back in to the animals ' habitats and putting it back into research, there is nothing wrong with that.
By far the greatest benefit to dolphins in captivity is public awareness.
In Ric 's earlier days, Ric trained all of the dolphins that performed on TV, on Flipper. Something in his past changed his approach to dolphins, but Ric for many years was a dolphin trainer and trained all of the dolphins that people years ago became familiar with and learned to love on that TV show. Like Ric many use dolphin captivity to learn to love dolphins. Very few people have had the opportunity to see dolphins in the wild, but close to 600 million people a year see dolphins in captivity worldwide (McBain & Andrews, 2011). Exhibits and the communications that are being done through really high-quality exhibits where enormous attention is paid to the care and welfare of the animals, turns the dolphins into ambassadors that entreat people and thrill them and get them to understand something about the problems of coastal and ocean habitats, and through knowing the dolphins begin to care about the dolphins and the place where they live (Boyle, 2011).Seeing an animal in person creates a bond between that animal and the person viewing that animal, people take compassion towards the things seen with the naked eye. Engaging people is the best way to gain followers for the preservation of any animal. The government is never going to solve all the conservation problems. People will solve those problems. But people will only become engaged in helping to solve the problems by knowing the habitat (Boyle, 2011). When people see the wildlife, opinions can form. Opinions can run the game from looking at the beauty and wonder of the animal to feeling some sense of relationship to that
animal.
What ethics do animals in captivity really have? One of the workshops held at the Shedd Aquarium discussed the educational and scientific impact the AAZPA 's Ethics and Law Working Group considered the ethics of keeping animals in captivity. In attendance were representatives from marine parks all over. A quote directly from the AAZPA’s report, "Those who work with captive animals in aquariums and zoos have a special obligation to convey knowledge of the natural world to the public, to interpret the lives of animals accurately... to portray animals as they are, to display animals under conditions that, so far as possible, allow them to behave naturally, and to offer them adequate social contact, ideally with others of their species. In addition, a workable ethic for the treatment of animals in captivity must include a requirement to provide appropriate space, nutrition, and health care."(Hoyt, 1992). As long as all captivity centers provide this high standard of quality, dolphins should be shared with the public around the world.
Without dolphins in captivity, society would not have nearly the same capacity to perform research, and its knowledge of these creatures would be far behind. Accurate information on breeding behavior and reproductive cycle, needed for reliable population estimates of wild stocks, cannot be realized without studies of dolphins in captivity. Valuable information has also been collected on the senses, including echolocation, taste, and smell, as well as social integration. Data collected from studies in captivity tends to be very detailed, while information on wild specimens is far sketchier (Bradford et. al., 1998). A major breakthrough in dolphin research was in 1998, a team of researchers marked the foreheads, backs, and flippers of a pair of show dolphins with triangles and circles, then placed a mirror in their tank. The two dolphins swam to it and immediately began checking out their new markings, which were on areas of their bodies they couldn 't normally see. Thereby demonstrating that dolphins could recognize their own reflections—a test of self-awareness that only chimpanzees and humans had passed at the time (Grim, 2011).
Ric O’Barry blames that holding dolphins captive is fueling the dolphin hunting industry. In order to even bring a dolphin into the United States one needs a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and that permit requires articulation of the collection site of the source of the dolphins (Boyle, 2011). The U.S. does not bring in any dolphins that have been mistreated in any other country. Not only that but many institutions have to go through accreditation process’s that ensure the safety and quality for the animals. Such as the AZA accreditation process, The AZA is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which each member institution has to go through from scratch every five years. It goes into every area of an organization 's operations — not only the animal care and welfare practices and the feeding and nutrition and veterinary care, but even looks at the institution 's finances in order to ensure that the institution can continue to provide those standards of care and education to the public about the animals that are there (Boyle, 2011). The U.S. does not buy any dolphins from other countries that unethically capture the animals to sell and therefore there is no fuel being given from the U.S.
There is a line within dolphin captivity, humans should take the role of managing the dolphins in a way that there is science and public awareness without stepping in the boundaries of animal slavery and exploitation of the animals. Ultimately people would rather see a dolphin caught and put in captivity where it will be given a safe and stimulating home rather than in Taiji where they are slaughtered by the hundreds. Paul Spong stated in an article of Whalewatcher that “the animals will truly only be saved when we humans no longer regard them as resources to be exploited and 'managed ', but rather as fellow creatures - self-organized social animals with clear rights that we acknowledge, grant, and protect.” (Hoyt, 1992). Although much good can come from dolphin captivity things should be done in regards of the dolphin, in ways that treat the animal with respect and wellness and to live a long fulfilling life. As people there must be a common goal of knowledge for programs such as these to continue and for children’s children to see the majesty of the dolphins it is important to keep the program around.+
References
References
Bradford, Onno, & Vincent. (1998). Dolphins in captivity. Oracle: Thinkquest.
Grimm, D. (2001). Animal cognition: Are dolphins too smart for captivity? Science Magazine, 332 (6029), 526-529.
Hoyt, E. (1992). The ethics of keeping whales and dolphins captive. Whale and dolphin conservation society.
Boyle, P. (2011). Dolphin captivity at AZA aquariums: Blood dolphins. Animal Plant.
McBrain, J. Andrews, B. (2011). A whale of a business. Frontline: online. PBS.