Five Myths the Dolphin Industry Tells
News
Around the world, more than 3,000 dolphins are kept captive as entertainers in 336 dolphin parks.
Image thanks to Dean Sewell
We’re exposing the five most common myths the multi-billion dollar captive dolphin industry tells the world:
Myth 1. Dolphin parks are educational for your family.
Watching dolphins in captivity is not a real educational experience. What you’re seeing are trained animals, trapped against their will and behaving unnaturally. This isn’t only harmful to dolphins – it’s teaching children that wild animals don’t deserve freedom.
Myth 2. Captive dolphins are no longer wild.
Captive dolphins aren’t domesticated, they’re trapped. Domestication takes thousands of years and special circumstances. Dolphins in captivity are still wild and can never have their needs met in these venues. Even if a dolphin is born in captivity, it isn’t domesticated. We need to protect them in the wild, not confine them to tiny, barren tanks.
Myth 3. Dolphin parks are vital for research and conservation.
Most dolphins are not endangered. In the last 50 years, less than 40 dolphins have been released back into the wild, and captive-born dolphins will likely never be released. Don’t be fooled – this is entertainment, not science.
Myth 4. Captive dolphins are happy and healthy.
Captive dolphins become bored and listless, swimming endlessly in circles. Some become aggressive and attack their fellow prisoners. They often grind their teeth down and chew the walls and bars of their tank. Not to mention the effects of chlorine and overexposure to sunlight in their shallow, barren tanks.
Myth 5. Dolphin parks provide a natural environment.
A swimming pool and the sea are not the same. In the wild, dolphins swim up to 60 miles a day in an ocean full of other animals, plants, and endless variety. In captivity, they’re confined to tanks and pools sometimes 200,000 times smaller than their natural habitat. Where would you rather live?
Want to help defend dolphins? Join our Pod by pledging to only see them in the wild - where they belong.
A swimming pool and the sea are not the same. In the wild, dolphins swim up to 60 miles a day in an ocean full of other animals, plants, and endless variety.