Bottlenose dolphins have been the most extensively studied cetacean in captivity, with compelling welfare evidence that their complex social and cognitive needs cannot be adequately met in marine park tanks.
Bottlenose dolphin captive welfare evidence is extensive and consistent: behavioral indicators of chronic stress, disrupted social structures incompatible with their complex wild social lives, and cognitive frustration from environments that cannot approximate the spatial and social richness of the ocean. Captive facilities that breed dolphins perpetuate the welfare problem across generations. Wild bottlenose dolphin welfare is threatened by less obvious but serious harms - entanglement, pollution, and noise disrupting the acoustic environment they depend on for communication and echolocation. Supporting wild dolphin conservation is the welfare-optimal response.