Biting the Hand that Feeds

THE CASE AGAINST DOLPHIN PETTING POOLS

An investigative report by WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

Spring 2003 CONTENTS Introduction 1 Petting Pools: A threat to dolphin welfare 3

Petting Pools: A threat to the welfare of Petting Pool visitors 6

What do visitors learn at Petting Pools? 8

Conclusions Inside Back Cover

Recommendations Back Cover

All information in this report may be reproduced for use as public education providing written credit is given to WDCS and The HSUS. The report itself and photographs contained within it may not be reproduced without the prior written approval of WDCS and The HSUS.

WDCS and The HSUS have taken care to ensure the accuracy of information in this report. We welcome comments, updates and new information on human-dolphin interactions in captivity and the wild. Please send information to: [email protected].

Illustration: Linda Shaw

Produced by:

WDCS, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society WDCS, US Brookfield House P.O. Box 820064 38 St. Paul Street Portland, Oregon 97282-1064 Chippenham U.S.A. Wiltshire SN15 1LY Tel/Fax. (503) 235-7050 U.K. Tel. (44) (0)1249 449 500 HSUS, The Humane Society of the United States Fax. (44) (0)1249 449 501 2100 L Street, NW Website: www.wdcs.org Washington, DC 20037 Email: [email protected] U.S.A. Registered Charity No. 1014705 Tel. (301) 258-3048 Registered Company No. 2737421. Fax. (301) 258-3080 Website: www.hsus.org E-mail: [email protected]

© Copyright 2003 WDCS/HSUS. All rights reserved. most commonly displayed and used in Introduction performance and interaction programs, Life in confinement including in Sea World’s Petting Pools, is Opportunities for physical contact with the bottlenose dolphin. Cetaceans - whales and dolphins, including touching, bottlenose dolphins feeding and swimming with both wild and Public display facilities, irrespective of the in particular - are captive animals, are increasing in range capacity of their tanks or sea-pens and the among the most and intensity. The last five years have seen sophistication of their behavioral enrichment complex and highly a dramatic growth worldwide in human- programs, are simply unable to intelligent of dolphin interaction programs at public accommodate the physiological, behavioral, mammals; renowned display facilities, which both stimulate and social and environmental needs of these meet the public’s demands to get closer complex and wholly aquatic species. As and celebrated for and closer to these unique and fascinating this report depicts, by imposing human their close family animals. Few will deny that a personal contact on captive dolphins, Petting Pools bonds, boundless encounter with a dolphin or whale is a exacerbate the stress already wrought by energy, co-operative stimulating and moving experience but, captivity, and are entirely unacceptable. hunting strategies until now, little attention has been paid to and complicated the potentially negative consequences of Who is responsible for dolphins? communication. The such intimacy. As this report illustrates, issues relating to difference between captive cetaceans (including capture and a dolphin’s existence For many years, WDCS and The HSUS international trade, as well as interaction have expressed concerns about the potential with the public) are inextricably linked to in the wild and risks to both humans and dolphins the protection of their wild counterparts. under the control of associated with physical interaction Although this seems obvious, the US humans in captivity programs. This new report produced by government’s legislative oversight of captive is immeasurable: Not WDCS and The HSUS focuses on one type and wild marine mammals has been only is the scale and of interaction - dolphin petting and feeding fractured since 1994. programs (hereafter known as ‘Petting complexity of its physical Pools’). The report is based on a five year Currently, all jurisdiction over the care and study of Petting Pools operated by Sea maintenance of marine mammals within environment World in the United States (US), but its public display facilities resides with the dramatically reduced, findings are representative of the problems Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service but every single and hazards inherent in Petting Pools (APHIS) of the US Department of aspect of its life - operated by other facilities. Agriculture. APHIS’s regulatory authority from the size and is governed by the US Animal Welfare Act composition of its We conclude that the intense and poorly 1 (AWA) . Prior to 1994, however, jurisdiction social grouping, to regulated physical interactions between for the care of captive marine mammals the food it eats and inexperienced members of the public and was shared by the National Marine Fisheries dolphins in crowded Petting Pools pose Service (NMFS), whose authority derived the hours it sleeps - unacceptable risks to both humans and from the Marine Mammal Protection Act is determined by dolphins. These risks should be of great (MMPA)2. NMFS regulates activities that humans. Tragically, concern to the public, the travel and impact wild marine mammals, including as witnessed in other insurance industries, public display facilities their capture from the wild. The 1994 highly developed themselves, and the US agencies which amendments to the MMPA, however, are not meeting regulatory responsibilities. mammals whose removed most of NMFS’s authority to very essence is regulate captive display facilities. Though WDCS and The HSUS believe that the NMFS is still responsible for issuing permits extinguished in compelling evidence presented in this for captive display, and authorizes the confinement, in report justifies the immediate closure of all transfer of animals between facilities, it has many facilities Petting Pools on public safety and animal virtually no jurisdiction over the welfare captive dolphins welfare grounds. and care of these animals once they are have higher rates of within a facility. infant mortality and An overview of dolphins in captivity a lower survival rate For over one hundred years, whales and According to this division of responsibility, than their wild dolphins (collectively known as cetaceans) the regulation of Petting Pools should fall have been captured in the wild and held under the jurisdiction of APHIS, but the counterparts. captive; objects of humankind’s desire for reality is shamefully different. Regulations animal entertainment and, more recently, for the ‘Handling, Care, Treatment and for personal interaction. Thousands of Transport of Marine Mammals’ (the whales and dolphins are held in tanks and Humane Handling Regulations) were sea-pens all over the world, but the species established under the AWA in 19793. It was

1 no alternative but to bring this issue to the attention of the public, the media and the travel and insurance industries. We encourage each to respond responsibly to the information This obese dolphin has provided. apparently succeeded in competing with other Petting Pool dolphins for fish provided What is a Petting Pool? by visitors. Photo: WDCS Marine mammal Petting Pools permit the visiting public to lean over the perimeter of a pool to touch and/or feed animals such as dolphins, sea lions, belugas and RIGHT: During the busiest times at a Petting Pool, even orcas (killer whales). seemingly hundreds of Although we have deep concerns people can almost entirely about the growing number of surround a dolphin pool. Photo: WDCS Petting Pools in a number of countries, this report focuses on not until the 1990s that human-dolphin three (originally four) dolphin Petting Pools interaction programs became popular at US at Sea World Parks in the US which illustrate public display facilities and, accordingly, the problems of such human-dolphin specific provisions were agreed in respect interaction. These facilities, in Florida, to ‘swim-with-the-dolphin’ (SWTD) programs California and Texas (and, originally, in in 1998, including vital provisions relating Ohio), market an opportunity for the public to refuge areas, staff training, maximum to touch and feed ‘fun-loving’ and ‘playful’ interaction times and provisions for addressing bottlenose dolphins. To help the public attract the attention of the dolphins, fish is Even in ‘refuge areas’, unsatisfactory, undesirable or unsafe behavior4. underwater viewing walls ensure sold periodically from a booth near the that the dolphins are never far Remarkably, however, these SWTD pool. Present around the pools are from the sight or sounds of uniformed Sea World employees, including visitors. Photo: WDCS Regulations specifically excluded the animals that, in our opinion, are most in need of animal care staff and members of the protection, and the programs most in need Education Department who give of statutory oversight - Petting Pools. presentations to visitors over the pools’ Furthermore, following protests by public address (PA) system. representatives of the US captivity industry who claimed they were caught unawares by WDCS and The HSUS have been studying the SWTD Regulations’ intended application Sea World’s dolphin Petting Pools since to their ‘shallow water interactive programs’, 1996; making more than 30 unannounced ABOVE AND BELOW: Begging the SWTD Regulations were suspended in day-long visits over this period to observe for attention at a typical Petting April 1999. This has left all US public display and record the conditions of the animals Pool interaction. and the interactions between them and Photos: WDCS facilities that provide human-dolphin interaction programs without any specialized human visitors. A summary of our findings, requirements crucial to the protection of including a statistical analysis of potentially both visitors and dolphins. harmful human and dolphin behavior, was reported to the US authorities in 1999, who Four years later, the SWTD Regulations are forwarded a copy to Sea World. During the undergoing revision and new standards are following three years, and as recently as expected to be published during 2003. We October 2002, investigators have observed anticipate that, despite our best efforts, these some changes at the Petting Pools that new rules will again exclude Petting Pools. appear to respond to our assessment of In view of the fact that the basic findings in the risks to both humans and dolphins. this report have been known to the relevant Although we welcome these minor authorities since 1999, we find this omission improvements, we have observed nothing astonishing and unacceptable. to dissuade us from the conclusion that these are inhumane and unjustified regimes As it is apparent that the US authorities will that pose unacceptable risks to both humans not take responsibility for, and public display and dolphins. facilities will not submit to, proper regulation Orcas, too, can be subject to of Petting Pools, WDCS and The HSUS have Our 1999 report to APHIS was based on petting in public display facilities. 72 hours of video, recording 189 feeding Photo: WDCS 2 sessions at four Sea World Petting Pools in The suspended Federal Regulations in 1996 (Sea World Orlando in Florida, Sea respect to SWTD programs appropriately Noise World San Diego in California, Sea World acknowledged that captive dolphins During the busiest San Antonio in Texas and Sea World involved in human interaction programs Cleveland in Ohio). The study recorded need rest periods and refuge from visitors. times at a Petting and assessed human and dolphin behaviors Accordingly, they required that interaction Pool, a large crowd which appeared to present direct or indirect time for each dolphin should not exceed of people can risks to the health and welfare of visitors two hours per day and designated that each almost entirely or dolphins, including biting and butting, ‘program cetacean’ should be free from surround the pool, and the feeding of foreign objects and public interaction for at least ten continuous the clamor of their potentially contaminated food. It also hours out of every 24. Furthermore, the voices adding to the considered staff intervention and other Regulations provided that dolphins should factors that might have a direct impact on have unrestricted access to a sanctuary area noisy environment the welfare of both dolphins and humans. where they could retreat from human contact. of the park itself. These other factors included gull harassment, Although Sea World feeding regimes, access to refuge areas, In contrast, although the booths selling fish staff present at the and the potential for the bi-directional open only periodically, visitors to Sea World Petting Pools ask transmission of disease. still have non-stop access to Petting Pool visitors not to splash dolphins for as many hours as the park is the water or slap open - up to 12 hours/day in summer the sides of the months. This leaves the animals little time Petting Pools: A when the parks are closed to rest or engage pool, and in undisturbed social interactions. acknowledge that threat to dolphin Furthermore, outside of opening hours, ‘sound can irritate staff must undertake medical checks and the dolphins’, some welfare pool maintenance, as well as training and visitors nevertheless supplemental feeding - further reducing try all means to time free from human disturbance. In the wild, dolphins appear to lead some attract the dolphins’ of the most active lives in the ocean: At the time of our last visit, the Petting Pool attention, whether travelling sometimes up to hundreds of at Sea World San Antonio provided no or not a feeding miles a day; using complicated, often co- annexed ‘refuge area’ to which dolphins session is in operative, hunting strategies to catch fish; can theoretically retreat from visitors. The progress (i.e., the and socializing in constantly changing other Sea World Petting Pools did offer groups. The confinement of dolphins is booth is selling such ‘refuge’, but we have observed that believed to be a source of considerable fish), including these are often closed off while the Park physical and psychological stress. tapping coins and is open. Sea World San Diego (whose refuge other hard objects area was closed off during a visit in As if the fact of confinement itself were not September 2001) also has a section of against the pool stressful enough for a dolphin - trapped perimeter wall over which the public cannot wall. with associates that it can neither choose (and are requested not to try to) reach the nor avoid, with its movement restricted and dolphins beneath. However, this section of most of its choices removed - dolphins in Additionally, wall comprises a large underwater viewing human interaction programs must contend according to its web window, through which visitors try to attract with additional sources of stress that are site, Sea World the dolphins’ attention. At Sea World currently unregulated by the responsible conducts between Orlando, even the refuge area itself includes authorities. Stress can increase an animal’s such a window. At Sea World Cleveland 100-120 fireworks susceptibility to disease. Case studies of (which was sold to the Six Flags chain in displays every year, mortality and illness in captive bottlenose January 2001), we observed dolphins including nightly dolphins suggest that stress, resulting from confined in the gated-off refuge area shows from mid social instability and ensuing aggressive undergoing medical treatment. interactions inherent in a captive June through Labor environment, is likely to contribute to these Day at the effects. These additional sources of stress Nutritional problems beginning of include: APHIS regulates how food intended for September. captive cetaceans should be prepared and Lack of refuge handled “so as to minimize bacterial or chemical contamination and to assure the A lack of respite from human contact during wholesomeness and nutritive value of the Sea World’s long opening hours may have food”5. The Humane Handling Regulations serious implications for the health and (which apply to Petting Pools) provide that welfare of its Petting Pool dolphins. feeding by members of the public is only 3 Because of the sheer size of dolphins competing for fish in a Petting Pool, their abrupt movements in a confined area may put visitors at risk of harm. Photo: WDCS

Orlando staff in 1999). Animal care staff Sunglasses are common trouble then provide supplemental food to each items at Petting Pools. dolphin individually. Investigators Photo: WDCS occasionally observed trainers conducting supplemental feeding during opening hours, in what appeared to be an attempt to provide ‘visitor entertainment’. Where do the The Humane Handling Regulations dolphins come from? require that staff are “able to recognize Although many public permitted under the supervision of a deviations from a normal state of good display facilities uniformed employee or attendant who must health in each marine mammal so that food 6 endeavor to breed ensure that the animals receive the proper intake can be adjusted accordingly” . cetaceans, significant amount and type of food, and only food However, the continued obesity of some numbers of whales supplied by the facility where the marine Petting Pool dolphins recognized in repeated and dolphins mammals are kept. visits to Sea World suggests that supplemental feeding does not take into continue to be taken The adequate supervision of public feeding account the amount of fish that each dolphin from wild populations receives from the public. to supply the growing of Petting Pool dolphins is unattainable in the context of sometimes hundreds of visitors demands of the crowding around the enclosure over the Foreign objects captivity industry and course of hours. We believe that it is Dolphins are curious animals that are to compensate for the impossible for Petting Pools to meet the attracted by unfamiliar objects in their premature deaths it requirement of the Humane Handling environment. Sadly, however, as the causes in many Regulations that individual dolphins receive government-maintained Marine Mammal facilities. Methods the proper amount and type of food. For Inventory Report and other published used to capture and example, we have observed visitors to sources reveal, many captive cetaceans have died after swallowing foreign objects. transport cetaceans Petting Pools feeding sandwiches, French fries, bread, popcorn and the contents of We are concerned that the provision by can be shockingly drink containers to the dolphins. These untrained and poorly supervised visitors cruel, and many incidents were either not observed by Sea of a significant proportion of their food individuals die during World staff, or no attempt was made to stop and stimulation makes Petting Pool dolphins capture operations or them, within the sight of investigators. particularly vulnerable to eating dangerous in transit. Although objects. the capture of wild The fish fed by the public only constitutes cetaceans from US a portion of the daily diet of Petting Pool A Sea World staff member supervising an underwater inspection of the bottom of the waters is currently dolphins (40% according to Sea World prohibited (except under special permit), Paper fish containers are among the wild cetaceans common items found continue to be in the mouths of Petting Pool dolphins. captured by and Photo: WDCS traded between many other countries and may ultimately be imported into the US. Records show that Sea World displays dolphins captured from the wild as well as those born in captivity.

4 LEFT AND ABOVE: Evidence of injuries, both new and old, can be found in Petting Pool dolphins. Photo: WDCS

Harassment by gulls San Diego Petting Pool in September 2001 During our periodic visits to Sea World, we acknowledged to a WDCS observer that have observed a wide variety of items actually The Petting Pool visitors regularly drop personal items, such entering the mouths of Petting Pool dolphins, at Sea World San as keys and sunglasses, into the pool, which including several pairs of glasses, paper fish Diego attracts a must be retrieved to avoid harm to the containers, a stone, a baby’s pacifier, coins, large number of dolphins. Pool-bottom inspections during a metal park souvenir, a bottletop and a hair gulls and other opening hours were not observed by barrette. Each of these has the potential to birds that are investigators before 2001, and may have cause gastrointestinal blockage, poisoning present all day on been initiated in response to our 1999 report or even death. to APHIS, which included a report of a calf the perimeter wall at Sea World San Diego picking up a coin The risks of behavioral conditioning of the Petting Pool from the bottom of the pool. Although As Sea World explains on its website, its and aggressively these inspections are a welcome trainers use food as a ‘primary reinforcer’ snatch fish from development, we remain concerned that to let an animal know when it has performed visitors’ hands and they do not address the problem of visitors a desired behavior. In the case of unwanted dolphins’ mouths feeding foreign objects directly to the behavior, the trainer remains motionless and during feeding dolphins. silent for three seconds. But as the site sessions. The acknowledges, “Because we really don’t presence of the birds and their droppings is not only unhygienic and potentially dangerous (their beaks can break human skin and may be the cause of some injuries observed to the dolphins), but they also appear to irritate the dolphins who are sometimes observed to chase them off - only for the birds to resume their offensive a few seconds later.

Several Petting Pool dolphins are obese, despite a legal obligation to adjust captive dolphins’ food intake to ensure a “normal state of good health”. Photo: WDCS 5 always know what is reinforcing to marine including cuts, bruises, broken bones, bites Contaminated fish mammals, any reaction has the potential and rakes. In addition to concerns to be reinforcing”7. relating to the quantity Because of the sheer size of dolphins and Dolphin experts have noted that “a whole their concentration in Petting Pools, abrupt of fish that is fed to range of inappropriate behaviors can be movements and occasionally aggressive each Petting Pool inadvertently conditioned by people who competition for food can put visitors at risk dolphin, the quality of feed marine mammals in the wild, ranging of physical harm. During visits to Sea fish is also at issue. With from increased aggressive competition World’s Petting Pools since 1996, we have hundreds of people between animals, to ‘pushy,’ aggressive or both directly observed, and been told of, buying fish to feed the threatening behaviors directed at humans”8. several incidents, including bites, head dolphins each day, it is butts and trapped hands. The risk of visitor impossible to control Our research indicates that this same injury is recognized in SWTD and other conditioning may be occurring in Petting interactive programs, including a study how, and for how long, Pool dolphins and that visitors may conducted in 1994 on SWTD programs fish is handled before inadvertently be training dolphins to which details aggression and other high- it is offered to the perform dangerous behaviors. It is clear risk behavior by dolphins directed at the dolphins. Exposure to from our observations of Petting Pools that visitors in the water with them9. air, sunlight and visitors’ the ‘pushiest’ dolphins, and those most hands will exacerbate willing to tolerate physical contact, get the Sea World is clearly aware of the risk of bacterial growth in raw most attention - and thus the most fish - injury to its Petting Pool visitors and its from the public. concerns are reflected in the warnings fish and, although given by staff over the PA system to keep hand-washing facilities hands out of dolphins’ mouths and away are provided, Petting Petting Pools: A from their sharp teeth. At Sea World Pool staff do not Cleveland, visitors were warned not to require visitors to wash threat to the welfare touch the entire head area of the dolphin. their hands prior to handling fish and of Petting Pool However, these safety warnings - and the feeding the dolphins. reasons for them - are not adequately reinforced on admission tickets and signs visitors and do not appear to be heeded by visitors, Staff warn visitors not some of whom have been observed taking to feed damaged or Exposure to physical injury risks in order to achieve the closest or broken fish to dolphins, It is vital that public display facilities fully longest possible interaction with the noting that bones can report data about injuries incurred by visitors dolphins. For example, visitors have been cut dolphins’ stomachs in order that the public can make informed observed holding young children, and even choices about whether to participate in or throats. Despite babies, out over the pool to better enable dolphin interaction programs such as Petting them to touch the dolphins. In at least one these warnings, Pools. Full reporting of, and access to, such case we observed, this resulted in a child however, investigators information is also necessary for the travel being hit full in the face by a dolphin observed damaged fish industry to decide whether and how to interacting roughly with another. being sold at the fish market such programs and for insurers, booths and some both of tourists and the facilities themselves, We are concerned that the selective attention visitors still break up to assess the physical and legal risks to of the public on the most assertive/least fish to provide more which their respective clients are exposed, shy dolphins not only results in some in order to determine insurance coverage opportunities to feed animals becoming grossly obese, but may and premiums. actually reinforce and perpetuate dangerous Petting Pool dolphins. attention-seeking behavior in dolphins, However, since the suspension of the SWTD such as lunging out of the water and Furthermore, despite Regulations in 1999, there has been no snatching fish. staff requests to return legal requirement for public display facilities dropped fish to the in the US to report injuries incurred by Staff oversight booth, some visitors visitors in human-dolphin interaction Apparently recognizing the need for programs to the authorities, nor for the have been observed comprehensive oversight by staff of physical facilities to provide contact details to enable interactions between dolphins and visitors feeding the dolphins visitors to report complaints or injuries with fish that have been to ensure the safety of both, the former themselves. Nevertheless, media reports SWTD regulations established a minimum dropped and stepped and historic government records reveal a ratio of one qualified attendant to three on. range of serious injuries caused to visitors visitors in SWTD programs. WDCS and The by captive dolphins in interactive programs, HSUS are concerned that many more 6 LEFT: Visitors have been observed feeding the dolphins with fish that have been dropped and stepped on. Photo: WDCS

The laceration to the lower tip of this dolphin’s jaw is exposed to a visitor’s touch. Photo WDCS members of the public can participate in The potential for disease transmission a Petting Pool feeding session than a SWTD The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) session and, although visitors are not in has acknowledged that the potential exists Injuries and the water with the dolphins in Petting Pools, for transmission of diseases between wild disabilities they may have at least as much hands-on marine mammals and humans10. Since marine In addition to contact with the animals. We therefore mammals are known to carry pathogens that observing ‘rakes’ believe that the ratio of staff to visitors at can infect humans, the Service, in conjunction (scratches caused Petting Pools needs to be at least equivalent with the US Marine Mammal Commission, is by teeth) on to the former SWTD requirements - to currently conducting a survey of marine ensure control over the nature and extent mammal handlers and professionals Petting Pool of interactions between visitors and the investigating zoonotic disease occurrences11. dolphins, we have dolphins and the safety of both parties. also recorded As NMFS has noted, not only do bites from several fresh Over the last five years, however, we have marine mammals carry a danger of infection, wounds to the observed only one or two uniformed animal but there are a number of disease agents face, jaws and care staff in attendance during feeding that are common to both humans and marine dorsal fins of sessions, in addition to ‘Education’ staff mammals and can be transmitted between who conduct narrations, including public them. For example, a variety of opportunistic several dolphins, safety warnings, throughout the day. bacteria found on the skin of dolphins may including the Although training staff regularly asked pose a threat to human health, and several severed tip of a individuals not to sit, stand or climb on the fungal and viral agents which can affect lower beak, perimeter wall, they did not, within sight marine mammals have been or can be lacerations and of investigators appear to observe or transmitted to humans. gouging to beaks intervene to prevent the following, and a fresh cut to potentially dangerous, visitor behavior: WDCS and The HSUS are concerned that the potential for transfer of viral, bacterial the head. We are • Thrusting a battery-operated fan with and fungal infections between dolphins and concerned that, in blades at dolphin’s head; humans may be greatly enhanced by the such a competitive • Touching within inches of a dolphin’s direct physical contact taking place at Petting and crowded eye or blowhole with pointed fish Pools. Although Petting Pool dolphins may environment as a containers, park maps and other objects; be regularly screened for disease, there is Petting Pool, these • Touching dolphins’ blowholes and eyes; no legal requirement to do this and, in any injuries may be the • Offering fish containers, sunglasses, event, it is impossible to determine what wristwatches, cigarettes, and other foreign illnesses visitors may carry and transmit to result of ‘bullying’ objects to dolphins; the dolphins. type behavior by • Spitting into the dolphin pool; dominant • Suspending a baby out over the water Furthermore, although Petting Pools provide dolphins. and holding a child by its ankles; hand-washing facilities, visitors are not • Feeding broken fish and fish that had required to use them and investigators been dropped and stepped on; observed very few visitors washing their • Teasing dolphins by deliberately pulling hands after physical contact with the dolphins. a fish away or holding it out of reach to Several people even continued to eat snacks encourage the dolphin to rise out of the while they handled both raw fish and the water. dolphins. 7 US it constitutes the offense of harassment What do visitors learn under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. However, despite heavy fines, such activities at Petting Pools? have increased at an alarming rate, notably in Florida, Texas and South Carolina. Any US facility applying to the government for a permit to capture or import a marine In addition to the risk of poisoning or other mammal for public display must food-related hazards, wild dolphins that demonstrate that the facility offers “a approach, or rely upon humans for food program for education or conservation are at risk of collision with boats and their purposes that is based on professionally propellers, entanglement in nets, or attack recognized standards of the public display by sharks. community”12. Furthermore, wild dolphins conditioned to However, the requirement is easily satisfied seek food from humans can become less because education programs have only willing to hunt for themselves and may not to meet standards that are recognized as The US government has teach their young vital hunting skills. They launched a public campaign to benchmarks by the captivity industry. are also in danger of becoming targets of deter feeding, touching and These standards are not set or monitored irritated fishermen or boaters who perceive swimming with dolphins in the by an independent public institution or wild. Photo: NOAA/NMFS/OPR their begging as a nuisance. Dolphins have regulatory agency and, not surprisingly, even been shot by fishermen. Wild feeding NMFS has never denied a public display may also attract non-local dolphins to an permit on the grounds of insufficient 13 area, placing stress on the ecosystem, which educational value . may not have the capacity to sustain the increased population. Sea World claims to be “striving to provide an enthusiastic, imaginative, and Humans trying to interact with wild cetaceans This wild dolphin, which was intellectually stimulating atmosphere to also put themselves at risk of physical injury, routinely fed by people, has help students and guests develop a lifelong injuries around its eye and throat. and NMFS warns that swimmers and other Photo: Thomas Murphy appreciation, understanding, and water users may be at increased risk of stewardship for our environment” and “to 14 aggression from dolphins looking for a instill a respect for all living creatures” . handout. In two separate recent incidents Vandalism Although information about dolphin Many of the human in Florida, members of the public were biology, behavior and, to a lesser extent, badly bitten by wild dolphins. One needed activities that pose a conservation, is provided through display 20 stitches to her leg, and the other needed risk to Petting Pool boards and narration by Education staff, emergency room treatment for a deep wound dolphins have also the context in which the information is in her hand. been documented by delivered at a Petting Pool seriously NMFS in the wild, diminishes its value and impact. Human interactions with wild dolphins are including enticement becoming so prevalent, and the Hand-feeding dead fish to obese dolphins consequences so serious, that the US of dolphins with in a cramped, overcrowded and featureless alcohol and human government has recently launched a public tank of chemically-treated water provides campaign to deter feeding, touching and food. NMFS has even visitors with scant insight into normal swimming with dolphins in the wild (the reported the use of dolphin behavior in the natural ‘Protect Dolphins’ Program). The public baited lines. Sadly, environment. By reducing dolphins, and display industry is uniquely positioned to the government’s indeed other species, to a theme-park educate the public about the negative impacts attraction, Petting Pools may be Marine Mammal of interacting with wild dolphins. Yet, during perpetuating a dangerous indifference our investigations, we rarely heard statements Stranding Records towards their welfare and that of their contain numerous from Sea World employees that wild feeding wild counterparts. is illegal and we understand that attempts accounts of wild by NMFS to encourage Sea World to provide dolphin deaths Wild dolphins at risk information and literature at Petting Pools caused by ingestion WDCS and The HSUS are concerned that, on the problems of feeding dolphins in the of inappropriate by promoting and reinforcing the wild have proven unsuccessful15. materials. One acceptability of feeding and touching dolphins, captive feeding programs will person was observed Recent visits to Sea World in the past few encourage the public to repeat their months indicate that messages regarding trying to feed a experiences with wild cetaceans. firecracker to a wild the illegality of feeding dolphins in the wild are communicated through the narration dolphin. Not only is petting and feeding wild that occurs before feeding activities dolphins potentially dangerous, but in the 8 commence, but on an inconsistent and limited basis. Such narration does little to educate visitors of the personal risks involved, and the harmful effects such Conclusions activities have on wild dolphin populations. As we have illustrated, the US government’s history of failure to Why other parks do not have regulate Petting Pools, including exempting them from regulations petting/feeding programs governing other human-dolphin interaction programs, is A detailed survey of public display facilities, unacceptable. The government’s rationale for not requiring conducted in 1989, provides interesting consistency of crucial welfare provisions across the range of insights into why many parks do not have interaction programs has never been adequately justified and we a public ‘feeder pool’ or, if they did, why can only assume that it represents a response to pressure from they closed it16. The responses of several the captivity industry. industry representatives to the survey vindicate our conclusions that Petting Pools As this report demonstrates, physical interaction between humans are impossible to regulate and pose and dolphins may pose serious risks to the health and welfare of unacceptable risks. The survey elicited both parties. Our collective concerns apply to all human-dolphin the following statements: interaction programs, but Petting Pools represent an extreme case. Our focus on Sea World’s Petting Pools in this report is intended • “We abandoned the practice because of to be illustrative of the problems present in the currently unregulated overfeeding, difficulties regulating regime of public petting and feeding programs, in addition to the amounts fed, and potential injury to the physical and psychological stress associated with captivity: public”. • Potentially unlimited numbers of inexperienced members of the • “I suspect that the reason for a feeder public are permitted to engage in poorly regulated physical pool is financial and not educational”. interaction with large, powerful animals in a crowded • “We endeavor to de-emphasize messages environment; of exotic animals [sic] similarity with pets and feel that this sort of message may • Dolphins are enticed with food, exacerbating aggressive be derived through public feedings”. competition between individuals and inciting attacks by birds;

• “My objections are hygiene (the state of • Dolphins are accessible to the public without respite for up to the public’s hands), the possibility of 12 hours each day, often without adequate access to a physical foreign bodies being placed in the fish… refuge; and the staffing commitment that would be necessary to police such a facility”. • The daily participation of hundreds of visitors makes it impossible to ensure that individual dolphins are receiving an appropriate • “We do not feel that feeder pools are amount and type of food, and are not fed dangerous foreign beneficial. It encourages the public to objects or contaminated food; feed other animals items that are not on their diet and could be harmful. The • Abrupt movements by, and aggressive competition between risk of lawsuits from being bitten is dolphins can result in physical injury to visitors, including bites, high…” head butts and trapped hands;

A representative of Gulf World Marine Park • The selective attention of the public on the ‘pushiest’ dolphins in Florida reported that: “anticipated results in obesity and may reinforce and perpetuate dangerous problems [with dolphin-public interactive attention-seeking behavior; displays] included control of guests, foreign body ingestion, training difficulties • Physical contact between visitors and dolphins provides an stemming from inadvertent reinforcement opportunity for the bi-directional transmission of diseases; of undesirable behavior by the public and the potential for injury to guests by • A misconception promoted and reinforced by public feeding sometimes too-rough dolphin play”. of captive dolphins that it is appropriate to feed and touch dolphins may lead to harassment of wild dolphins.

In the clear absence of a willingness to regulate Petting Pools, at least consistently with other human-dolphin interaction programs, our findings leave the US government and the public display industry with no other option but to close all Petting Pools immediately. Recommendations Based on the risks to human and dolphin • The insurance industry to re-evaluate health and welfare posed by their physical insurance coverage for tourists who engage interaction in Petting Pools, WDCS and The in petting and feeding activities with captive HSUS make the following recommendations: or wild dolphins, and for facilities which offer such activities; To the public display industry: • Sea World and other public display facilities To the public: to immediately close their Petting Pools; • The concerned public to contact Sea World and its owner, Anheuser-Busch Companies To the US authorities: Inc., to call for a closure of its Petting • The US regulatory authorities to withdraw Pools; federal and state approval for all dolphin petting and feeding programs; • The concerned public to write to APHIS to urge stricter regulation of public display To the travel and insurance industries: facilities in the US. • Tourism and travel companies not to promote facilities and holidays that offer petting and feeding of captive or wild dolphins - and to tell customers why;

Busch Entertainment Corporation Sea World Mr. August Busch III Mr. Brad Andrews CEO, Anheuser-Busch Companies Vice President, Zoological Operations One Busch Place 7007 Sea World Drive St. Louis, Missouri 63118 Orlando, FL 32821-8097 Fax: (314) 577-2900 Fax: (407) 345-5397 E-mail: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Ms. Barbara Heffernan US Department of Agriculture Director, National Affairs Chester A. Gipson Republic Place Deputy Administrator 1776 I Street, NW, Suite 200 4700 River Road Unit 84 Washington, D.C. 20006 Riverdale, Maryland 20737-1234 Fax: (202) 223-9594 Fax: (301) 734-4993

1 Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 2131-2159. 8 Flanagan, P. 1996. Wild and Dangerous: Why 12 As provided in the Marine Mammal Protection Interacting with Marine Mammals in the Wild Act of 1972, Permits, 16 U.S.C. 1374, Section 2 Marine Mammal Protection Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ Can Be Harmful. Soundings 25-32, Volume 104(c): Importation for Display and Research. 1361 et seq. 21, Number 3. 13 Personal communication, Office of Protected 3 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, Part 3, 9 Samuels, A. and Spradlin, T. 1994. Quantitative Resources, NMFS. April 2001. subpart E, Section 3.100 - 3.125. Specifications Behavioral Study of Bottlenose Dolphins in for the Humane Handling, Care, Treatment, Swim-with-the-dolphins Programs in the United 14 http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/training/ and Transportation of Marine Mammals. States. Final report to the National Marine home.html Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources, 4 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, Parts 1 56 pages. 15 Personal communication, Office of Protected and 3, subpart E, Section 3.111. Swim-with- Resources, NMFS, March 2001. the-dolphin programs. 10 Wilkinson, D. 1991. Report to Assistant Administrator For Fisheries: Program Review 16 Boling, C. 1991. To Feed or Not to Feed: 5 9 CFR Part 3, subpart E, section 3.105. of the Marine Mammal Stranding Networks. The Results of a Survey. Proceedings of 19th National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Annual Conference of the International Marine 6 9 CFR Part 3, subpart E, section 3.105. Protected Resources. p. 45-50. Animal Trainers Association, November 4-8, 1991. 7 http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/training/ 11 http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whc/ mmtrain.html mmsurvey.htm