Last Sunday, while I was recovering from surgery, Sharmila, a dolphin at the Marnine Life Park, Resorts World Sentosa, died.
4 out of the original 27 wild caught bottlenose dolphins have died since their capture. Let's see... 4 out of 27. That's a 15% mortality rate. Looks pretty high to me.
What could have caused Sharmila's death, and the death of the 3 dolphins before her? "Prior medical tests indicated that she was healthy". I wonder if they did any tests for mental health. As a vet, I have seen animals in captivity showing signs of stress from being cooped up. They move around in circles in their enclosures (called stereotypic behaviour) or sit in one spot, staring at the wall. And I do believe that they can become depressed. Being someone who would much rather be outdoors than stuck indoors all day, I can fully empathise.
Have a look at this video (filmed by me, edited by my friend Carson Holzheimer)
I urge you to look on Youtube for more videos of dolphins having fun in their natural habitat, surfing waves, bow riding etc.
Then have a look at this video (killer whales are dolphins too):
Which one would you rather see?
Dolphins are highly energetic, intelligent and social mammals that swim many kilometres in a day. They need to be out in the open ocean, not stuck in a little swimming pool for the rest of their lives.
In my opinion, there are animals that are amenable to living in captivity, and those that are not. Animals that could do well in captivity are, for example, those that have a small home range, don't need much environmental stimuli like a clownfish, or a sloth. However, those that do have a large home range, or are migratory, like dolphins, orcas, manta rays, whale sharks... should not be kept in tiny enclosures for their entire lives.
Well, what about education, you might say? All those children, going to marine parks and watching the shows and learning about dolphin behaviour... I think that watching TRUE natural behaviour on documentaries on tv are far more educational than watching dolphins catch hoops and jumping up into the air on command. This would more than likely instill the longing to get out there and see them in the wild. It sure did it for me. And there are plenty of day-long dolphin sighting or whale watching tours that probably cost about the same or less than a ticket into an aquarium, and the effort in getting to these places where the tours leave from would probably be no more than the effort to get to an aquarium's location. Even if it were, it would be well worth it.
And from the conservation point of view... well, dolphins are classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. They don't need to be captured and bred so their species survives. In fact, that is doing the opposite - harming the wild population. And, the issue that threatens most species survival is in fact habitat destruction, which, again, is the fault of humans. It does seem rather silly to me that we can take some animals from the wild, put them in a zoo and say that we are saving them from extinction, when we are the ones causing it in the first place. Sadly though, until habitat loss and other threats can be stopped and hopefully reversed, this may be a necessity for some species, such as Gorillas, which are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to habitat loss, poaching and Ebola.
I'm sure RWS didn't want Sharmila to die either. But it happened, just as it did to 3 other captured dolphins before her. Because no matter how hard you try, you can never replicate conditions in the wild in captivity for animals that are meant to be free.
4 out of the original 27 wild caught bottlenose dolphins have died since their capture. Let's see... 4 out of 27. That's a 15% mortality rate. Looks pretty high to me.
What could have caused Sharmila's death, and the death of the 3 dolphins before her? "Prior medical tests indicated that she was healthy". I wonder if they did any tests for mental health. As a vet, I have seen animals in captivity showing signs of stress from being cooped up. They move around in circles in their enclosures (called stereotypic behaviour) or sit in one spot, staring at the wall. And I do believe that they can become depressed. Being someone who would much rather be outdoors than stuck indoors all day, I can fully empathise.
Have a look at this video (filmed by me, edited by my friend Carson Holzheimer)
I urge you to look on Youtube for more videos of dolphins having fun in their natural habitat, surfing waves, bow riding etc.
Then have a look at this video (killer whales are dolphins too):
Which one would you rather see?
Dolphins are highly energetic, intelligent and social mammals that swim many kilometres in a day. They need to be out in the open ocean, not stuck in a little swimming pool for the rest of their lives.
In my opinion, there are animals that are amenable to living in captivity, and those that are not. Animals that could do well in captivity are, for example, those that have a small home range, don't need much environmental stimuli like a clownfish, or a sloth. However, those that do have a large home range, or are migratory, like dolphins, orcas, manta rays, whale sharks... should not be kept in tiny enclosures for their entire lives.
Well, what about education, you might say? All those children, going to marine parks and watching the shows and learning about dolphin behaviour... I think that watching TRUE natural behaviour on documentaries on tv are far more educational than watching dolphins catch hoops and jumping up into the air on command. This would more than likely instill the longing to get out there and see them in the wild. It sure did it for me. And there are plenty of day-long dolphin sighting or whale watching tours that probably cost about the same or less than a ticket into an aquarium, and the effort in getting to these places where the tours leave from would probably be no more than the effort to get to an aquarium's location. Even if it were, it would be well worth it.
And from the conservation point of view... well, dolphins are classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. They don't need to be captured and bred so their species survives. In fact, that is doing the opposite - harming the wild population. And, the issue that threatens most species survival is in fact habitat destruction, which, again, is the fault of humans. It does seem rather silly to me that we can take some animals from the wild, put them in a zoo and say that we are saving them from extinction, when we are the ones causing it in the first place. Sadly though, until habitat loss and other threats can be stopped and hopefully reversed, this may be a necessity for some species, such as Gorillas, which are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to habitat loss, poaching and Ebola.
I'm sure RWS didn't want Sharmila to die either. But it happened, just as it did to 3 other captured dolphins before her. Because no matter how hard you try, you can never replicate conditions in the wild in captivity for animals that are meant to be free.
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