Ethics of Marine Mammals in Captivity

I. Pros for keeping Marine Mammals in Captivity Entertainment purposes-Marine Mammals are trained in captivity through food deprivation, so if you ever see a marine mammal displaying a waving nodding flapping or engaging in any forced tricks its because its hungry and it wants you to feed it, not because that is what they do in the wild.

Pros for keeping Marine Mammals in Captivity Educational Purposes- the swimming with the dolphins program provides a seemingly educational perspective of these mammal but if you really knew what was going on in their bodies when they're forced in open air you wouldn’t want to swim with any dolphins It would be different if the marine mammal was born in captivity if so then the mammal wouldn’t be able to survive with a typical pod of dolphins in the wild ocean and wont be able to fend for itself

Pros for keeping Marine Mammals in Captivity Keeping Marine mammals in captivity also serves as a holding tank to take care of injured marine vertebrates/invertebrates kind of like a hospital tank for sick fish. Also when they get inured or unable to care for themselves any more then it is fine for humans to get involved in the care and continued help of the creature.

II. Ethics of marine mammals in captivity Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity No marine mammal should be held in captivity unless they are injured and cannot survive in the wild

Born in captivity Vs. Born in the wild Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Marine mammals born in captivity are basically handicapped for wild survival Most dolphins are born in the wild and captured for entertainment and “educational purposes”

Dolphin deaths going unreported and unrecorded Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Many dolphins whether born in or out of captivity die and when they do because of a variety of stress related illnesses their deaths are forgotten blankly unrecorded

Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Dolphins are perfectly evolved to live and flourish in their wild ocean home, not within the confines of human made concrete tank or artificial lagoon The USDA does not even regulate these programs

Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Wild marine mammals swim more than forty miles a day foraging and freely searching and tracking down cooperatively with other pod members over immense distances reaching far from coast to coast.

Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Marine mammals engage in fighting mating foraging and playing with their pod members and use echolocation to explore their diverse environment

Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Captive marine mammals are forced to swim in circles in artificial habitats and interact with unfamiliar marine mammals and other species performing behaviors that are unnatural and in some cases painful.

Cons for keeping marine mammals in captivity Confined marine mammals also face exposure to human infection, bacteria, chemicals, diseases, and they suffer from socially stress related illnesses

III. Exhibitions of unnatural behavior Marine mammals in captivity poke their heads out of the water 80% of the time while wild ones spend strictly 80% of the time below the waters surface Marine mammals who experience exposure to open air face gravitational related illnesses which change their physically natural biological composition

III. Exhibitions of unnatural behavior Gravity related physical stress includes the act of beaching themselves upon the shallow water stage so visitors can come kiss and pet them spreading illnesses meanwhile the gravity in open air crushes the internal organs of most marine mammals

III. Exhibitions of unnatural behavior Vocalization, waving flapping nodding of their heads are done because the marine mammal is starving and wants you to reward it with food Marine mammals are trained using food deprivation technique, where if the marine mammal is doing any activity not normally seen doing in its natural habitat its because they’ve been trained to to these things otherwise the animal will starve. These wrong and unnatural conditions stress out the animal five times more than any stress outside in the wild

III. Exhibitions of unnatural behavior Swimming in circles constantly, peering through fences, floating listlessly through the surface of the water are all signs of deep psychological stress and boredom caused by lack of engagement to their natural ocean environment Lack of interaction between pod members or fighting other marine mammals within their confines is also caused as an adverse effect to keeping marine mammals in captivity.

Black Fish: Documentary Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi- billion dollar sea-park industry. This emotionally wrenching, tautly structured story challenges us to consider our relationship to nature and reveals how little we humans have learned from these highly intelligent and enormously sentient fellow mammals. If you really care about this destruction of the natural balance of the ecosystem then never again support or attend any of these captive shows of marine mammals being abused and tortured on a daily basis

Lets all be like Steve o and disagree with sea world and any other unreasonably captive kept animals

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