Six months ago I left the dolphin industry after twelve years. The reason for me initially leaving was the ending of my contract. However the decision to not roll right into another dolphin job was a long and tough debate with "myself" and who I wanted to be.
Within the industry there are many who are dedicated to the care and safety of the animals. We go to work in physically demanding and in most cases dangerous environments for the same pay as a grill staff at McDonalds. However the commitment and passion and love we show for the animals is comparable to the love of a loved one.
These animals become our families and our best friends. We see them five days a week which is more than some family members. We brush their teeth, we clean their wounds, we make them toys, we treat them when they are sick, and we even witness their births and care for them for years as if they were our own. However they are not our own. They are not at home, they are not free, and they are not for our entertainment.
It is not the lack of attention and care that makes me turn my back on my career with these amazing animals. The two facilities I worked for I help start from the pre-opening of both. Throughout the start up there was no limit to the extent of which the owners went to give the animals the best of the best.
The major underlying problem was that the lower staff had the passion and love for the animals while management sat at their desks booking their next vacation or iron man competition. I shit you not.....The lower staff were the ones who knew the personalities of the animals as well as their medical history. However management always saw dollar signs first. Now I will admit not every facility has bad management. This is my story and my experience.
In my case I left my first facility because of the work load I did not agree with that was being placed on the animals. When I arrived at my second job the management there was outstanding. The team was cohesive and enjoyed to be a team even when disagreements arose. The animals were given days off and only had four sessions a day of learning while the rest of the day was play exercise or just free time to chase each other around. However the management from my first job moved in and kicked out my new and improved bosses.
"Myself"was the person who was doing the job for the money, the female attention, and for the fun. Do not get me wrong I loved those animas very much. It was the love for one in particular that led to the end of the debate which ill explain shortly. So "myself" was the me who was going through life with the motions. I did not take the time to step back and look at my life and everything going on. There where other events happening in my life at the time as well which need some reflection, but thats for another story.
During the last year of my contract, I was put in charge of a newly born calf whom I will not name for privacy reasons. This is also why I have used no names of people or the facilities. There are still good people out there watching over the animals I still love.
My job was to decense the little one to human contact so that when she is of age(12-15 months), she can start working(meeting guest). Long story short for privacy reasons, I spent my last year with her trying to keep her alive from an ailment that she had. I put my heart into that little bundle of joy. She had the best personality i had ever seen out of my 12 years and she was only 1.
The part about all of this which was always on my mine was that if she was born in the wild, she would have been an easy meal for a predator. This is what makes animal captivity tough. There are those who would say that its a good thing that she was born in captivity considering her ailment so she can live a full life with proper care. Then there are those who believe that we humans try to play God a little too much. I realise that I am with the latter. I believe that a short life out in middle of the jungle is better than a long life in prison going through medical procedures daily.
Mother nature knows what she is doing. There is an order to all of this which we do not understand and so we make a mess out of it and then try to put it back together in a way we understand. However mother nature always corrects our mistakes. A perfect example is the increase in severe weather. Our planet is out of balance and it is fixing its self. The process of fixing itself may take hundreds or millions of years and may even be the end of us.
My point is, we need to learn to let life be. Do I think all facilities should be shut down and the animals put into the wild? No that would be mass murder considering many of the animals in captivity today have been born in captivity. They do not know how to hunt or to use there echolocation to navigate. Those who have seen the wild are most likely institutionalised and will pop up next to the first sight of a human. Which in most cases would not be a friendly encounter based on the videos on social media of the animal selfie frenzy.
What I do want to see happen is the stop to more wild caught dolphins.
I worked with wild caught as well as facility born and the difference is there and its being ignored. If we are to continue to educate the public about our cousins in the ocean, I would like to see more thought go into the facilities.
A few additions I would like to see made mandatory:
-wave pool section so they can ride the waves
-open ocean section so the can hear the ocean as well as see and chase live fish
-deeper tanks!!!!!!!!
-training aimed towards ocean survival
We owe it to all animals on this planet to help them live healthy lives. Many of the dolphin facilities around the world assist with stranded animals where they nurse them back to health and then release them back into the wild. That is a crucial part I feel that facilities play. Which is why once again I am not for the closure and release of dolphins, however I would like to see steps being taken to animals being able to be returned to the wild with the knowledge on how to survive.
If we continue to go down the path we are going then I would have to say I disagree.
Thank you for reading.
I was always told this man was crazy and bitter about his failed career as a trainer.