Thinking it is safe to swim with captive dolphins?

[bruce-r]

Perhaps not.

 

From the last week's Bonaire Reporter:

The Marine Mammal Foundation received confirmed information that yet another accident occurred at the Curacao Dolphin Academy. On January 11, 2008, the dolphin, “Tela,” struck an employee, who was not seriously injured, in his back several times with his tail fluke. This is the third “captive born” dolphin accident indicating aggressive behavior with humans at the Dolphin Academy reaching the press since April 2007. All three were at the age of being considered “sexually active.” It is common in the dolphin captivity industry not to use sexually active dolphins in Swim with Dolphins programs because they become difficult to handle and aggressive with swimmers. The Dolphin Academy blamed the accident with “Tela” on the victim just as it did with the accident with the dolphin, “Copan,” in April 2007, when he bumped a girl and bit her father who came to her aid. On January 1, 2008, dolphin, “Annie,” jumped on the heads of three paying guests. The dolphin exploiting operation has been experiencing difficulties recently after Cuban captured dolphins were imported by the Curacao Sea Aquarium and the owners fired their own Director, Laetitia Lindgren, for calling the practice of capturing wild dolphins "immoral;" one of the new wild caught Cuban dolphins, “Rene,” died; and two others got in a vicious fight. The Cabinet of the Antilles Governor has started a preliminary investigation on the importation of the six captured dolphins from Cuba and whether the decision of the Curacao government is in conflict with international treaties and national legislation. The Dutch Parliament is also discussing the situation.

 

You can download the whole Bonaire Reporter HERE It is a fairly large PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read it.

[Suzanne74]

Thank you for the heads up. I think it is very cruel to these dolphins. I am not sure about the Sea Aquarium but most of these places, the dolphins have little place to swim. It is a shame.

[bruce-r]

Thank you for the heads up. I think it is very cruel to these dolphins. I am not sure about the Sea Aquarium but most of these places, the dolphins have little place to swim. It is a shame.

 

Oh I definitely agree, but it seems that most times I say this, many people tell me I'm wrong.:eek:

[CoralReef]

I would not do a captive dolphin activity, after reading about how traumatic it is for these highly social creatures to be kidnapped away from their families.

 

There is some good information from the Humane Society on the issue at this link:

http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/what_are_the_issues/marine_mammals_in_captivity/

[MichCook]

This may sound like a stupid question, but are there any "non-captive" dolphin encounters?

[bruce-r]

This may sound like a stupid question, but are there any "non-captive" dolphin encounters?

 

There are, but an encounter isn't guaranteed.

[gizmo]

This site has a video of the incident.

 

http://www.marineconnection.org/news/general/captivity_Curacao%20Dolphin%20Academy_accident.htm