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When I was a young lad I used to love going to Marineland. All our visiting cousins remember visiting the dolphins in Napier.
Some time over the last few years the last dolphin died and Marineland seems a bit of a hole in Marine Parade. For some reason it wasn't acceptable to get another one.
Not wanting to offend anyone, but just asking the question: Is it that bad to have Dolphins in places like Marineland?
I understand that they breed dolphins in captivity in Australia and they have a surplus ones. Would it be that bad to get one here.
Is a case of going too PC or do we generally think having dolphins in captivity is super bad?
Just thought it would be interesting to ask the question.
07:15, 25.02.2010
We will not get more dolphins as long as we have Barbara Arnott as mayor. She is the reason there are no dolphins in Marineland. Great mayor – great Greenie (sigh)
08:10, 25.02.2010
Couldn’t agree with you more Rod. As a child we visited Napier often to see relatives and always looked forward to the visits to Marineland. A world gone PC mad.
10:13, 25.02.2010
Dolphins are intelligent creatures that should be swimming wild in the sea.
The decision to not have more dolphins at marineland was taken I believe because of evidence that keeping them in captivity was harmful both physically and mentally.
In this day and age should we really be harming other creatures purely for our own amusement?
10:44, 25.02.2010
As I understand the arguement, dolphins are very inteligent and need a lot of stimulation and apparently captivity is not good for them for reasons raised by Peter, although there are a number of institutions that appear to get the whole captivity thing right (the various Sea Worlds dotted around the globe), so maybe we need to look into what they are doing and emulate that.
What is more cruel, to bring into captivity a wild creature used to big open spaces or throw an animal used to constant human interaction in their own small world out into the wild? I would sure be scared senseless left to my own devices in the middle of the wild!
15:41, 25.02.2010
My wife swam with dolphins less than two weeks ago off the Hawke’s Bay coast (an absolute thrill for her). I have also seen Orca’s up close just off the Port of Napier, so we are blessed with some great opportunities “in the wild”.
A delicate topic because I think it is great for children to see things up close and personal, but I am not a big fan of keeping wild animals penned up. Tough debate…