Boomhauer

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.591071

Hope it fails . Just not right to confine Orcas and Dolphins to a pool.

britexpat76

Seeing as the west are pretty much boycotting these places now I can see them relocating to China and the ME where animal rights/protection are non existent.

Meow

Agreed. Sadly too many people don't seem to care. Witness the popularity of people wanting to swim with dolphins at Atlantis. Dubai Dolphinarium is still going too. I refuse to go, but even the pictures on their website are depressing.

scrubbedexpat141

I'd love to swim with Dolphins but christ alive in Dubai it's: A. Monumentally expensive and B. Looks brutal and shit for the dolphins.

I'm not at all an animal rights warrior but I think for animals like dolphins and whales, they can't be happy in big tanks, no matter how wonderful and large they are.

Kim67

Watch Blackfish - great movie.

Millhouse

So... just me then that would be going At least I won't have to queue for the rides.

Kim67

I have a Seaworld an hour down the road and I'll probably never go again after watching Blackfish. I always felt a little bit dirty after watching the dolphins anyway - we don't have orcas at ours. I much prefer going on a whale watching boat and seeing them in the wild - it's a truly beautiful experience. The first time I went, we were following this young male for ages and he kept going away from the boat (and you can't get too close to them) just as the skipper was about to give up on it and go back at the end of the day, a pod of dauphins came up to our boat and swam beside us, then they went out to the whale and brought him back to the boat and played with him, it was fantastic.

Beaverstate

Not necessarily, Sea Worlds and various other captive animal extravaganzas are finding themselves legislated out of business or just losing then PR battle. At least around these parts.

britexpat76

I do not agree at all with keeping any animals in captivity but Blackfish is a load of nonsense owing to the fact that no one in it actually worked with the Orca's

http://seaworld.com/en/truth/truth-about-blackfish/

Kim67

That just looks like Seaworld propaganda to me. There were people that worked with Orcas in that movie and the others couldn't be there because they'd all been killed by them.

britexpat76

Really? You can't tell me you actually believe that

It was a shock-doc which generally don't tell the whole story to something as it tends to make the program boring. Take it with a pinch of salt.

NorthernLad

I guess you have the shock-doc v highly paid PR/lawyers of Seaworld.

It's all still wrong, along with Atlantis having people swimming with the dolphins that were taken from the wild.

It disgusts me (and I've made this very clear to anyone I know who's swam with dolphins in Atlantis or been to the dolphinarium).

Boomhauer

In your expereince ,is it mostly Western expats who are critical of the dolphin capitivity at Atlantis?

NorthernLad

Tricky one...the people I know who have been for the 'dolphin experience' are all Western expats.1

britexpat76

I never doubted that mate, I made that clear and completely agree with you. I watched blackfish and it is nonsense, but a show saying the correct thing 'Don't keep intelligent mammals in captivity to entertain the brain dead masses' would be pretty short.