(DR manati park) [Fwd: Petting Dolphins]

Bruce at Island Resources wrote:
>
> At 6:25 AM -0500 12/4/01, Julie C. Wilson wrote to the Marine Ecotourism list:
>
> >Sender: "Discussion forum - Issues in Marine Ecotourism. Open to
> >academic researchers" <DEFANGED_META-@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
> >From: "Julie C. Wilson" <Julie.Wilson@UWE.AC.UK>
> >Subject: FWD: <no subject>
> >To: META-@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> >
> >Forwarded from Claudia Townsend (UK)
> >
> > >===== Original Message From "TOWNSEND CLAUDIA B L"
> ><C.B.L.Townsend@greenwich.ac.uk> =====
> >
> >Of interest for the META list?
> >
> >Swimming with Dolphins,
> >
> >A swim with dolphins may be wondrous for people, but is it stressful
> >for the animals?
> >By SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
> >Associated Press
> >
> >Writer BAVARO, Dominican Republic (AP)
> >The two dolphins glide around the tourists, who hesitantly reach out to stroke
> >the glossy backs. A photographer snaps a picture. One of animals seems to
> >grin. "You can feel the connection with them, they seem to know us," Lim
> >Streckland of St. Louis said as he emerged from the pool. But just as such
> >programs are enjoying a boom in popularity, debate is growing about whether
> >the programs are harmful to the creatures.
> >
> >The controversy has intensified since the
> >death of a recently captured dolphin in Mexico, in February, and the
> >discovery in July of two dolphins abandoned by a traveling show in the
> >mountains of Guatemala. Animal rights activists argue the shows are
> >cruel and unnatural, and they've targeted Manati Park in the Dominican
> >Republic as one of the worst. They say the park gives the dolphins no
> >place to run if they don't want to play with people. The owners of
> >"swim with dolphins" shows, like many dolphin trainers around the
> >world, say such activists are romantics who stupidly attribute human
> >characteristics, like the desire for freedom, to wild animals that
> >don't know the difference. "This you can equate to living in a hotel
> >with room service," said George Rogers, technical director of Manati
> >Park in Bavaro, near the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. "They
> >get the best food here, the best vets in the world."
> >
> >At the same time,
> >promoters trumpet dolphins' supposed intelligence. One Internet site
> >offers the opportunity to swim with "the most gentle and intelligent
> >mammals next to humans." Both sides look to science to resolve the
> >question, but scientists can't tell if a dolphin is happy. "Should
> >animals be kept in captivity is not a science question - it's an
> >ethical question," said Doug Demaster, a marine biologist with the
> >U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Demaster's studies suggest
> >dolphins die at an abnormal rate during the first few months of
> >captivity, and that afterward their survival rates match dolphins in
> >the wild. Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the U.S. Humane
> >Society, says that should tell us something.
> >
> >"Most animals in
> >captivity tend to live longer - but dolphins don't," she said. Those
> >who make a living from dolphins swimming with tourists point to
> >another study, published in Marine Mammal Science journal in 1995. It
> >found "no behavioral evidence that controlled swims with adequate
> >refuge were (harmful) for human swimmers or dolphins." "Swim with
> >dolphins" programs first gained popularity in Florida in the 1980s and
> >spread to other countries in the past decade. The World Society for
> >the Protection of Animals, based in Framingham, Mass., said there are
> >about 18 in the United States and others in Mexico, Anguilla, the
> >Bahamas and Bermuda.
> >
> >Plans for tourists to swim with dolphins in an
> >artificial lagoon to be dredged from mangroves in Tortola, in the
> >British Virgin Islands, are going ahead despite warnings it could
> >backfire in the upscale Caribbean destination. "Some frequent
> >long-term visitors to the island have already expressed their horror
> >and indicated that they are unlikely to return," the Association of
> >Reef Keepers there has warned. Developers at Prospect Reef Resort have
> >government approval for the project, which they say will educate
> >people about dolphin conservation. Guests would pay from $75 to $145
> >an hour to wade or swim with the dolphins. Three dolphins arrived
> >Sept. 30 for swims scheduled to begin later this year.
> >
> >In the
> >Dominican Republic, Manati Park has received 1,600 letters from
> >opponents recently. But it also gets about 20,000 visitors a year. Six
> >of them at a time swim with two or three of the park's five bottlenose
> >dolphins while two trainers stand by. Streckland, the American, didn't
> >see a problem for the dolphins. "Their conditions here seem good to
> >me," he said. "It's not like anyone here is hurting them. They're in
> >real danger in the oceans, with nets and fishermen and even sharks."
> >
> >The Dominican Republic doesn't regulate the dolphin program. Instead,
> >the park owner voluntarily follows most rules developed by the U.S.
> >National Marine Fisheries Service - limiting the number of tourists to
> >dolphins and trainers and the time the animals spend with tourists.
> >The only U.S. standard unmet is for a refuge if the dolphins don't
> >want to swim with people. Park owner Jose Miguel Moreno says his
> >16-foot deep pool is nearly twice the depth of the 9-foot U.S. rule,
> >so the dolphins can do what they do in the wild to escape: dive.
> >Tourists wearing lifejackets can't pursue them. "If they (dolphins)
> >remain on the surface, it's because they're happy to do it," Moreno
> >said. Opponents differ. "Dolphins don't wave at people," Sherwin said.
> >"They don't like people hanging on their backs. They do it because
> >they're hungry and they'll get food."
> >
> >On the Net:
> >http://www.freethedolphins.com http://www.dolphinproject.org
> >http://home1.pacific.net.sg/(tilde)slash/dlpswim.html
> >http://gocaribbean.about.com/library/weekly/aa022899.htm
> >for Monday, Dec. 3, and thereafter<P>
> >
> >
> >------- End of forwarded message -------
> >
> >Claudia Townsend
> >Centre for Responsible Tourism
> >University of Greenwich
> >Pembroke
> >Chatham Maritime
> >Kent ME4 4TB
> >Tel: 0208 331 7586
> >Fax: 0208 331 9805
> >email: tc40@gre.ac.uk
> >www.cfrt.org.uk
Received on Thu Dec 6 08:07:42 2001