Thank you for sharing Op. I cannot believe that people still support this- horrific and I thought it was common knowledge.

I am not aware of any touristy opportunity to interact with animals thing that isn’t abusive- like the elephants in Thailand, drugged baby tiger cubs, etc. There may be some that are above board but I am not aware of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did a dolphin encounter at blue lagoon in the Bahamas with my kids. We didn’t ride the dolphins, but we interacted with them. The dolphin was a mother who would occasionally swim away from the instructor to nudge her baby back to the area whenever he swam off. The instructor would explain that her mama duties come first, and assured us that she would be back once she got her little one back to the area.

It’s a conservation sanctuary. It was education based. I am confident they didn’t steal and kill dolphins. They were breeding them and they seemed well cared for in huge open lagoons.

So how, exactly, did they get the mother? And train her?

She could easily be a rescue that after they rehabbed her she still couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

Maybe they rescued?

Maybe they changed the way they do business with a conservation approach?

Point is: I didn’t ride a dolphin; I learned about them, paid to support the education and conservation effort, and got to be very close (standing in chest deep water), stroke the dolphin, etc.

It’s not exactly about riding a dolphin. You had a personal encounter with the dolphin where the dolphin has been trained to perform. That place is a marine park claiming to be a conservation dolphin sanctuary. Those are the places The Dolphin Project is fighting against.

Lots of dogs are trained to work or perform. That doesn’t make them mistreated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

Yes. Like in kaikoura, New Zealand.

We had a little pod come up to us in NZ while we were kayaking. It was amazing. They stayed with us and played with the boats for almost 30 minutes. My friend got in the water and they swam right up to her. You could tell they were very used to humans but it was all on their terms. It was just the two of us and four dolphins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did a dolphin encounter at blue lagoon in the Bahamas with my kids. We didn’t ride the dolphins, but we interacted with them. The dolphin was a mother who would occasionally swim away from the instructor to nudge her baby back to the area whenever he swam off. The instructor would explain that her mama duties come first, and assured us that she would be back once she got her little one back to the area.

It’s a conservation sanctuary. It was education based. I am confident they didn’t steal and kill dolphins. They were breeding them and they seemed well cared for in huge open lagoons.

So how, exactly, did they get the mother? And train her?

She could easily be a rescue that after they rehabbed her she still couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

Maybe they rescued?

Maybe they changed the way they do business with a conservation approach?

Point is: I didn’t ride a dolphin; I learned about them, paid to support the education and conservation effort, and got to be very close (standing in chest deep water), stroke the dolphin, etc.

It’s not exactly about riding a dolphin. You had a personal encounter with the dolphin where the dolphin has been trained to perform. That place is a marine park claiming to be a conservation dolphin sanctuary. Those are the places The Dolphin Project is fighting against.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did a dolphin encounter at blue lagoon in the Bahamas with my kids. We didn’t ride the dolphins, but we interacted with them. The dolphin was a mother who would occasionally swim away from the instructor to nudge her baby back to the area whenever he swam off. The instructor would explain that her mama duties come first, and assured us that she would be back once she got her little one back to the area.

It’s a conservation sanctuary. It was education based. I am confident they didn’t steal and kill dolphins. They were breeding them and they seemed well cared for in huge open lagoons.

So how, exactly, did they get the mother? And train her?

She could easily be a rescue that after they rehabbed her she still couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

Here is another red flag about this facility regarding dolphin breeding in captivity:

From the Dolphin Project: “Staff may make it seem that dolphins are bred in captivity to help wild populations. In reality, these dolphins will not be contributing to wild populations as they will never be released. Dolphins are bred in captivity for the sole purpose of having more captive dolphins to profit from. Facilities that promote or celebrate calf births should be treated with caution.”

Sorry, PP, sounds like you were in exactly the type of marine park The Dolphin Project is fighting against. They aren’t going to release those poor dolphins into the wild.

Yep. You mention all the red flags for your “dolphin encounter” at Blue Lagoon in the Bahamas — sounds like it markets itself as an animal sanctuary but is exactly the opposite. True sanctuaries want to release the dolphin back into the wild, and if that is not possible, limit interactions with humans and mimic natural environment as much as possible:

From The Dolphin Project:

“A true sanctuary is for dolphins that cannot safely be released back into the wild.

A true sanctuary never tells visitors that the dolphins are free to leave whenever they want, as this ignores the fact that non-releasable dolphins depend on their caregivers to survive.

Captive breeding is not allowed in a real sanctuary. There is no reason for a dolphin to be born in captivity.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

Yes. Like in kaikoura, New Zealand.

Of course! This has nothing to do with purely wild encounters with dolphins, barring any excursion director guaranteeing you will meet up with dolphins or gunning their boat motor to catch up to a dolphin or whale pod.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did a dolphin encounter at blue lagoon in the Bahamas with my kids. We didn’t ride the dolphins, but we interacted with them. The dolphin was a mother who would occasionally swim away from the instructor to nudge her baby back to the area whenever he swam off. The instructor would explain that her mama duties come first, and assured us that she would be back once she got her little one back to the area.

It’s a conservation sanctuary. It was education based. I am confident they didn’t steal and kill dolphins. They were breeding them and they seemed well cared for in huge open lagoons.

So how, exactly, did they get the mother? And train her?

She could easily be a rescue that after they rehabbed her she still couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

Here is another red flag about this facility regarding dolphin breeding in captivity:

From the Dolphin Project: “Staff may make it seem that dolphins are bred in captivity to help wild populations. In reality, these dolphins will not be contributing to wild populations as they will never be released. Dolphins are bred in captivity for the sole purpose of having more captive dolphins to profit from. Facilities that promote or celebrate calf births should be treated with caution.”

Sorry, PP, sounds like you were in exactly the type of marine park The Dolphin Project is fighting against. They aren’t going to release those poor dolphins into the wild.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

Yes. Like in kaikoura, New Zealand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

I've had this happen while scuba diving a couple times and have to admit it was pretty amazing. Once I was having a rough day overall as I had been seasick when on the boat and when those guys came up to me underwater it just game me this overwhelming sense of peace. Really curious and fascinating animals.

But I would never participate in one of the swim with dolphin programs.

I was in Roatan when it happened. Probably one of the most memorable dives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I did a dolphin encounter at blue lagoon in the Bahamas with my kids. We didn’t ride the dolphins, but we interacted with them. The dolphin was a mother who would occasionally swim away from the instructor to nudge her baby back to the area whenever he swam off. The instructor would explain that her mama duties come first, and assured us that she would be back once she got her little one back to the area.

It’s a conservation sanctuary. It was education based. I am confident they didn’t steal and kill dolphins. They were breeding them and they seemed well cared for in huge open lagoons.

So how, exactly, did they get the mother? And train her?

She could easily be a rescue that after they rehabbed her she still couldn't survive on her own in the wild.

Here is another red flag about this facility regarding dolphin breeding in captivity:

From the Dolphin Project: “Staff may make it seem that dolphins are bred in captivity to help wild populations. In reality, these dolphins will not be contributing to wild populations as they will never be released. Dolphins are bred in captivity for the sole purpose of having more captive dolphins to profit from. Facilities that promote or celebrate calf births should be treated with caution.”

Anonymous wrote:All of the dolphins at Atlantis were orphaned/homeless from Hurricane Katrina. They have an enormous beautiful lagoon.

Are they breeding dolphins? Did you take photos with dolphins? Did they have timed shows?

Here is a really good guideline to know if it really is a wildlife sanctuary or a marine park:

https://www.dolphinproject.com/campaigns/captivity-industry/sanctuary-or-marine-park/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

I've had this happen while scuba diving a couple times and have to admit it was pretty amazing. Once I was having a rough day overall as I had been seasick when on the boat and when those guys came up to me underwater it just game me this overwhelming sense of peace. Really curious and fascinating animals.

But I would never participate in one of the swim with dolphin programs.

+1

Dolphins are really playful, curious creatures. They are not opposed to being near humans in the wild. You just shouldn't attempt to ride on them or touch them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PSA — if you are heading to warmer climates.

I’ve just learned that they kill adult dolphins and steal their babies so they can be trained for those “Swim with the Dolphin” events at marine parks and exclusive resorts.

World-renowned wildlife photographer and founder of Sea Legacy conservation group has a truly horrifying video of one of these dolphin hunts on his Instagram site.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8WnpbeJpFf/

It’s truly horrific and barbaric to watch.

Please boycott these events and spread the word to help end this cruelty. Thanks.

No thanks. I'm not watching a horrific barbaric video. If you can find other sources that confirm this, please post. I googled and did not find anything confirming this claim.

Wow. Legit and internationally-respected group, The Dolphin Project, is the source of this video. You don’t have to watch the video —but to deny these drive hunts to corner and kill the adult dolphins and steal their babies is despicable. The evidence is right there.

@dolphin_project
@paulnicklen

This was not included in the OP. Just a link, which I was NOT going to watch did not indicate the source.

I am OP. The link was to Instagram page of Paul Nicklen, world-renowned wildlife photographer. It had description of dolphin hunts and you could choose whether to watch it or not. All the source info from The Dolphin Project was listed in his description. You didn’t even read it.

I would never ride dolphins but if you’re going to post such a dire warning you should include more information. A lot of animal lovers like myself are not going to watch horrific footage of animals being abused. Do you literally put a link up and you didn’t say it would take you to a landing page. A lot of people, like myself, may think that it takes you directly to awful video.

Point taken. But you shouldn’t assume that proper credit from the video source, The Dolphin Project, wasn’t given.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PSA — if you are heading to warmer climates.

I’ve just learned that they kill adult dolphins and steal their babies so they can be trained for those “Swim with the Dolphin” events at marine parks and exclusive resorts.

World-renowned wildlife photographer and founder of Sea Legacy conservation group has a truly horrifying video of one of these dolphin hunts on his Instagram site.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8WnpbeJpFf/

It’s truly horrific and barbaric to watch.

Please boycott these events and spread the word to help end this cruelty. Thanks.

No thanks. I'm not watching a horrific barbaric video. If you can find other sources that confirm this, please post. I googled and did not find anything confirming this claim.

Wow. Legit and internationally-respected group, The Dolphin Project, is the source of this video. You don’t have to watch the video —but to deny these drive hunts to corner and kill the adult dolphins and steal their babies is despicable. The evidence is right there.

@dolphin_project
@paulnicklen

This was not included in the OP. Just a link, which I was NOT going to watch did not indicate the source.

I am OP. The link was to Instagram page of Paul Nicklen, world-renowned wildlife photographer. It had description of dolphin hunts and you could choose whether to watch it or not. All the source info from The Dolphin Project was listed in his description. You didn’t even read it.

I would never ride dolphins but if you’re going to post such a dire warning you should include more information. A lot of animal lovers like myself are not going to watch horrific footage of animals being abused. Do you literally put a link up and you didn’t say it would take you to a landing page. A lot of people, like myself, may think that it takes you directly to awful video.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ok to do in the wild. I.e. you're in a boat or kayak and a pod swims up to check you out.

I've had this happen while scuba diving a couple times and have to admit it was pretty amazing. Once I was having a rough day overall as I had been seasick when on the boat and when those guys came up to me underwater it just game me this overwhelming sense of peace. Really curious and fascinating animals.

But I would never participate in one of the swim with dolphin programs.