Sonnyjane, I am interested to hear your thoughts on the movie - please post here after you've seen it with your review!
I am also interested in your thoughts on Atlantic or bottle nose dolphins kept in captivity based on the criteria below which makes me against orcas in captivity.
Disney does, of course, keep dolphins in captivity at The Seas at Epcot (I think they keep bottle nose, but am not completely sure). I am not sure they have a breeding program??? Are Disney's dolphins all rescues?
I am not intimately familiar with Disney's dolphin program. I don't know where their dolphins come from but I can almost certainly promise they aren't rescues. A majority of dolphins in captivity are captive-bred. A "rescue" would imply that it's a wild dolphin that they rehabilitated and then trained because it couldn't be released, and very few places do that, but I do know of ones that have one or perhaps a couple animals like that in their collection, but the majority are just from breeding in their facility or from other facilities.
My objection to orcas at Sea World is four-fold:
- Orcas are highly intelligent (become bored, mentally under stimulated and possibly destructive) - high intelligence should raise a flag to review a species kept in captivity but in my mind is not the only factor to consider
-Sea World orcas are kept in conditions that do not mimic their natural social structures (orcas that would not share close space in the wild are kept very close together at Sea World) - this seems to cause extreme stress. I know at AK, for example, bachelor gorillas are kept in a separate enclosure from the moms and family units which more closely mimics the social structure of wild gorillas. From what I understand about orcas kept at Sea World, the social units are not engineered as precisely (anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong)
It's not necessarily that wild orcas don't live closely together. They live very closely together. Many of them spend their entire lives with each other in the wild, side by side. Big bulls like Tilly are actually momma's boys that stay by their mom's side most of their life. The difference is that in captivity, in small enclosures, if there is a scuffle, there's no escape. If you're having a bad day, there's nowhere to hide. You can't hang out with A one day and B the next, you have to ALWAYS hang out with A and B together in captivity. That leads to the frustration and acting out because there isn't an alternative outlet. We call it redirection. If another whale is pissing you off but you can't take it out on them because of your housing situation, it's likely that you might take it out on your trainer instead. This happens with many animals in captivity, certainly not just orcas.
-Dangerous animals like Tilikum being used in feel-good performances. Orcas are ruthless predators. Orcas hunt, "capture," and kill baby whales, for example. Using that same logic, I don't want to see a tiger or lion in a fuzzy-wuzzy circus-ish show either. I think a setting like that is misleading - I wouldn't want to cuddle a polar bear OR an orca and a performance that spotlights them in that way is not educational or appealing to me. Under the same logic, old circus acts where a performer would stick his head inside a lion's mouth to show that he trained the animal to allow him to do so does not mean we should train animals that way - just because orcas can be trained to pose for photos doesn't necessarily follow that we should do it or that it is best for the animal. But I don't apply this rule to all species - for example, I think many dogs are highly motivated to work (with or for humans) in capacities such as herding, tracking or performing tricks. Dogs have co-evolved with us and form a special bond. I have no problem with a dog with the right personality performing in an agility competition or (controversy ahead) the Iditarod (spelling?) sled race. Birds such as parrots are also highly intelligent and from what I know and have learned about them, I have no problem with them performing in Flights of Wonder at AK.
I know it sounds far-fetched, so I don't blame you if you feel skeptical that I am coming on the boards saying I've worked with dolphins, whales, AND birds, but I used to work for the company that does the Flights of Wonder show at AK as well (it is a contracted show, not officially a Disney entity). This is a small community so you tend to know everyone and have similar backgrounds. I still have many friends that work there. I never worked at AK, just for the same company and have worked with the same animals that are currently performing when they were in a different city. I know how they are housed and I know what actions are taken to keep them enriched even though they might lack space. Is it comparable to being in the wild? No, not at all. But I know that in those particular cases, I am okay with it. I'm very middle of the road. I'm not a PETA/Greenpeace activist, but I'm also not 100% okay with animals being in captivity. I know that I approve of the people that are doing it properly and disagree with those that are doing it wrong. I am unfortunately QUITE aware of bird shows out there that are NOT doing things properly and that have birds living in conditions that I can't condone. I can only say with certainty that I'm happy with how I manage my animals currently and can sleep well at night knowing that I have incredibly healthy animals that don't display negative stereotypic behavioral problems that can be common with birds in captivity.
- Finally, size. Orcas just seem too big to ever have enough room in captivity to thrive.
So the real problem I have with Sea World's orcas are my second third and fourth bullet points above.
Using the same criteria above, how would you judge Disney's dolphins in captivity?
One more point, I do admire that Disney does a lot of research on animal intelligence with their dolphins (no idea how many researchers - not trainers or caregivers - Sea World has on staff so I have no authority to compare them with Disney on that topic). Last time my husband and I were at The Seas they were performing object/image rotation tests with the dolphins before that - in 2011- we saw them testing the concept of same and different. There is so much we don't yet know about animal intelligence that all scientifically rigorous data that we can gather is extremely important.
I know very little about Disney's dolphin program. I haven't been to Epcot in 18 years. I had a boss that used to be a part of their program and was heavily involved with communication research (they would communicate with the dolphins using a big picture board). That research was really fascinating and produced a lot of information about their ability to communicate with each other and with humans. I don't know anything about the size of their holding or even how many animals they have, so I really can't comment about their program specifically. As far as bottlenoseds in captivity in general, I'd say that's my threshold species. I think I'm okay with dolphins. Larger than that, no, but dolphins I can accept. Do I think they are better off in the wild? Of course. But I think that it's possible to maintain dolphins in a way that's appropriate. My husband used to train dolphins and sea lions for a few years and I did a 4-month internship with the same place shortly after finishing up my degree. I have several friends that are dolphin trainers currently at different facilities. All of the facilities where I know people personally, I have visited and have been very impressed with their care. I'm not going to mention names of facilities specifically, but I'm not referring to Sea World, but other private facilities around the country. They have relatively large pools (larger than the orca pool at SW) and the ability to socialize with other dolphins. Not ALL places house them properly, and so I don't think ANYONE can have them, but I have seen it done properly and therefore I won't say that nobody should have them.
Careful what you ask for lol!
