Why is swimming with dolphins bad? What’s truth behind dolphins smile?

Hello again my fellow travel lovers. 

Have you ever thought about the activities you take while travelling/traveling? If you don’t support the trophy hunters who go on a safari to hunt wild animals just for fun and pictures, you will never swim with the dolphins after learning the true price these poor dolphins have to pay. Have you ever taken a selfie with dolphins, kissed one, or even swam with them? Most people who take part in any of these activities are completely innocent and genuinely love dolphins. They have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Do you love Dolphins? Learn the truth behind the deceptive dolphin smile and you will never think about contributing to the dirty dolphin business.

Before writing this article, I spent months reading about the thriving dolphin business, watching every side of the story and following both the dolphin entertainment spots and activists like Ric O’Barry of Dolphin Project. After these few months, I couldn’t wait any longer. I feel like it’s my responsibility to share the little I have learned with you.

If this article makes one person change his/her mind about paying to swim with the dolphins or watch the dolphins perform, I’ll count it as success. Let’s dive right into the reasons why you will never want to swim with the dolphins again.

1. When you visit the dolphin entertainment spot and look at the dolphins face, you’ll think they’re smiling 24/7. The sad news is that these dolphins aren’t smiling. They will have the same face sad, depressed, starved, stressed, in pain, or dead. 
2.  Did you know that most dolphins are illegally captured and sold to parks around the world? The dolphin you’re paying to watch or swim with was captured in a traumatising way, separated from their family and transported to your entertainment spot. In the process of capturing these dolphins, the ones that are deemed less attractive are slaughtered and sold as meat. “Dolphins are dragged kicking and screaming from the wild where they belong and sold to the dolphin shows around the world under the name of education and research” – Ric O’Barry 
3.  Many dolphins develop stomach ulcers, and die prematurely from the stressful conditions of captivity.
4. They are deprived of food in the name of “positive reinforcement”. In order to eat their meal, the dolphins have to entertain you or they might just miss their meal.
5. People have also been bitten and sustained broken bones in dolphin captivity. A good number of people have been attacked by dolphins in captivity. Read this article by World Animals Protection 10year old attacked by dolphins. 
6. In the wild, dolphins have a choice of either staying or leaving which makes the attack almost impossible but in captivity, they feel threatened and can attack any time.
7.  The dolphins in captivity are depressed out of boredom and become aggressive. Most dolphin trainers have admitted to giving them anti-depressants. 
8. Many illnesses can be passed from dolphins to human visitors, including viral, fungal, and bacterial infections such as salmonella.
9. Dolphins like other wild animals live in compatible groups. The ones in captivity are  often housed in incompatible groups, and because of the cramped conditions of their enclosures, they’re unable to escape conflicts.
10. Water treatment methods such as ozonation and chlorination are used in the dolphins’ tanks to maintain the water clarity needed for visitors to see the animals clearly  and neutralise the bacteria from large quantities of animal waste products. The use of harsh chemicals like these can cause health issues, particularly of the eyes and skin.
11. A lot of people have been injured in the dolphin programs but they are scared of coming out because they are made to believe that they must have done something wrong and it was their mistake. According to Dr. Naomi Rose (Marine Mammal Scientist), some people don’t report because the facility itself encourages the victims not to report the attacks by paying them off.