I do agree with you troublemaker2005 on this - " for
dolpins, what i am looking at to return are not those that have
been put to captivity, AND trained for entertainment purposes "
. However for RWS dolphins already have been in captivity and
trained for a length of period, thus really make them unsuitable
already for release.
As for your point - "dolphins with high intelligent do not
see humans as what other naimals sees them" ? Please read the
below article on Keilo - the killer whale that was free - on how he
actively sought out human company, swimming to boats and
people - this will too happen to these dolphins when
free.
How many of you have seen "Free Willy" ? - Please read the below
real life story.
Why freeing Willy was the wrong thing to do ?
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Willy was never really free. The killer whale star of the
Hollywood movie Free Willy had to be cared for by humans
even after he was released and he never successfully integrated
with his wild kin. Researchers now say attempts to return him to
the wild were misguided.
"We believe the best option for [Willy] was the open pen he had
in Norway, with care from his trainers," says Malene
Simon of the Greenland Institute of Natural
Resources, who participated in efforts to reintegrate the cetacean
in the wild and is lead author of the study. "He could swim as much
as he wanted to, had plenty of frozen herring – which he was very
fond of – and the people that he was attached to kept him
active."
The killer whale, whose real name was Keiko, died in December
2003, at about 26 years old. Despite efforts to integrate him with
wild killer whales in Iceland towards the end of his life, he
proved unable to interact with them or find food.
"While we as humans might find it appealing to free a long-term
captive animal," the researchers say in the paper, "the survival
and well-being of the animal may be severely impacted in doing so."
The only cetaceans that have successfully been returned to the wild
have been young and only kept in captivity for short periods.
The team's comments contradict those made by members of the
Free
Willy-Keiko Foundation, who declared in 2003 that
his case had challenged the perception that whales cannot be
returned to the wild. But Simon's account of Keiko's last few years
shows just how unsuccessful his release was.
Keiko was born into a wild group of killer whales, also called
orca, in Icelandic waters. He was captured in 1979 at about two
years old and spent over a decade in a small tank in a Mexican
amusement park, isolated from others of his species.
It was during this time, in 1993, that Keiko made animal stardom
when he "played" a leading role in the hit film Free
Willy, which tells the story of a boy who
befriends and eventually releases a captive orca.
The film's success engendered an international letter-writing
campaign, Free Keiko, which sought to release him into the wild.
"There was a strong public pressure to release Keiko to the wild,
preferably to his 'family' group in Iceland," say the
researchers.
Yielding to this pressure,
Keiko's owners transferred him to
Iceland and in the summers of 2000 and 2001, he
was trained to follow a boat out into the open water where wild
orcas were feeding.
In 2002, he was fitted with tracking devices, and once again led
out to join the wild orcas. This time, his trainers would hide
below deck when Keiko approached in an attempt to minimise human
contact. But lacking the necessary social skills, Keiko at first
mostly floated motionless at the surface, facing towards the wild
pods several hundred metres away.
After 10 days, he returned of his own accord to his penned-off
area in a nearby bay. Vets extracted a sample from his stomach –
the transparent, slimy liquid they found suggested Keiko had not
fed.
Two days later he was led back out to sea. Again he didn't feed,
although he did start to make dives. The tracking devices showed
that he spent most of his time above 4 metres, and most of his
dives were less than 26 metres. In contrast, wild orcas spend most
of their dive time between 50 and 75 metres.
He was seen diving among the wild orcas only once, on 30 July
2002. And after physical contact at the surface, Keiko swam away,
seeking out human company on the tracking boat.
Keiko managed to migrate to Norway for most of August, arriving
in apparently good health. However, his film-star status and love
of humans were to bring to an end his stint in the wild.
"When Keiko arrived in Norway, he actively sought out human
company, swimming to boats and people," say the researchers. "After
a few days, he became inactive, staying near a small boat, possibly
to avoid the large and steadily increasing crowd of people now
seeking his attention."
"At that time there was a crowd of people very close to Keiko,"
says Simon. "All the kids of the town wanted to touch him and swim
with him." Local authorities forbade people from approaching or
touching him, and his trainers – who thought he may have caught an
infection from his human admirers – took him to live in a new open
pen.
Keiko's activity levels increased to previous levels, thanks to
regular trips with his carers outside the bay. A year after his
failed migration, Keiko died at the age of 26 or 27, apparently of
pneumonia.
Journal reference:
Marine Mammal
Science (DOI:
10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00287.x)<!--
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trust me, each and every anaimal though behave predictably, have
their own sets of unqiue chracter at times. i believe if every
dolphin has their unique character too.
my point is - to keep them safe and breed them, then return them
to the sea wher ethey belong. however this process is not easy,
money being one of th major factor.
