Dolphinaria

(c) Loren Javier (Flickr creative commons)

Cetaceans live in a variety of habitats from the tropics to the poles, including rivers, estuaries, coastal environments and deep-water habitats. Some are known to travel vast distances.

Bottlenose dolphins have home ranges as large as 300km and have been recorded travelling up to 1,076km in 20 days. Orcas can dive as deep as 60m and travel as far as 160km in a day, spending less than 20% of their time at the water’s surface.

Living in groups (called pods), these animals are highly sociable and intelligent, displaying self-awareness and differing cultures.

Cetaceans are generally kept in unnatural, relatively small tanks that offer little by way of comparison to the environments in which they have evolved to live. Abnormal ‘stereotypic’ behaviour is common and it is reported that drugs are sometimes administered to reduce stress.

Presentations or shows may take place as often as several times a day and are typically  accompanied by loud music, to which the animals perform a repertoire of tricks. Some facilities offer opportunities for the public to ‘swim-with’ dolphins or pose for souvenir photographs in order to generate money.

There are no universally-accepted welfare standards for the management of captive cetaceans – in fact, the overwhelming majority of experts agree that cetaceans fare badly in captivity.

Standards and regulations governing captive cetaceans differ widely around the world, depending on national legislation and its enforcement.

Wild Capture (c) WDC

While some species of cetacean have bred in captivity, the global population of captive cetaceans is not thought to be sustainable. As a result, cetaceans continue to be captured from the wild in order to maintain the industry.

For example, every year thousands of dolphins and small whales are hunted in the ‘oikomi-ryo’ (dolphin drive) in Japan, where the fittest animals are usually selected for export to international captive facilities.

Russia is also believed to be one of the main sources of wild-caught cetaceans, such as orca, bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales. Methods of capture and transport of cetaceans can be extremely stressful and cruel, and some die of shock and injury in the process.

Cetaceans in captivity are normally trained to perform ‘circus-style’ tricks, whereby the animals receive a reward (usually food) for performing the desired task.

Tricks may include jumps, back-flips and summersaults, tail walks, balancing and playing with objects, and various interactions with the animal trainers such as dorsal pulls (trainer is pulled whist holding the animal’s dorsal fin) and rostrum pushes (trainer is lifted out of water, standing on the animal’s ‘nose’). Other shows may involve cetaceans ‘singing’ tunes or even painting pictures.

Tricks performed in shows are rarely extensions of natural behaviour, as is often claimed by their trainers.

For many people it is a lifelong dream to swim with dolphins. However, Born Free is convinced that few people would partake in the practice if they knew that such interactions could be highly stressful and damaging for the animals.

Captive cetaceans are often used in swim-with programmes throughout the day, as well as performing in shows. They may also be used for visitor souvenir photographs, during which the animals may be trained to jump out and ‘beach’ themselves on the edge of the concrete pool.

‘Swim-withs’ and other public interactions are associated with the potential for injury to both humans and dolphins. Dolphins have delicate eyes and skin, which are at risk from human fingernails, jewellery, make-up and suntan lotion.

There are numerous accounts of people incurring bites, bruises, abrasions and even broken bones during close contact with captive cetaceans. There have even been instances where people have been killed during in-water interactions. These animals can also harbour bacterial and fungal diseases that can be transmitted to humans.