NY Times Ethicist Criticizes Dolphin Swims

This column appeared in the New York Times Magazine. I don't agree with what he claims are "necessary" reasons for exploiting animals, but I suspect the writer is just trying to justify his own eating habits. Beyond that, he brings up some valid points about keeping dolphins captive.
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June 20, 2004

[size=-1]THE ETHICIST[/size]
Swimming Badly

[size=-1]By RANDY COHEN[/size]

n my list of things I've always wanted to do before I die is to swim with dolphins. But I am a devout vegetarian and concerned about animal rights and conservation. Would it be wrong for me to swim with dolphins if they were bred in captivity? Would I be a hypocrite and be giving my money to perpetuate something I am against? K.S., New York

I sympathize. It's been my lifelong dream to swim with Miss Meg Ryan, but I've come to realize that she -- or any of our beloved actors -- ought not be conscripted in such ways for my pleasure. The Humane Society of the United States, like other organizations concerned about animals, takes a similar stance on dolphins. It asserts that swim-with-dolphin programs ''pose an immediate threat to the safety of both human and dolphin participants.'' And while the Humane Society regards the capture of wild dolphins to entertain humans as a greater sin than exploiting dolphins raised in captivity, the organization condemns both practices, noting that these marine mammals suffer and sometimes die in such programs.

You needn't be a vegetarian to embrace this argument. There are times when we may, indeed must, exploit animals -- for example, for food (although vegetarians will argue this point) or essential medical research -- but vacation fun is not such a case. (Are there no water parks? Are there no casinos? Are there no underwater casinos?)

Some say that a dolphin swim offers autistic children therapeutic benefits unobtainable elsewhere. Were that so, the good done to children might outweigh the harm done to dolphins. But neither claim, of benefit or uniqueness, is persuasive. Indeed, dolphin encounters have been promoted for a flamboyantly broad assortment of maladies -- manic depression, Rett syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, A.D.H.D., Down's syndrome, etc., according to one entrepreneur. This is not alternative medicine; it's hucksterism.
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I agree and disagree on the same lines you do.

I'd be pretty pissed off if someone people marched into my garden uninvited and demanded I humour them. So why inflict that on dolphins?

Necessary to exploit animals! Vegetarians will argue this (damn right!)
Well that's a whole other fight.

TTFN
Sage

 

I too, have always wanted to swim with dolphins.....I love dolphins and so that is why I wont ever be swimming with them unless they happen upon me in the ocean. I didnt quite understand the guy's reply (I did read through it sorta fast though). Was he condoning the exploitation of animals in some instances? Or was he just looking at both sides of the issue? I dunno....But I do know that I could never swim with them. Infact, I visited a park in Cancun once....a small zoo I guess( I was against going but was 16 at the time and given no choice by the people I was with). Anyway, it was a pretty major tourist attraction and I was walking past a huge pool (obviously a dolphin pool for shows) and it was very small and closed off but I saw the dolphins and felt so bad for them so I climbed the ropes and bent down and they both swam right up to me. They seemed really happy to be getting some kind attention...and then the park employees yelled at me for climbing the ropes and told me to get away from the dolphins. That bothered me to no end. I just cant imagine what those poor dolphins must have felt like being stuck in a pool and not having any real stimulation(they were re-doing the seating area so the shows were put off for some time). Ugh, it makes me sick to see marine animals in captivity for the superficial entertainment of people.