Poll: 92% of Americans Say Dolphins Belong in the Ocean—Why Aren’t Oahu Facilities Listening? 

For Immediate Release:
September 10, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

An overwhelming 92% of Americans say dolphins belong in the ocean, not in tanks, according to a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll of 2,001 U.S. adults commissioned by PETA. Yet 17 dolphins remain trapped in cramped enclosures at Dolphin Quest Oahu at The Kahala Hotel & Resort in Honolulu and Sea Life Park in Waimanalo—and hundreds more are confined at marine parks, resorts, and shoddy aquariums across five states nationwide—putting the industry sharply at odds with the public it tries to sell tickets to.

Every additional survey result widens the gulf between what the public wants and what Dolphin Quest Oahu and Sea Life Park are doing:

• 80% support releasing the dolphins currently held at marine parks and resorts when possible or sending them to seaside sanctuaries.
• 70% of those who have visited a marine park or resort in the U.S. say they have concerns about the dolphins there. The greatest concerns include the small size of the dolphins’ enclosure (42%), the condition of their tanks (30%), the dolphins’ mental health (37%), mistreatment by handlers (28%), and injury and illness (19%).

At Dolphin Quest Oahu and Sea Life Park, dolphins endure stressful “swim with dolphins” encounters, in which they’re repeatedly touched, grabbed, forced to kiss strangers, or made to hold paintbrushes in their mouths for “painting” sessions. The first dolphins at Sea Life Park were captured from the Pacific Ocean, and it later imported others from the Gulf of Mexico—including Kamaliʻi, who still languishes at the park more than 50 years after being taken from his ocean home. More than 100 dolphins have died at Sea Life Park.

The poll also revealed that more than half of Americans (57%) said that learning that a marine park or resort keeps dolphins for entertainment would negatively affect their view of it. And 63% of Americans would think more highly of a marine park or resort that publicly committed to sending dolphins from its facility to seaside sanctuaries—yet Dolphin Quest Oahu and Sea Life Park have refused to do so.

“The public has spoken, and Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to keeping dolphins in captivity—yet Dolphin Quest Oahu and Sea Life Park are covering their ears and clinging to a cruel relic of the past,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “These intelligent, far-ranging animals don’t belong in cramped enclosures swimming in mind-numbingly endless circles, and PETA is calling on Dolphin Quest Oahu and Sea Life Park to make the smart business move, listen to what the public wants, and release them to seaside sanctuaries.”

In nature, dolphins maintain dynamic relationships with large social networks and can swim up to 60 miles a day. Yet at resorts and marine parks in Oahu—as well as Dolphin Quest Hawaii in Waikoloa Village—dolphins used for hands-on encounters are confined to barren concrete tanks or shallow, makeshift lagoons and are often forced into incompatible social groups, with nowhere to escape when conflicts erupt. They also endure frequent handling, which can cause stress, illness, and injury. These attractions pose health risks to humans, too, as many illnesses—including viral, fungal, and bacterial infections such as salmonella—can be passed from dolphins to human visitors.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

Survey Method:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of PETA from July 21-22, 2026, among 2,001 adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.