By Natalia Galbetti, Source: Ecorazzi

Dolphin

One step forward and one step back. As the Baltimore National Aquarium has announced that it is discussing plans to release all captive dolphins back into the wild and to stop their captive dolphin program, its northern neighbors at the Vancouver Aquarium is doing the exact opposite by expanding its captive whale and dolphin program.

“The truth is that dolphins are far more cognizant…have much higher level of cognitive capacity, and have very highly demonstrated social behaviors,”said John Racanelli, the head of the Baltimore National Aquarium. “They can obviously sense future events and correlate future and past events. The more we learn here at the aquarium, the more we realize how different these dolphins are from most of their other cousins in the ocean.”

Racanelli is the first leader in a zoo or aquarium in the United States to publicly admit that their captive program is not working and the animals’ well being could be improved by releasing them. He also mentioned how the interaction guests get with the animals is not beneficial or educational by current conservationists’ standards and doesn’t encourage people to respect the animals. Racanelli suggested a “national dolphin sanctuary” might be the best option for the ones who have been born in captivity and never experienced life in the wild.

Read the rest at: Ecorazzi