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Marine Mammals in Captivity

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Marine Mammals in Captivity The Case Against MARINE MAMMALS IN CAPTIVITY ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE + WORLD ANIMAL PROTECTION The Case Against MARINE MAMMALS IN CAPTIVITY Authors: Naomi A. Rose, Ph.D. and E.C.M. Parsons, Ph.D. Editor: Dave Tilford • Designer: Alexandra Alberg Prepared on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute and World Animal Protection This report should be cited as: Rose, N.A. and Parsons, E.C.M. (2019). The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity, 5th edition (Washington, DC: Animal Welfare Institute and World Animal Protection), 160 pp. TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 60 Chapter 8 • Cetacean Intelligence 3 Overview 65 Chapter 9 • Mortality and Birth Rates 66 Non-cetaceans 6 Introduction 67 Bottlenose Dolphins 68 Orcas 9 Chapter 1 • Education 70 Other Cetacean Species 70 Summary 14 Chapter 2 • The Conservation/ Research Fallacy 72 Chapter 10 • Human–Dolphin Interactions 16 Species Enhancement Programs 72 Dolphin-Assisted Therapy 18 Mixed Breeding and Hybrids 73 Swim-With-Dolphin Attractions 18 Captive Cetaceans and Culture 75 Petting Pools and Feeding Sessions 20 The Public Display Industry Double Standard 77 Chapter 11 • Risks to Human Health 22 Ethics and Captive Breeding 77 Diseases 22 Stranding Programs 78 Injury and Death 23 Research 83 Chapter 12 • The Blackfish Legacy 26 Chapter 3 • Live Captures 83 Blackfish 31 Bottlenose Dolphins 85 The Blackfish Effect 33 Orcas 87 The Legal and Legislative Impacts of 35 Belugas Blackfish 88 The End of Captive Orcas? 37 Chapter 4 • The Physical and Social Environment 89 Seaside Sanctuaries: The Future for Captive Cetaceans? 37 Concrete Enclosures 39 Sea Pens 92 Conclusion 40 Pinnipeds 41 Polar Bears 95 Acknowledgments 43 Manatees, Dugongs, and Sea Otters 44 Cetaceans 96 Endnotes 48 Summary 139 References 49 Chapter 5 • Animal Health Issues and Veterinary Care 53 Chapter 6 • Behavior 57 Chapter 7 • Stress ACCOBAMS Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic area AI artificial insemination ALJ administrative law judge AMMPA Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service AWI Animal Welfare Institute AZA Association of Zoos and Aquariums Cal/OSHA California Division of Occupational Safety and Health CEO chief executive officer CFR Code of Federal Regulations CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CSG Cetacean Specialist Group DAT dolphin-assisted therapy ESA Endangered Species Act EU European Union Fed. Reg. Federal Register FWS Fish and Wildlife Service LIST OF ACRONYMS + ABBREVIATIONS ACRONYMS OF LIST IPO initial public offering IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature IWC International Whaling Commission JAZA Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums MMC Marine Mammal Commission MMPA Marine Mammal Protection Act MRSA meticillin (or methicillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus NDF non-detriment finding NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration SPAW Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife SWD swim-with-dolphin TINRO Pacific Fisheries Research Center (in Russian) US United States USC United States Code UST United States Treaty WAP World Animal Protection WAZA World Association of Zoos and Aquariums WDC Whale and Dolphin Conservation WSPA World Society for the Protection of Animals OVERVIEW ver the past decade, since the publication of the 4th edition of this report, the controversy regarding marine mammals in captivity has become more intense, largely due to the 2013 O documentary Blackfish and the global effect it has had on a large segment of the general public. Nevertheless, the public display industry continues to insist that marine mammal exhibits serve a valuable conservation function, people learn important information from seeing live animals, and captive marine mammals live a good life. Animal protection groups, and a growing number of scientists, counter that the lives of captive marine mammals are impoverished, people do not receive an accurate picture of a species from captive representatives, and the trade in live marine mammals negatively affects populations and habitats. The more we learn of marine mammals, the more evidence there is that the latter views are correct. Some facilities promote themselves as conservation centers; however, few facilities are involved in substantial conservation efforts. Rather than enhancing populations in the wild, facilities engaged in captive breeding tend merely to create a surplus of animals from non-endangered species who are not intended for release into the wild and are therefore only used to propagate the industry. Public display facilities often promote themselves as stranding and research centers. However, commercial facilities may limit the number of stranded marine animals they will accept if they do not consider the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of common species to be a priority use for the space they have available. As for whales, dolphins, and porpoises, most do not survive stranding. They frequently die before, during, or soon after rescue; few survive rehabilitation to be released to the wild; many releases are not monitored for success; and some animals, despite their suitability for release, are retained for public display. In addition, with every stranding, the industry takes the opportunity to portray the ocean as a dangerous place full of human hazards, from which it protects the animals in its charge. This portrayal of natural habitat as hopelessly damaged and captivity as safe and comfortable implies to the public that the ocean is a lost cause (which will hardly inspire them to save it) and captivity is the preferred state. As for research, most studies using marine mammals in public display facilities have been focused on improving captive care and maintenance practices in order to increase animal life spans and reproductive output. Despite a recent research and publication boom by the industry, in an effort to have their actions match their rhetoric, very few studies using marine mammals in public display facilities address crucial conservation questions and even fewer address animal welfare. Captures of marine mammals from the wild are not a thing of the past. Live captures of whales and dolphins continue in several hotspot locations around the world, in regions where very little is known about the status of populations. Several dolphin species are captured in Japan. 3 Beluga whales and orcas (also known as killer whales) are being captured in Russia. Some species of seals and sea lions, as well as walruses, also continue to be captured from the wild, especially in the southern hemisphere and the Arctic. For smaller marine mammal populations, live capture operations are a conservation concern. Even for those populations not currently under threat, the lack of scientific assessment or regard for welfare makes these operations an issue of global concern. With any marine mammal exhibit, the needs of the visiting public come before the needs of the animals. Enclosures are designed to make the animals readily visible, not necessarily comfortable. Public display facilities maintain that they enhance the lives of marine mammals in captivity by protecting them from the rigors of the natural environment. The truth is that marine mammals have evolved physically and behaviorally to survive these rigors. For example, nearly every species of marine mammal, from sea lion to dolphin, travels large distances daily in a search for food. In captivity, space is constricted for these wide-ranging species and natural feeding and foraging patterns are completely lost. Stress-related conditions such as ulcers, stereotypical behaviors such as pacing and self-mutilation, and abnormal aggression within groups frequently develop in predators denied the opportunity to hunt. Other natural behaviors, such as those associated with dominance, mating, and maternal care, are altered in captivity, which can have substantial negative impacts on the animals’ welfare. Wild-caught marine mammals gradually experience the atrophy of many of their natural behaviors and are cut off from the conditions that allow the expression of cultural traits such as specialized vocalizations and unique foraging and hunting techniques. Trainer and visitor interactions do not adequately replace the expression of natural behaviors—whatever “enrichment” these interactions provide is only necessary because the animals are in captivity in the first instance. In addition, viewing captive animals gives the public a false picture of the animals’ natural lives. Worse yet, it desensitizes people to captive marine mammals’ inherent suffering—for so many captive marine mammals, the world is a tiny enclosure, and life is devoid of naturalness. The ethical concerns raised by marine mammal captivity are especially marked for cetaceans, as they may well merit the same moral stature as young human children. Although public display proponents will argue that claiming cetaceans have “rights” is based solely on emotion and that these marine mammals are no different from other wildlife species in captivity, in fact the behavioral and psychological literature abounds with examples of the sophisticated cognition of many cetaceans. Their intelligence appears at least to match that of the great apes and perhaps of human toddlers—they are self-aware and capable of abstract thinking. Fierce debate continues over the issue of marine mammal mortality rates and longevity
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