Whale Captivity

Belugas have brains larger than humans. We know they communicate with each other, even if we are not clever enough to figure out what they are saying. Surely the belugas should have a say in whether they will be kept confined in relatively microscopic cages. Dolphins, for example, range over 80.47 km (50 miles) a day. Tanks are like encasing them in plaster.

Pro-captivity whale keepers are self-centered. All they care about are the interests of fellow whale keepers. They treat the belugas as if they were mindless sea cows.

They argue you need captivity to study whales. The information gleaned is useful in preservation from extinction.

We now have much better tools too study whales in the wild: sensors, cameras, GPS (Global Positioning System) transmitters. Studying whales in captivity is like studying human behaviour by studying prisoners in solitary. Further, it is simply wrong too keep intelligent, innocent beings in solitary.

In the 1800s, slaves were considered not human. But for some purposes, they counted as a fraction of a human. We should do the same with whales, to give them at least token consideration.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)