Dolphins in captivity: how much are they suffering? I expect diverse opinions and sources

Hello all, some months ago I assisted to an event dedicated to promote marine conservation where people and a biologist from a company dedicated to dolphin shows and those things I can hardly tolerate, presented some slideshows about the ecological situation of our beloved Caribbean.

I obviously questioned to myself: how can they be motivated by conservation doing dolphin shows that many of us have thought of as cruel? Are they being hypocritical? Are they trying to satisfy in some way the critics? Are they trying to soften their image in public’s minds? Or are they taking care of the animals responsibly? Of course, they are not being negligent with the dolphins, but still I do not believe the settings are appropriate when speaking of satisfying the animal’s need of freedom, which most of us have.

I am and have always been a quite direct and sometimes irreverent man, always asking people to be clear about what they claim. But this time, I didn’t asked them any question or confronted anyone. I just kept thinking about this and asking these questions to myself. I did not have enough knowledge (or at least what they would have considered as knowledge) to throw my verbal diarrhea of critics and not be fought back in a way difficult to counter-argument.

So, I’ve definitely read old Jacques Cousteau books that describe how horrible is for marine mammals to be captive and the cases of mental illness described in these animals, but what else is available about this subject? Is there enough research to support or ‘‘debunk’’ cetacean show industry? Does someone have access to such research, willing to share it? What opinions could you share about this topic? Eager to read your answers.

Is this recent local event what brings this to mind?

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Not at all, but wow! I was not aware of this.

Does that dolphin live in that small pool?

https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.nz/education/animal-facts/dolphins/dolphin-faq/
https://savedolphins.eii.org/news/why-its-time-to-end-dolphin-captivity-once-and-for-all

For South Africa - they say ours are animal rehab?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Durban/comments/18zddxt/ushaka_marine_world_dolphins/
No dolphins at the Cape Town Aquarium.

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Diana, that is all the information I have. It was, of course, all over the news (which is why I thought the topic front of mind), but the news stories would have been based on that official release.

If you go to PROFEPA’s main page and wait, you can see one additional photo as the news items scroll.

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I think that the repeated deaths of “Baby Shamu” are relevant data points. A species that cannot viably reproduce in captivity is unsuited to the “ex situ conservation” narrative.

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What you’re asking is not an easy question. It’s a matter of considerable debate even within the zoo industry.

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There were a lot of success, too.

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Yeah, that is the point. The point of this is to discuss. This is a forum, so many topics are or should be a matter of considerable debate. I just asked for opinions and awareness of any scientific research, nothing too much of a heavy burden for anyone. I know that this is not an easy question, but I don’t want a direct, definitive answer. That’s not even what I am looking for!

Good point. I did not know about this case. I knew about Shamu and one of the babies, but nothing else. To this point it is embarrassing to me to say I have met Shamu in person and this is no ‘‘humblebragging’’ at all. I feel having so much to say but have nothing to say at all.

In fact, this brings me to an even more direct point. Dolphin shows are not even ex situ conservation at all. They are entertainment. You mentioned conservation because I mentioned that this company promotes conservation. But they don’t promote it via the dolphin shows. So this means their actions are even less justifiable.