Written by Michelle Kretzer
Dolphins don't belong in tiny glass tanks, and India wants to make sure that they won't be put there.
iStockphoto.com/joe32780
When PETA India learned that state governments were planning to put dolphin parks in several parts of the country, it immediately contacted Minister of Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan. The group reminded her that the Animal Welfare Board of India, which must give its permission before animals may be used in performances, said that it has not granted and will not grant permission for companies to keep dolphins in captivity, as tearing dolphins away from their families, confining them to tiny tanks, and forcing them to perform likely constitutes cruelty and violates India's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Natarajan was in complete agreement with PETA India and the board and announced that the ministry would deny all proposals for dolphin parks.
In the U.S. and Canada, dolphins aren't so lucky. Animal advocates must continue to speak out against aquariums and swim-with-dolphins programs.
Eight trainers at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, have handed in their resignations and are speaking out to the Toronto Star about the cruel and abusive conditions at the marine animal prison, which PETA has been after for years.
Because they were made to sign nondisclosure agreements about what goes on behind the scenes at the park, many of the trainers asked not to be identified by name. But former trainer Phil Demers, who quit the park after 12 years, gave a daring on-camera interview describing the abuse he witnessed:
(Video courtesy of thestar.com)
PETA has had our sights on Marineland for some time, writing letters to Canadian officials and asking them to take action to improve conditions at the park.
Now, Marineland owner John Holer's own trainers are accusing the park of cruelty to animals, including the following:
When questioned about the insufficient staff, dirty water, and untimely death of a baby beluga, Marineland owner John Holer offered this chilling answer: "[F]or people and all living things, there is a time to live and a time to die."
Perhaps his cavalier attitude explains the more than 40 whale and dolphin deaths at Marineland since the park's inception. The park, along with fellow marine animal prison SeaWorld, earned a spot on PETA's list of deadly destinations, a register of places that anyone who cares about animals should avoid like the plague.
Please voice your objections about the lack of adequate laws to protect captive animals to Premier Dalton McGuinty:
The Honourable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario Rm. 281, Main Legislative Building, Queen’s Park Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A4 416-325-7578 (fax)
Update: Tom and Misha were released back into the ocean earlier this month and within hours were already chasing and hunting fish together and socializing with other wild dolphins. Born Free kept their release on May 9 a secret to avoid human interference with Tom's and Misha's progress, but satellite transmitters on their dorsal fins show that since their release, the dolphins have already traveled hundreds of miles and are healthy and eating well.
Two dolphins who were formerly held captive for four years as part of a swim-with-dolphins program will finally be released back into their native habitat later this spring.
Captured and imprisoned in a tiny tank in Hisaronu, Turkey, bottlenose dolphins Tom and Misha were denied everything natural to them and forced to perform for a constant barrage of tourists. Their future seemed bleak until the Born Free Foundation, a British organization that campaigns in behalf of animals in zoos and aquariums, embarked on a mission to win their freedom. With the help of PETA Germany, which posted an action alert on its website, wrote to Hisaronu's mayor, and coordinated actions with Turkish animal rights groups, Born Free got Tom and Misha released to a marine reserve in the Mediterranean Sea and began preparing them for life in the ocean.
pmarkham|cc by 2.0
Because of the stress of intensive confinement, the dolphins were weak, underweight, and lethargic when they arrived at the reserve. But after two years of nurturing, they are healthier and stronger and, most importantly, are starting to catch fish on their own, a sign that they are nearly ready to be released on schedule in late spring. Once again, they will be able to swim for up to 100 miles a day and use their sonar to explore the ocean.
If you love dolphins, please don't pay for them to be imprisoned and tormented in swim-with-dolphins exhibitions. By contrast, programs like the one at the Florida Keys' John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park allow you to interact with dolphins in their home—on their terms.
In the upcoming Disney flick LOL, Lina Esco plays Miley Cyrus' fearless BFF who always speaks her mind. The role wasn't a stretch for Lina, who constantly looks for opportunities to talk about the cause that is closest to her heart: getting marine mammals out of captivity.
Lina has helped create two stirring public service announcements about how marine parks such as SeaWorld abuse animals and how the parks are responsible for Japan's dolphin slaughter. One of the ads features a talented group of kids, and the other boasts a who's who of Hollywood elite. Now it's Lina who is in front of the camera, starring in a video for PETA in which she asks her fans not to patronize marine-mammal shows:
Lina makes a difference because she is never silent. Whether the cause you are most passionate about is ending the abuse of animals in marine parks, preventing animals from being killed for fur, or getting great apes out of laboratories, learn how you can "never be silent."
PETA is calling for a U.S. Department of Agriculture investigation after D.J., a 15-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, was found dead on the floor of his tank at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi. Trainers said that D.J., short for De Janeiro, was acting unusual and not eating the day before he died. He is the second dolphin to die at the aquarium—Cobie, also just 15, died of pneumonia in 2007.
Docklands Tony|cc by 2.0In the wild, dolphins swim up to 100 miles per day in family pods or tribes of hundreds.
Untimely deaths are the rule for marine mammals in captivity. At SeaWorld alone, between 1986 and 2011, 25 orcas died—and not one from old age. The unending and debilitating stress of captivity weakens marine mammals' immune systems, causing them to die earlier than their wild counterparts, who live for decades. Those who don't succumb to intestinal gangrene, acute hemorrhagic pneumonia, pulmonary abscesses, chronic kidney disease, chronic cardiovascular failure, septicemia, influenza, or other health problems may take their own lives by hitting their heads against the sides of pools or simply not coming up for air.
Please watch dolphins only at the beach, not in tanks.
Written by Heather Faraid Drennan
A protest held by PETA, Animal Concerns Puerto Rico, and the Puerto Rico Committee for Free Dolphins against a proposed San Juan, Puerto Rico, dolphinarium went swimmingly as dozens of supporters came out to explain why the facility would be bad for dolphins and the city.
Photo: El Comité por Delfines Libres de Puerto Rico
The facility would purportedly use the dolphins to work with children with disabilities, including autism, but San Juan's mayor and other proponents ignore the fact that dolphin-assisted therapy has been discredited, with experts calling it downright dangerous. Who wants to risk having their child sexually molested by a randy dolphin?
Meanwhile, countless studies show that confining highly social, intelligent dolphins to cramped concrete tanks is akin to torture for them. Glen Venezio, who helped organize the protest, urged the city to embrace "the concept of live and let live. Leave the dolphins alone, in their ocean world where they belong." PETA supplied the local group with posters and other materials for the protest.
If your city has a marine mammal park or zoo, if you learn about an event featuring animals as prizes, or if there's any other situation harmful to animals in your community, contact PETA's Action Team to get help organizing a local protest or outreach. E-mail ATeam@peta.org or click here to join the Action Team and receive e-mail updates about events in your area.
Written by PETA
Shadow and Chambers, two dolphins who were forced to perform at a Swiss aquarium, died after a rave party was held at the facility. Authorities are trying to determine the cause of death, which possibly includes being blasted with deafeningly loud music or being poisoned by narcotics dropped into their tank.
PETA Germany had sent an urgent appeal to aquarium management and veterinary officials to cancel the rave and is now poised to file a lawsuit against those responsible if the necropsies (expected to take several weeks) determine that the rave was connected with Shadow's and Chambers' deaths.
Dolphins, whales, rays, and other fish and sea life confined to cramped tanks in aquariums already have it bad enough without being subjected to the stress of loud parties put on by marine parks in an attempt to make a few extra bucks. As PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews recounted after attending a party at the Georgia Aquarium, three guides admitted that music at such parties upsets the animals and causes them to fight.
In the wild, dolphins swim together in family pods or tribes of hundreds. Photo: lowjumpingfrog | cc by 2.0
Never buy a ticket to the Georgia Aquarium, SeaWorld or any other facility that profits from keeping animals in captivity.
Written by Jennifer O'Connor
As anyone who has ever forgotten to spell out "w-a-l-k" can attest, dogs can understand our language. One recent study showed that dogs can learn up to 165 words and gestures and that they can count. And dogs aren't the only animals you can depend on in an emergency either—a rabbit recently saved her human family from a house fire.
Could birds call each other "humanbrain" as an insult? Like humans, crows and ravens are very social and have large brains for their body size. They also rival humans and monkeys in their ability to delay self-gratification for a greater reward. They are articulate, too, as evidenced by escaped former companion birds who are now teaching their flocks to understand English. If a family planning to welcome a new baby is having trouble picking a name, perhaps they should consult with parrots, who name their offspring.
Dolphins talk to each other in a way similar to humans, too, by adjusting their muscular tension and air flow. Words likely not in their vocabulary? "Imprison," "abuse," and "exploit" …. But if they are familiar with those terms, it could explain why scientists in Australia are just now discovering a new species of dolphin—maybe they were hiding!
Written by Michelle Sherrow
Today, as Japanese fishers began stabbing dolphins with spears and cutting their throats with knives, PETA members, along with members of Earth Island Institute and Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project, marked "Dolphin Day" by gathering outside the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest the annual slaughter.
Protesters screened graphic footage from the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, showing how fishers in the village of Taiji chase entire schools of dolphins into a cove, trap them, and slaughter them as they scream and struggle to escape. The water turns bright red with the dolphins' blood.
People in many other cities around the world today also protested the slaughter, which will claim the lives of up to 23,000 dolphins and whales over the next six months. The animals are killed because they are considered "pests" by the fishing industry, although a few are captured alive and sold to aquariums and swim-with-dolphins programs, where they will spend the rest of their lives confined to cramped tanks.
You can help stop this by contacting your local Japanese Embassy and demanding that Japan end the cruel slaughter immediately.
Oooh, don't miss this: The deadly consequences of the marine mammal entertainment industry are on screen in the new film A Fall From Freedom, produced by San Francisco–based EarthViews Productions. In hardball interviews with marine scientists, whistleblowing former trainers, and theme park PR mouths, the scope and scale of the suffering of all the dolphins and whales who have died in parks like SeaWorld is made clear.
The movie comes on the heels of Outside magazine reporter Tim Zimmerman's scathing investigative report about this insanely cruel industry, called "Blood in the Water." Describing the behavior of orcas in an "aqua park" in Spain, the piece notes that the whales used "their teeth to peel away strips of [the pool's coating] from the pool walls like bored kids picking at loose paint." Notes of a trainer monitoring one female orca's "frequent unhappy vocalizations" describes her as "back to feeling insecure when separated, alone, both in shows & in sessions." This piece makes riveting reading.
If you're hitting the road this summer, heed the plea from PETA pal Bob Barker to drive right on by marine theme parks and let SeaWorld know that you won't be buying a ticket.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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