Dolphin Production?

On the 31st of August, One Voice visited Planète Sauvage to check on the little Galeo and on the other dolphins. During this visit, they saw Amtan's baby for the first time, only recently born. In mid September, it was Parel's turn to give birth to a baby dolphin.

This is understandably worrying when we recall that one year ago, her previous new-born was killed in a brawl with Lucille. But more worrying is this hasty production of dolphins, just ahead of the future ministerial decree regulating captivity in France.

Industrial farming emerged in France in the 1970's in order to produce meat, milk, and eggs as cheaply as possible. In order to do this, animals are treated as commodities and are predominantly raised in closed buildings.

This logic has even been applied to dolphins, where industrial production only began at the beginning of the 1990's. The CITES ( Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulations brought an end to the influx of dolphins from Florida and Cuba, resulting in the initiation of reproduction programmes such as those in zoos, which was relatively easy. Dolphins are very sexually active by nature, and this is exacerbated even more by the boredom of captivity. So they are allocated maternity pools whilst dolphinarium research focuses on artificial insemination and monitoring pregnancies. As the clients of Taiji are aware, capturing a wild dolphin is much less expensive than reproducing in captivity. But the Western captive dolphin industry didn't have a choice, "producing" dolphins in abundance.

But why? Not to produce meat or milk, even less to repopulate the oceans. From the moment they are born, these dolphins learn to live, not like real dolphins, but as animal "artists", destined exclusively for entertainment. Some become very competent in this knowledge lacking domain, and the attraction parks take delight in it. Bahia for example, according to Asterix Park, is "Very playful, she often copies adults during the shows. She is always ready to play, on her own, with the other dolphins or with the trainers".

With this type of education, dolphins are obviously incapable of catching live fish. Their instinct, their culture, their conscience and their dignity have been learnt out of them in just two generations. We would need a thousand generations to truly domesticate these individuals, but two generations are sufficient to create physically and intellectually reduced beings, dependent on humans. According to the director of Amneville Zoo, the French dolphinariums produce dolphins in such quantities that they don't know where to put them. They end up being transported to Greece, Spain, and Belgium, like common parcels.

In strictly commercial terms, is all of this wise? In the United States, SeaWorld's downward spiral continues, and the Baltimore Aquarium is promising a sanctuary for the old inmates. In Finland, the last dolphinarium has shut down due to a lack of public. Most of the Northern European dolphinariums struggle to fill the stands today.

For One Voice, it is time that the dolphinariums close and that marine sanctuaries are created to give a well-deserved retirement to all captive cetaceans. Sign and share our petition!

Photo caption: In the wild, baby dolphins are raised by their family