Scientific evidence on captive dolphin welfare consistently finds significant welfare deficits compared to wild conspecifics, making the ethical case against marine park captivity compelling.
The welfare evidence against captive dolphin entertainment is among the clearest in the field. The combination of space restriction, social disruption, forced performance for food rewards, and chronic noise exposure creates welfare deficits that no amount of management improvement can fully address. The fundamental problem is that dolphins are highly intelligent, wide-ranging, socially complex animals whose welfare requirements cannot be met in any captive tank. The direction of travel globally is toward captivity phase-out, and welfare advocates should support this trajectory while recognising the complexity of what to do with existing captive populations.