The Big Business of Dolphins
Part Two of our Feature: Dolphins and Us
The Big Business of DolphinsPart 2 of “Dolphins & Us“ The Business of Dolphins The Movie that Launched a Revolution The Real Story: Freeing Keiko Ric O’Barry: From Flipper to The Cove Tilikum: The Slave Who Fought Back Life and Death at SeaWorld The Drive Hunts Interviews & Reports “Don’t Buy a Ticket!” More about Ric O’Barry The “Spartacus” of Whales My Visit to SeaWorld A Whale of a Business The Cove NEXT: Part Three: Saving the Dolphins. See also Part One: The Smartest of Us All? |
Last week, we looked at the amazing intelligence of dolphins, their self-awareness, their society and their culture.
We also looked at the nature of “personhood” – what gives someone certain legal rights as a “person”, and how, by every one of those criteria, dolphins qualify as “persons.”
In Part Two, we look at the big business of dolphins, and how they’re being exploited by unscrupulous companies in exactly the same way that whole categories of humans – women, black people, children – have been denied personhood at various times in our history.
Today, a revolution is under way that will most likely lead to the end of keeping dolphins in captivity for entertainment and research. There’s much work to be done, but the big businesses like SeaWorld already know that the writing is on the wall.
In many ways, the revolution began with the release of a movie in 1993. Free Willy captured hearts and minds, and led to the release of the orca who played him in the movie.