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Originally Posted by QuickSilver  May I ask what your source is?
To me, that's a classic example of taking something very ordinary and making it sinister. ASPCA dog training classes tell you to bring your dog to class hungry. It's right there on the website. Are we reducing our dogs to "beggars" by training them with food?
I've read a lot of material about this, and one thing Pryor says over and over again is that you simply cannot train a dolphin through negative reinforcement. You cannot use a choke collar on a dolphin. They are much more powerful than humans, and can easily outmaneuver us in the water. And in fact, you canNOT force a dolphin to perform by withholding food, because dolphins get most of their water from their food. They dehydrate and die very quickly if not fed regularly.
As an aside, Pryor describes one dolphin who figured out how to "beach" itself on the pool rim - it would flop over to people and bang its beak on them when it wanted attention. In other words, working the system.  |
I want you to know I respect your opinion and hope do not think I am being sinister. We disagree...and that is ok.
I just don't want to come off like I am arguing with you.
I just can't see why we have to trap them and train them. To take a healthy dolphin from its environment and train it to do tricks for treats is cruel to me. I think we are able to study and create relationships with many animal in thier environment. However, that take much more time. People have spent years waiting to be "accepted" into prides, packs, or families of species they want to study. We have the power to yank them into our world so many times we do.
Rescues are another story. To save the life of an animal that may have otherwise died is a good thing. Sometimes these animals can be returned to the wild, sometimes they cant. These are wonderful examples of animals that should be released into reserves or controled habitats.