(Opinion column written by Jonathan Starling)

Recently there’s been a lot of discussion in Bermuda on the issue of keeping dolphins in captivity; this appears to have been the unintended result of Dolphin Quest announcing the births of two baby dolphins amongst their captive population.

A Role for Aquariums & Zoos

To be upfront, I was formerly an Aquarist at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.

As part of my responsibilities there I was involved in animal enrichment and animal training, primarily for the seals, but also other animals. I also participated in an exchange with Dolphin Quest where I was able to receive additional experience while working with their trainers and dolphins. Animal training and enrichment are key animal husbandry techniques for both veterinary care and ensuring the overall health of captive animals.

I do believe there is a key role for Aquaria and Zoos in our society, primarily as an educational and conservation institution. BAMZ, after all, has as its mission statement ‘to inspire appreciation and care of island environments’.

It is run by the Department of Conservation Services primarily in that capacity – to inspire and to help protect.?With the exception of the seals, all the marine exhibits feature our local marine life for the purpose of educating and encouraging the conservation of our marine environment. The zoo itself is perhaps unique in the world, focusing only on island ecologies, again for the sake of inspiring care for island environments.

That is why we don’t have ‘typical’ zoo animals and exhibits there.

The zoo also contributes greatly to global breeding programs for endangered animals, and helps raise awareness of the threats to their wild habitats.

In many ways, BAMZ is what aquaria and zoos can and should aspire to – providing enriching and natural environments and focused on education and conservation rather than ‘entertainment’.

That it serves as a tourism attraction is more a by-product of that, and not its reason for existence. The admission charges simply help to subsidise the cost of maintaining the exhibits; it’s not ‘for profit’.

I understand the argument for opposing any and all aquaria and zoos, but I do believe that they can, run and designed properly, pay a key role for inspiring appreciation and care for our world and the animals we share it with.

The Rights of Sapient & Sentient Beings

Having said that, I believe that there are some species which require special consideration and basic rights above and beyond general humane treatment.

To me, non-humans for which we can recognise as being intelligent, self-aware, socially complex and capable of communication, in short, sentient beings, should be recognised as such and be provided with basic rights.

From my experience with them, I have come to the belief that the Primates, but particularly the Great Apes [Chimpanzees, Gorillas and Orangutans], Cetaceans [that is, Whales and Dolphins] and Elephants exhibit the characteristics of sentient beings.

I say this because these species display a level of intelligence, social complexity and social communication, in many ways functionally comparable to our own. They have their own societies, languages and learned behaviour at a qualitatively different level of complexity than other species.

The basic rights that I believe we should ensure for non-human, sapient and sentient beings would essentially be:

         1] The right to life;

         2] Freedom from captivity or servitude;

         3] Not subject to cruel treatment or to be removed from their natural environment;

         4] The right to freedom of movement and residence within their natural environment;

         5] Not to be property of any State, corporation, human group or individual;

         6] The right to protection of their natural environment;

         7] The right not to be subject to the disruption of their cultures;

         8] These rights to be ensured by law, both domestic and international.

Dolphin Quest

This of course leads to the question of what should be done with the dolphins currently held in captivity at Dolphin Quest.

I do not think it would be ethical to release them into the wild – it’s not that simple.

These dolphins have largely grown up, or spent the bulk of their life, within an artificial ‘institutionalised’ environment, and their sudden release would be dropping them into an unfamiliar environment which, in many ways would be more cruel than their current situation.

While all animals have some instincts, including ourselves, highly complex and social sentient beings rely more on learned behaviour than instinct, and the behaviours learned within an institutionalised environment do not necessarily equip one for a ‘wild’ environment.

While the task of rehabilitating, or, rather ‘de-institutionalising’ the dolphins for their full release from captivity should be the end-goal, it is perhaps more realistic that we seek to improve their current situation, but not through a business model that profits from their captivity.

A first step towards this would be expanding their living space outside of the Dockyard Keep, as was previously proposed. They should continue to be provided with enrichment and veterinary care, but their exploitation as a source of profit should be ended immediately.

While this captive population may be continued to be used for the sake of educational purposes – to inspire appreciation and care for non-human sentient beings and whales and dolphins in particular – the focus should be on their right to leave captivity or human interaction as they see fit.

More Questions & International Developments

While this naturally raises other philosophical and ethical questions [where do we draw the line on sentient and non-sentient? What about sentient but domesticated animals? After all, many would argue that dogs and horses might qualify as sentient. What about aliens and artificial intelligence, etc?], I think for the species I’ve noted there is little question today that they are sentient beings.

Recently we’ve seen basic rights granted to Great Apes in New Zealand [1999] and the Spanish Balearic Islands [2007]. And just last year [2013] India declared Cetaceans [dolphins and whales] to be ‘non-human persons’ – that is, sentient beings with rights similar to those outlined above.

It’s important to stress that we shouldn’t ignore the other pressing problems our society faces, of great racial and economic inequalities, of drug abuse, or sexual violence, for example.

These are all very real human problems that we must deal with.

However, we should recognise that these dolphins are sentient beings. And if we accept that – if we recognise their intelligence and social complexity – what right do we have to keep them in de facto bondage?

We should not have allowed Dolphin Quest to open in Bermuda in the first place, but now that they’re here, we have a responsibility to ensure the basic rights of these dolphins. And going forward we should take greater care about what we choose to be acceptable for tourism.