First I would like to mention to anyone following this blog that I did add on to the end of my first post.
Whales and dolphins can travel many miles each day, some up to ninety miles, much of that is in a straight line, in captivity they can only swim in a small circle.
Imagine living your entire life in a bath tub that is what it is like for our friends that are confined to live in a small cement fish tank.
Whales are kept in tanks not much larger than themselves.
They are gentle creatures who use echolocation to communicate and source food.
But in captivity their sound waves now bounce off the concrete walls. It is enough to drive such gentle animals insane. Hugo, a killer whale (Orca) captured from the wild and held at the Miami Seaquarium, died of a brain aneurism after repea...tedly ramming his head into the windows and walls of his extremely small tank.
Dolphins in a tank are severely restricted in using their highly developed sonar, which is one of the most damaging aspects of captivity. It is much like forcing a person to live in a hall of mirrors for the rest of their life - their image always bouncing back with no clear direction in sight.
You can go here http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/03/the-cove-star-ric-obarry-on-seaworld-gary-smith/ to hear what Ric O'Barry has to say, he was the person who trainned Flipper.
For more info on captivity you can go to these sites
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=63
http://www.savejapandolphins.org/dolphincaptivity.php
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/2220_dolphins_in_captivity_faqs.cfm
I agree entirely with you Ted. These sensative creatures rely on an incredibly refined sonar system, it would be like us living our lives out in a room full of mirrors, we would go insane. The only simulation they get, if you can call it that, is the interaction with their keepers. It is all about money Ted at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteA dolphins life expectancy in captivity is 3-4 years, in the wild, they can live up to 20 years, some even longer. Doesn’t this tell these morons something? As long as people are prepared to pay money to see these animals perform like dogs, there will always be aquariums. It will only be when people say enough! That these establishments fold and become an unpleasant and embarrassing memory in man’s history.
Behind that beautiful enigmatic smile there is torture, of that I am sure.