The ethics of keeping whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals in captivity has become one of the most debated topics in animal welfare. Science and public opinion are increasingly aligned against display.
Marine mammal captivity presents welfare challenges that are uniquely difficult to mitigate because the physical and social environments of oceans simply cannot be replicated in any tank. Orca that range hundreds of kilometres daily in family pods are confined to enclosures that represent a tiny fraction of their natural environment. The social disruption caused by mixing unrelated animals from different cultural groups in artificial social conditions causes chronic stress. Dorsal fin collapse in captive male orca — virtually unknown in the wild — is a visible indicator of welfare compromise. The welfare case against cetacean captivity has strengthened as wild research has increasingly demonstrated the complexity of marine mammal cognition and social life.