To not get swimming with dolphins

[allthegoodnameshadgone]

I just don't see the attraction. Sea lions sound more fun.

Change my mind for me and tell me your lovely experiences swimming with dolphins.

(We are thinking about going to Florida).

I've swum with dolphins in the wild in New Zealand. The company I went with were very conscious of the dolphins well being, we were told to get out of the water when they spotted a baby dolphin and the dolphins were free to swim away whenever they wanted.
Having seen them in the wild, I would never want to go somewhere like discovery cove where they are captive.
Swimming with the dolphins was great but seeing a big pod swimming alongside a boat, jumping out of the water is a truly awesome experience, I've been lucky enough to see that several times and I personally think it's better than swimming with them.

Apologies for the Dm link. I am sickened.

DM www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2541803/Japanese-fishermen-catch-25-dolphins-pod-250-prepare-mass-slaughter.html

You can watch The Cove too, which is about the Japanese capture/slaughter of dolphins.

Well done allthegoodnames. Honestly it will change the way you think about it forever.

The Born Free Foundation campaigned for many years to have dolphin shows banned in this country and we are great here for taking action against cruelty to animals. Not so in America sadly, although given today's events in Florida there is much wrong with their country.

Please watch Blackfish - after that, there’s no going back, I’ll never pay to see
Captive animals for
Entertainment now, having watched that.

The Cove is the Ric O'Barry thing too. Blue Cove day for when they don't slaughter or capture and Red Cove day for when they do.

I really hope a lot of mumsnetters will click on this thread and have a little ponder on the subject.

Whales and Dolphins in captivity is barbaric...end of.

Glad to hear you’re willing to look into it. It really is awful, they are captured from the wild. Often the whole family pod is killed (in horrific ways) just to get the preferred young dolphin. Once captured, a lot die during transportation. They are then kept in a bare, Small swimming pool for the rest of their life. They suffer greatly from the mental trauma of captivity - there’s been cases where they’ve appeared to ‘commit suicide’ by continuously jumping out the pool, as well as attempting to drown their young. They’re hugely social animals who live in large family pods, yet they’re often kept in solitary or one or two others in captivity. It is truly heartbreaking.

We swam with dolphins in the wild. Just jumped off a boat when a pod swam nearby. It was amazing. I wouldn’t swim with captive dolphins.

I'd be scared to death

I have swum with dolphins and seals in the wild. Both great (seals are much better).

I would NEVER do it in captivity. EVER.

Empty the Tanks - Rachel Carberry. Have a google of her

I went swimming with dolphins in the wild in Kaikoura (NZ) - AMAZING. Huge pod of hundreds (no exaggeration - the pods can be as big as 1000) swirling around you, never quite within arm's reach (clever!). Small boat, thick wetsuits, deep water, masks and snorkels. Bloody freezing. Both boat numbers and groups sizes are very limited. No good if you are going to Mexico, but if you are in NZ I highly recommend it

Have also been in with sea lions a couple of times - again in the wild, Possibly more interactive as they seemed more curious? Also great, and a completely different experience.

Would never, however, swim with any wild animals in captivity.

It's unbelievably cruel

Sorry but as soon as I read your title I thought of this

I've done it in the wild - their choice not mine. A pod joined my sailing club's training day a few years back.

Can't see why anyone would want to do it with a captive one though.
Half the fun in the wild is the sheer joy they obviously had racing the boats.

Blackfish is an amazing film to watch

I’m never surprised at the cruelty humans inflict on animals,saddened but no longer surprised.
When You know the barbaric ways some of the human race treat others of their own kind.
Other life forms would survive perfectly well without the human race.
We wouldn’t survive without them.
Some members of mankind don’t seem to see this.
They’d bloody soon better.

I watched Black Fish a while back and found it truly barbaric.
I also read somewhere about an Irish woman who was killed off the coast of Ireland when she got out of a boat to swim with a wild dolphin. It had it's baby nearby and was thought to have reacted out of fear.
As for swimming with a dolphin in captivity ... I don't like getting out of my depth or getting my face wet in a normal heated pool - swimming with dolphins sounds like hell just for those reasons alone.

Never in captivity, for all the reasons above.

Anyway. Sharks are where it’s at. We were snorkelling in the Gulf of Thailand and were joined by wild sharks. Now they are bloody beautiful creatures.

Oh god, please, no. I feel sick to my stomach when I see people posting pics of their 'dream' swimming with dolphins in captivity. The way in which these animals are caught is horrifying, and you'd be funding this to continue. It's so bloody awful. Watch blackfish or the cove. Eye opening.

Never in captivity, for all the reasons above.

Anyway. Sharks are where it’s at. We were snorkelling in the Gulf of Thailand and were joined by wild sharks. Now they are bloody beautiful creatures.

Bum. Sorry for the double post

Purple hammer - so true

Sea lions sound more fun?!?! Are you for real? You don't get swimming with dolphins but you do get swimming with sea lions? What's more fun about swimming with (captive, forced performance) sea lions compared to (captive, forced performance) dolphins?

I don't want to use the T(roll) word but honestly can't see how you can't see you're being totally goady.

Fun.... what the hell.