If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, or follow me on twitter (@kel-kitty), you'll have noticed that from time to time I share stories about whaling and captive cetaceans.
In a word, it's wrong, but I won't ram it down your throats. Please just take a few minutes out and read this post.
My only word on this is to think twice and do your research before you visit Seaworld or any seaquariums that happen to keep cetaceans. It may be on your bucket list to swim with dolphins but please be aware of the reality of it all. The majority of the dolphins you see in Seaworld and similar come from places like the Japanese slaughter fishing village of Taiji in Japan. Pods of dolphins and false killer whales are herded into the bay and slaughtered brutally by teams of Japanese 'fishermen', who stab them in the spinal cord and bleed them as their family members watch helplessly, knowing their own fate. The dolphin meat is then sold and consumed in Japan, despite it having high levels of mercury. It is often served in children's school lunches without any regard to the chemical risks.
Don't forget, they are high functioning mammals just like us. Only the prettiest dolphins survive which are then are carted off to seaquariums worldwide for families to take their kids to.
If you can stomach it, please watch The Cove for an on-site view of Taiji's killing season from the point of view of a team of activists.
Left; the sugar coated fantasy. Right; the harsh reality.
It's also worth saying at this point that if you're in the UK, there are a number of sites to see dolphins in the wild, notably Cardigan Bay in Wales, a popular spot for the everybody's favourite, the Bottlenose dolphin. Yes, off the British coast. You don't need to go to Seaworld and support the slaughter really, do you? For further information on the Cardigan Bay dolphins or to adopt one (I'm an adopter of Nic Nic), go to the Sea Watch Foundation. I you'd like to adopt a whale (I adopted SOD), see the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
If you've taken the time out to read this post, then I'm eternally grateful to you, and if it's made you think twice about your dream of swimming with dolphins, better still.
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