Life-capture kills

Many dolphins die during capture. The ones that survive suffer greatly.

Dolphins are known as being very intelligent animals with an impressive level of emotional capacity. This development is the reason for dolphins also being very sensitive animals that may suffer greatly during capture and captivity. They suffer the same consequences of stress and panic as man and this all too often results in a cruel death.

The capture of dolphins for captivity may result in death rates between 30 and 80 % of he animals during capture. Some drown in the nets or die from wounds inflicted durig capture. Others die because of emotional stress and the traumatic experience of the capture.

Acording to the report “The Case Against Marine Mammals in Captivity”, published in January 2006 by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) face a six-fold increase in risk of mortality immediately after capture from the wild and immediately after every transfer between facilities. They never become accustomed to transport, and the stress they experience can be fatal.

In 2005, a hunt involving about 100 bottlenose dolphins was realized in the Japanese port of Futo was revived (no hunt had taken place there since 1999 and dolphin watching is now a growing industry), apparently solely to acquire animals for public display facilities in Japan. Fourteen dolphins were sold to aquaria, five were killed for “scientific studies,” and at least four (and almost certainly more) were drowned in the panic and chaos of the entrapment in Futo port. The remainder were released to an uncertain fate. Each dolphin slaughtered in these hunts is worth only a few hundred U.S. dollars on the open market as meat or fertilizer, but live animals fetch up to tens of thousands.

According to the biologist Wiliam Walter, who participated in the capture of dolphins, “there is a tendency of cetaceans to vomit, when lifted aboard. Some animals died because the vomited food blocked their respiratory canals.”

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Page author: Stefan Austermühle

H.F.Ellenberger, profesor for human psycology, resumed in his book “Origins of madness” the reaction of captured animals as follows: “In contrary to the free animal, the capture done is uncapable to flee, or defend itself. This deseperate situation brings the animal to a state of fear and panic, during which its frantic movements can selfinflict severe wounds.” As other possible reaction Ellenberger mentioned the contrary behavior, where the animals stop any movement. It is also posible that animals refuse to feed for several days’ or even weeks and must be forcefed in order to make them survive. According to Ellenberger all these reactions are equally known from human beings: “Analyzing the human pathology we can encounter similar manifestations. Some criminals show very aggressive behaviors, when they arrive in jail, others fall in a state of trance.”

The scientist Dario de Martis wrote: “Any situation that causes the limitation of space or the capacity to move, results in reactions that are very similar in animals and man. The entire human pathology with respect to dramatic situations is comparable. Animals, even though when they are little evolved, react stereotyped when put into traumatic situations. They may “play” dead or in the contrary become hysteric. This defense reflex can be equally observed in man. In dramatic situations – for example a traffic accident – there are people that stop mooving while others enter in panic.” De Martis also writes: “During my work with psycologic patients I was always amazed by the similarity of reactions shown by man and animals, when they are deprived of their freedom. This clearly shows that animals and man share a universal structure. For the animal a zoological park is an attack against its nature.”

The reaction of immobilization is also known as “capture shock”. It aparently is a natural reaction of animals that fall prey to a natural predator. The massive physiological reaction caused by the capture shock accelerates death and rduced pain sensation. Capture shock has different manifestations: It may cause a drastic, immediate and irreversible breakdown of body functions, resulting in death. But it also can lead to a slow death days later, being caused by muscular necrosis and electrolytic inbalance.

There are several examples for such problems in captive dolphins. In the year 1970 three Orcas stopped feeding for 75 days alter their capture causing the death of one of them. The biologist Walker wrote about several dolphins that died because they did not accept food. And the American scientist Wood reported too: “I know several cases of dolphins that died because it was imposible to make them feed.”

Walter also reported cases of panic suicide of false killerwhales that rammed their heads against the wall of the pool till they died. In the fifties the famous Jacques Cousteau participated in the capture of dolphins and wrote: “The dolphin escaped our hands and swam forcefully with the head against the wall. We tried to calm him down, but again he escaped and swam against the wall. Finally he died in a horrible way, shaking all over his body and drowning in agony. A second dolphin died the same way, breaking his head while ramming himself agains the wall.”

The stress of capture and transport causes the imune system of dolphins to collapse and within a few weeks after capture they become victims of diseases that normaly would not have affected them. The German zoo of Duisburg lost 14 of 17 captured Commerson dolphins. The former director of the zoo wrote: “The skin fungy in the beginning was very small – like the fungy of the feet, on can conract in a swimming pool – but after a short time the two or three small patches grew so strong that they covered the entire body of the dolphins Even worse was the attack by internal lung parasites. Within a very short period of time our beautifull dolphins deintegrated from outside and inside being under attack from botanical and zoological parasites.”

The 2002–2010 Conservation Action Plan for the World’s Cetaceans states, “As a general principle, dolphins should not be captured or removed from a wild population unless that specific population has been assessed and it has been determined that a certain amount of culling can be allowed without reducing the population’s long-term viability or compromising its role in the ecosystem. Such an assessment, including delineation of stock boundaries, abundance, reproductive potential, mortality, and status (trend) cannot be achieved quickly or inexpensively, and the results should be reviewed by an independent group of scientists before any captures are made. Responsible operators (at both the capturing end and the receiving end) must show a willingness to invest substantial resources in assuring that proposed removals are ecologically sustainable.”

The IUCN CSG has recommended that, at a minimum, 50 genetic samples (through biopsy darting) and at least three complete surveys (using appropriate scientific methods) must be done before the status of these animals can be determined, and therefore before any captures should be considered.

Virtually everywhere cetacean captures happen today, no such investment has occurred.

Nowadays the life capture of dolphins is concentrated in development countries, like Cuba. Here entire family groups get caught, with many of them dying during capture and transport. As the capture effort is concentrated in certain areas entire local dolphin populations may become wiped out.

Cuban authorities have issued capture quotas of—on average—15 bottlenose dolphins per year from national waters. To date, there have been no reported population estimates or completed assessments of the stocks of cetaceans in the coastal waters of Cuba, nor any studies to determine whether these removals are sustainable or whether they are having an impact on Cuban cetacean populations.

Many of these animals have been sold to other facilities in the Caribbean (with others being exported to Europe and Mexico). Wayra and Yaku have been bought from one of these operations and have been imported in 1997 from Mexico.

The IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) has identified the investigation of life-captures of bottlenose dolphins from Cuba as one of its priority projects, due to concerns about the potential for depletion of coastal stocks of these animals. Similar concerns are also voiced for catches of coastal bottlenose dolphins in Mexican waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

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