Dolphin Love – Liquid Hike

Michele the Trainer
February 6, 2016
Conservation, Liquid Hike

Like most animal groupies, when I was a kid I dreamt of working at Sea World or Marineland and being a dolphin trainer.

Did you? I think a lot of people did.

A natural heartfelt desire to learn about these fun beautiful animals that look like they are smiling all the time and make a variety of laughter like noises.

We watched Flipper on TV and we fell in love.

Later, I was blessed with big wild dolphin pod sightings. When I saw the flips better and beyond what they did in their amusement park “shows” in nature, I knew then that captivity was not optimal. End of the dolphin trainer idea.

Then I became a diver. I was able to observe them in nature. (I’m sure they didn’t even know I was there.) https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-dive-with-dolphins

Then I started noticing “swim with the dolphin” offerings all over the globe.

Then I noticed and observed the differences regarding freedom and care. Some animals were caged inland or at the coastline, and fewer came and went freely.

Then I started reading about the deaths of these animals in captivity.

Then I watched the movie The Cove, and that was the first time I heard of Ric (Richard) O’Barry, the activist.

“Working back in the 1960s for Miami Seaquarium, O’Barry captured and trained dolphins, including the five dolphins who played the role of Flipper in the popular American TV-series of the same name. When Kathy, the dolphin who played Flipper most of the time, died in his arms, OʼBarry realized that capturing dolphins and training them to perform silly tricks is simply wrong.”

Please see The Cove. I was blown away.

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Watch the trailer:

http://www.thecovemovie.com/WatchTheTrailer.htm

The Cove educated me about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji Japan, and that capturing dolphins for export to marine parks, aquariums, dolphin “experiences”, and the $$$ profit $$$ associated were some of the reasons this barbaric slaughter/capture goes on in Taiji.

I thought for sure that after The Cove movie this would have stopped, but no no no my friends, it’s still going on and on and on.

Every year, DAILY, from September 1st to March 1st.

I assumed that the movie with it’s long list of awards, raised enough awareness to put a stop to the herding of dolphins and small whales into a cove in Taiji and killing or capturing them. Nope. Later, I was even more shocked to learn from the Sea Shepherds that this activity still continues. Pods and pods of different species of amazing aquatics are affected.

Did You Wonder How Dolphins Become Entertainment?