Animal Abuse???!!!

[IOAdude]

I read an article in Time magazine saying that dolphins die from stress, over working, and diseases in Discovery Cove! I'm not sure if that's all really the truth. But when you think about it isn't it kinda cruel to force captive dolphins to swim with people constantly. They have to work long hours, and do tricks. Do they have dolphin subsitutes? Also the article said that some of the dolphins are dieing because of the people that come in the water and diseases that they carry. I don't want to make anyone mad but, DO YOU THINK THAT IS WRONG?
Thanx

 

[Sleepy]

FORCE dolphins to swim with people? I am not sure you can force any animal to do something it doesn't want to do unless you beat it. I'm sure the dolphins have rotations where they are given *off* time to rest.

 

[kellymonaghan]

I was told that the trainers are extremely sensitive to the "mood" the dolphins are in. If an animal doesn't seem to be be "into" interacting with people, it is sent backstage and another dolphin is brought out.

That makes sense for both the dolphins and the guests. Dolphins are big, powerful animals. I'm sure SeaWorld isn't dumb enough to force an unwilling dolphin to swim with park guests (all of whom know how to contact a lawyer).

 

[fboy9287]

sea world has enough dolphins that they can bring one back if any one has a problem. they also give these animals breaks and lots and lots of fishy snacks. if anything sea world has saved many many animals.

 

[mommyto2girls]

we just returned from discovery cove, there are 0ver 50 dolphins there and, if you know anything about them you would know that these beautiful creature love to interact with people. I spent 8 days down in Lake Buena Vista 7 at disney and 1 day at the cove. I witnessed much more abuse of children by their parents than I did of the dolphins! When our swim was over, the dolphin we had kept trying to nudge us back into the water and actually brought the 6 week old baby in the pool over to see us. Discovery Cove is heaven on earth for the dolphin residents and for it's visitors. They are to be highly commended for what they are doing there.

 

[BarryHom]

When people ask about animal abuse at Sea World, I think about something that happened at the Rescue tour. A small tank was set up for dolphins to be acclimated to each other. When the tour group was far away from them, they swim around, la de da. When the tour group came close to the tank they jumped around, darted out of the water, and clicked a lot. They were happy to see us! An abused animal would not do this. Abused animals generally shy or hide from people. Sea World has a great reputation for treating the animals respectfully and responsibily.