Dolphins in marine parks and aquariums face significant welfare challenges from confinement, social disruption, and performance demands. The ethics of captive cetacean display are increasingly contested.
The welfare case against captive dolphin display rests on the fundamental incompatibility between dolphin behavioral ecology and the conditions of captivity. Dolphins evolved for life in the open ocean, navigating vast ranges, engaging in complex social relationships, and hunting in sophisticated coordinated groups. Pool confinement denies all of these fundamental drives. The echolocation used for navigation and communication bounces off pool walls in ways that may cause sensory distress. Performance training using food deprivation as motivation adds an additional welfare dimension. The trend toward legislative restriction of captive cetacean keeping reflects growing scientific and public consensus that this form of animal use cannot be made acceptably humane.