It's a shame it was in the Mail, but it's about time a mainstream paper covered this

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

This is barbaric, revolting and upsetting and I don't like linking to DM articles, but it needs to be said and talked about and spread. People have been bravely campaigning against this atrocity for years yet it continues. Please be assured that every time you visit a place like SeaWorld that, no matter what they tell you, you are helping perpetuate this hideous, hideous trade.

I have talked about this on MN before and have had outraged mummies telling me I am trying to spoil their children's fun

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Lentil, look at the link. We are not simply on about captive animals. We are on about the barbaric and blood thirsty slaughter which drives the market for keeping animals, which are designed for swimming hundreds and thousands of miles, in a swimming pool and forcing them to perform tricks for their food. This is not the same as keeping a fish in a tank. It just isn't. I think the issue with dolphins, as opposed to say triggerfish, is that they are such wide-ranging creatures, with complex societies, language, dialects, family bonds and conscious intelligence. I assure you I am not simply a dolphin-hugger - I know a lot about them! It's my job.

This particular thread is about the dolphin slaughter in Japan, not the Aquarium. Please, I beg you, please don't try and derail or water-down this thread. This is a far bigger response than I was expecting - in fact I was even expecting hostility about me trying to spoil people's holidays and wreck children's fun.

I am really glad that you posted a few months ago and I know you care hugely, but sometimes perfectly brilliant threads are "lost" whereas others stick. If anything changes in people's attitude's towards the captive dolphin trade, we need to speak as one voice and not dilute the issue.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Definitely. Thank you, lockets.

My only other reservation is embarrassment that I have been caught looking at the Mail

[LentilAsAnything]

I did look at the link, I am already well-aware if what goes on.
ALL captivity is wrong though. Just because they are caught or bred in less bloody ways does not make it ok. My post wasn't an attempt to derail your very important subject, and believe me, I am absolutely against this barbarity, but let's not lose sight of the other animals' issues. No watering down from me, just a widening of awareness of related issues.
I will bow out though, hopefully a few people will look at my links whilst they are learning about the dolphin situation, and we are win win.
Peace and love.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Peace and love :)

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

There's a good website here about campaigns and petitions.

Ric O'Barry, as you probably know, was the chap who was the Flipper trainer in the 60s, and he had a complete about face after the dolphin who played the character Flipper died in his arms after apparently breathing her last breath on purpose. He has since devoted himself to trying to dismantle the industry he admits he helped create.

[Growlithe]

'Holiday wrecker'? I would love my DCs to somehow get up close and personal with a dolphin. But how could I smile on and take photos, knowing that at any time in the future one of them could read about what is being talked about here - and then hating me for being the grown up who made the decision to go.

We are paying a fortune to go to Florida. There is so much to do, so many experiences, without resorting to this. I can't believe I was so naive as to consider it.

[LentilAsAnything]

Well, I am not about to derail your thread but that reminds me of:
The Ronald McDonald actor who now apologises for brainwashing kids into eating hamburgers and is now advocating vegetarianism;
The cattle rancher turned vegan;
The vegan doctor who was raised on a dairy farm who has published studies showing dairy is linked to serious diseases;
The actor from the film Babe who went vegan because of that pig, :), but if you will consider my post a thread bump, I hope that's ok! :)

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Course its ok. I had no idea about those other people. It's a funny one isn't it - the Babe chap in particular must have had his epiphany because of an up close an personal relationship with an animal, and people who run places like Discovery Cove etc claim that that is the very thing they are trying to enable the public to have. There are also those who say that we should never encroach on animals' worlds at all, but that we should leave them to live their lives in the wild in peace, a very valid point. Personally I think that in order to make people care about wild animals they generally need to have had some kind of encounter with them themselves, so this needs to be managed in as responsible way as possible which has as little impact in them as possible.

[pumpkinsweetieMasPudding]

Awful, just awful.
Such needless, waste of dolphins & whales lifes. I cannot get my head around why they kill them & in such a barbaric way

It's just so evil, my eyes decieve me into believing it's unreal-the water so red and the pain they must suffer, just because they are not 'perfect'.
Has made me cry, and i vow never to visit a sealife centre/aquarium ever again now i know what goes on behind the scenes

[blonderthanred]

Afraid I haven't clicked on link but I've always thought all those Swimming with dolphins/cuddling tigers type experiences are at best weird and at worst likely to involve animal cruelty. Went to Cuba a few years ago with my Mum and was the first thing we were offered - they were really puzzled that we weren't interested at all but it had never occurred to me that it's a 'thing' - I know they do it in Florida etc but I didn't realise it had become a holiday essential. How awful for the poor creatures.

We went for the politics (and the sunshine).

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Sorry if it's upset you, pumpkin :(. I know, it IS bloody upsetting.

[CJMommy]

This is abhorrent I had no idea!

I'm ashamed to say that I swam with dolphins (in captivity) whilst on honeymoon several years ago; will never do this again and will certainly tell others about this-just awful.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Don't be ashamed. How were you to know? It's not like they advertise it - they just peddle nonsense about how educational they are, conveniently not letting anyone know how the animals were obtained.

[landofsoapandglory]

I had no idea about this.

I have been to Florida, and been to SeaWorld and thought it was amazing at the time. But I was a child and had no idea this is how they had gone about selecting the dolphins and had killed many more in the process.

I actually feel quite sick about it. I am utterly, utterly appalled. Thank you for bringing it to all of our attention.

[babyboomersrock]

I'm glad people are starting to look at this - I haven't clicked on that link because I know what happens, and until we get rid of the idea that animals are there for our entertainment, things like this will continue to happen.

Anyone who has seen dolphins in the wild (not that hard to do, if you're prepared to travel for a few hours, and stand on a UK beach for hours...a price worth paying, surely?) will be in awe at the spectacle they create on their own territory, on their own terms. When you see the massive distances they swim in a few seconds, it doesn't bear thinking about that they are confined in the way that "performing dolphins" are confined.

I stood outdoors one lucky wild Highland afternoon and felt joy at being near them...and I was very, very near. They came close to the shore and leapt in and out of the waves - mesmerising stuff, and very humbling. That's what we need to convey to our children - not that every creature is instantly accessible, but that with patience and respect for their habitats, some can be seen doing what they want to do, where they choose to be.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Great post, babyboomer, especially the last bit.

[SparklingSnow]

I'm really glad that finally there has been a story on the horrors of Taiji. This has been going on ignored for far too long.It's great that now more people will be aware of what is going on.

This is why I donate to Sea Shepherd as they take action against this barbaric slaughter. They have cove guardians in Taiji to document what the Japanese don't want the world to see.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

I've found out something just as bad - you know that money you may have sent over to Japan because you were so appalled for the people caught up in the tsunami? Well, it turns out a lot of it was spent by the government on armouring one of their whaling vessels so that those awful people trying to protect the whales couldn't damage the boat. It's here

Paul Watson is a bloody hero and yet he is being criminalised.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Actually that was a little inaccurate - sorry. They spent it on a protection vessel which protects the whaling fleet.

[babyboomersrock]

Thanks for that information, ArielThePiraticalMermaid. It's appalling, and I didn't know about it.

[cory]

LentilAsAnything Sat 05-Jan-13 22:04:22
"I did look at the link, I am already well-aware if what goes on.
ALL captivity is wrong though. Just because they are caught or bred in less bloody ways does not make it ok."

Are you sure? Even if it is a project for breeding e.g. tropical fish that are threatened or extinct in the wild due to habitat depletion?

I am involved in this sort of thing: it's not a substitute for care for the environment; just a recognition that habitat destruction can happen very quickly and once a species is gone you can't get it back simply by restoring the habitat.

The London Aquarium does quite a bit of that sort of work, as well as informing the general public of the threat not just to big and cuddly animals like whales, but also to less photogenic ones. Recently they sent out a call to experienced hobbyists for breeding stock of some species that are either extinct in the wild or nearing extinction, often because they live in a single brook or pond in somewhere like Mexico and are very vulnerable to the sudden building of a factory or a road, or even to a growth of population (with corresponding greater water use) in the local village.