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Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:41 am Post subject: NOT!
The whole idea of putting dolphins in a tank for your own amusement is sickening. Dolphin are intelligent animals and they belong in the wild, not in a cage. If they do build one there, I for one will never patronize it.
Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:21 am Post subject: Dolphin Park
I will refrain from any subjective argument, such as my personal views regarding the morality of keeping dolphin in captivity; as well as any adverse marine environmental effects from effluent, which is too soon to be measured in the Cayman Islands although many other countries such as Antigua do have conclusive documented evidence of the damage caused to their local marine environments as a result of their now closed dolphin parks. And I also want to make it abundantly clear that I am not singling out the Cayman Islands dolphin parks because as far as I know, their standards meet or exceed that of any others.
Instead, I will focus on the aspects of hunting, capturing and removing dolphin from the wild, which is not a matter of opinion but rather objective incontrovertible facts supported by mountains of evidence. While some park enthusiasts may claim that they did not procure their animals from the wild but instead bought them from an existing dolphin park, those parks must then replenish their stock from the wild and hence there is no distinction.
Anyone considering the high price of admission to a dolphin park must have a genuine appreciation for these beautiful and gentle creatures; they appear to be smiling all the time and enjoy being around people so what harm could it possibly do? Many parents want their children to gain an appreciation for nature’s beauty and what better way than an up close and personal encounter with these charming animals.
Certainly no one is naïve enough to believe that dolphin in the wild abandon their family and voluntarily jump aboard ships waiting to take them to confinement. So exactly how are the dolphin captured? Surely this is a question that must be answered satisfactorily by anyone genuinely interested in experiencing nature’s beauty, as no one would want to patronize an industry that captured their dolphin in an inhumane manner.
Almost all countries in the world have agreed to stop the practice of killing and capturing dolphin. The exceptions are Japan, Iceland, Norway and Cuba, the same countries that still kill whales. There are no other known sources of dolphin for parks.
After much research, I have found that the process employed in virtually all dolphin hunts or captures are conducted in much the same way:
1. Many ships encircle a pod of dolphin and make as much noise as possible to startle and confuse the dolphin, who are extremely sensitive to noise as sound is their primary means of communication.
2. The dolphin pod is corralled into a narrow cove, having been pre lined with nets preventing their escape.
3. Using clubs and large knives, the hunters maim or kill the baby dolphin, knowing that their parents will stay and try to help and protect their young.
4. The hunters then beat the adults into submission and drag them aboard their boats.
5. The dolphin are “processed”, with the most valuable ones such as yearling females being sold to the parks, while many of the others are killed to produce food and other products, all of which can now be manufactured without killing a single animal.
6. What’s left of the pod is released back to the wild: babies without their mothers; injured fathers without their partners, friends and other missing relatives. So in addition to the immediate deaths, many others will die later from their injuries, others due to inability to survive without their mother, father or partner. And for every female taken, many less dolphin will be born into the wild.
There is a plethora of supportive documentation, pictures, videos and other evidence prevalent among the internet and your local libraries. The following video is but one of many examples demonstrating the process I have described above.
WARNING: The following dolphin capture video is graphic in nature. However, if you are considering patronizing any dolphin facility where the dolphin did not swim there of their own accord, you owe it to yourself and to your children to be aware of exactly the sort of exploits your admission price is supporting and perpetuating.
Anyone who frequents any dolphin park, dolphin encounter, swim with the dolphin, dolphinarium, etc. facility, is directly supporting and perpetuating the inhumane capture methods described and depicted in the video. These beautiful creatures, second in intelligence only to humans deserve better. Indeed, considering human’s propensity to destroy themselves, an argument could be made that the pacifist dolphin are more intelligent than humans.
If you have any doubts as to the accuracy, legitimacy or validity of any of the information I have provided, please post your questions and I will be happy to answer them. I have searched for days for any images or videos of dolphin being captured in any humane manner and was not able to locate a single image. And this alone is cause to suspect that every captive park in existence has a dirty little secret. Of course you will find many images of dolphin taken after capture from the point of transport being cared for extremely well. The new owners have just paid up to $100,000 per dolphin and they are protecting their investment. But if there were any humane methods of capture from the wild and given the global controversy, wouldn’t the park enthusiasts be inundating the world with them?
The answer is because no such even remotely humane picture or video evidence exists.
Indeed, there can be no humane manner of capture. Dolphins are fast and highly intelligent. They do not willingly abandon their pods and leap into boats for a piece of fish or some other reward. More humane methods such as anesthetization have been attempted and proven to be even more deadly as dolphin require air to breathe and can not remain near the surface if they are anesthetized.
There is no even remotely humane manner in which dolphin are captured and taken from the wild.
All I ask is that you watch the video and consider the facts. If you doubt anything I have said or even if you just want more information, by all means conduct your own research, the more the better.
But please, at least consider the facts of capture before purchasing a ticket to any dolphin park where the dolphin did not arrive voluntarily. I do know as an absolute fact that both parks in Cayman imported every one of their dolphin; and whether from another park or directly from the wild is irrelevant, for the reasons stated.
Then make an informed decision as to whether or not you want to support and perpetuate the capture of dolphin from the wild through your purchase of a ticket to a confined dolphin park.
Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:35 am Post subject: NO!
If they build one we will stop coming to the Cayman Islands altogether. Putting a bunch of beautiful intelligent animals in cages is gross and inhumane.
Putting God's creatures in cages is one of the greatest sins one can commit. We must distinguish between domestic animals which God put on earth to live with man vs. those born in the wild which must remain free. To see something like this happen on a good Christian island like the Cayman Islands would be a sheer trajedy.
I own a dog. I don't see any running around in the wild though. Well, at least not anywhere were there are responsible pet owners. It's too bad that some people lack the education to differientiate between animals born and raised in captivity as opposed to those that live fee in the wild.
If this is allowed to be build, it will strike a serious blow to toruism. Cayman attracts divers, a generally ecologically educated group of individuals who would adamantly oppose such an altrosity.
Putting God's creatures in cages is one of the greatest sins one can commit. We must distinguish between domestic animals which God put on earth to live with man vs. those born in the wild which must remain free. To see something like this happen on a good Christian island like the Cayman Islands would be a sheer trajedy.
Was that meant as comedy? Are you serious? It would be sure trajedy (sic) to think that some are so silly as to think that all animals were not wild and tamed by man and breed for temperament....
I own a dog. I don't see any running around in the wild though. Well, at least not anywhere were there are responsible pet owners. It's too bad that some people lack the education to differientiate between animals born and raised in captivity as opposed to those that live fee in the wild.
Well, they are not running around in the wild because they have been domesticated. So what's wrong with domesticating a few dolphin? A once free animal was trained to live with humans, and now you are insulting those who dare do the same things with other animals. Seems hypocritical to me.
Insulting? Not this time sport. You are actually the one insulting people's intelligence. You think dolphin should be domesticated? I guess that would hold true to all animals then, so in your world no animals would run free. They would exist only to the extent that they could serve your immediate needs. Why in the world do you go to a beautiful ecologically sensitive place like the Cayman Islands anyway? Wouldn't you be more at home going somewhere like Jamaica, where they have already destroyed everyting. I know, how about a safari? You could kill everything in sight. That would just make your day sport!
adawg - All I can say is you are a sinner and will end up where you belong at the day of rekoning. In the mean time, I wish you could be put in a cage for your remaining days to see what it is like before you go around condeming other animals to that same fate.
Sorry adawg, but I'm with the rest. Putting dolphin in a cage is just plain mean. There is no reason for it other than capital gain of greedy careless people. We will not go to ANY location that has a marine park where they keep them locked up.
I adamantly oppose this cruel and inuhmane proposal. Dolphin are intelligent creatures who communicate on levels that we humans can not yet even begin to grasp. To subject them to a life of incarcaration is a fate worse than death. If the people of the Cayman Islands have any humanity whatsoever, they will see that this horrible proposal never materializes.
I'm with you greenguy, and I think the people of the Cayman Islands are way too environmentally conscious to ever allow such a horrible thing to operate.
We have snorkeled with dolphin in Hawaii and in the Bahamas. In both places, the dolphin were allowed to come and go as they please. There were no cages. If this is the case, and they choose to stay of their own volition then I would not be opposed to it. If they are indeed caged up as some have implied, then add me to the list of "nays".
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