WDCS Briefing – Dolphin Assisted
Therapy
Introduction
Dolphin interaction programmes, from touching and
feeding, to swimming in the dolphin's environment, be it captive or wild, are
increasing in range and popularity. An understandable love for dolphins may
encourage the public to want to get close to them. This desire may stem from
the belief that close contact with these special animals can provide, at the
very least, a release from day-to-day stresses and boredom and, at the other
extreme, some sort of miracle cure for physical and mental illness, and
disability. Such beliefs have helped encourage the growth of interaction
programmes by both commercial interests and alternative therapists. However,
whilst understanding the reasons why the public is keen to engage in such
activities, WDCS has several serious concerns about these practices, which are
summarised below.
Concerns
WDCS is
increasingly concerned about the growing number of captive ‘Dolphin Assisted
Therapy’ (DAT) programmes around the world. We are currently reviewing details
of existing and proposed DAT programmes and investigating whether ‘benefits’
claimed by, or on behalf of, patients, using this kind of therapy exceed those
claimed of less controversial interactions with pets, horses and other
domesticated animals.
Confinement in
captivity of dolphins and other cetaceans can alter their behaviour so
radically that captives cannot depict a true sense of their species. Dolphins
are free-living creatures used to travelling many tens of kilometres a day. In
captivity they are forced into relative idleness in an artificial environment
where their behaviour is controlled and subdued by humans. They are made to
interact with species and individuals they would normally avoid in the wild and
whose presence may cause them stress and discomfort and who may display
aggression towards them or provoke aggressive behaviour in them. Such displays
of character may also occur between dolphin and human visitor or trainer. Captive
displays can never truly demonstrate the complex lives of dolphins nor the
natural environment they are designed to inhabit.
These facts are
supported by the Australian Senate Select Committee on Animal Welfare, who, in
their report of 1985, found that cetaceans in captivity suffered stress,
behavioural abnormalities, high mortalities, decreased longevity and breeding
problems.
Confinement in
captivity can seriously compromise the welfare and survival of all types of
cetacean. A study was undertaken for the International Marine Mammal
Association in 1997 to compare the survival rates of captive and free-ranging
cetacean species. This study revealed that the annual survival rate and
calculated life expectancy of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins and killer
whales were significantly higher than those derived for captives, in each data
set.
WDCS believes that
the arguments against the confinement of cetaceans are so over-whelming, that
any proposal to keep them captive, for whatever reason, should be rejected on
animal welfare grounds alone.
WDCS has a series
of well-substantiated concerns about interactions between humans and dolphins
in captivity. These concerns, relating to the welfare of humans as well as
dolphins, apply equally to DAT. They include the welfare of the animal; the
risk of aggression towards people; the potential for disease transmission from
human to dolphin or vice versa; the fact that dolphins may be forced into
interactions with humans and have little respite from these actions, and the
fact that in so many DAT and other interaction programmes, dolphins are
captured from the wild and are transported thousands of miles to suffer the
effects of confinement in captivity.
In November 1999,
the Bermudan Ministry of Environment reported that at least two people had been
bitten during scheduled encounters swimming with dolphins in a facility in
A recent study
carried out by WDCS into dolphin/visitor interactions at marine parks in the
Dolphin
Assisted Therapy research
A paper published in 2003 entitled, ‘Can dolphins heal by ultrasound?’[1]
investigated the possibility of dolphins being able to heal by ultrasound. The
researchers determined that under very specific circumstances the ultrasound
emitted by dolphins could, theoretically, have an affect on biological tissue,
in terms of its intensity. However, the other key factor is the duration of
exposure. The researchers noted that, on average, the individual patients in
the study each received less than ten seconds of ‘ultrasound therapy’ and were
therefore able to reject the hypothesis that dolphins exhibited behaviour that
resulted in patients’ exposure to ultrasound in doses comparable to those in
medical treatments.
Another study evaluated research into the
effectiveness of DAT for improving the cognitive, physical, or social-emotional
behaviours of young children with disabilities.[2]
A comprehensive review of six DAT studies concluded: “The studies included in
this synthesis are so plagued with methodological flaws that claims that the
reported outcomes are due to dolphin assisted therapy may be erroneous” and
further that: “the results of the synthesis do not support the notion that
using interactions with dolphins is any more effective than other reinforcers
for improving child-learning or social-emotional development... Therefore, the
outcomes of the studies cannot conclusively be attributed to the intervention
[of DAT].” The researcher, Humphries, also concluded that: “Claims of the
effectiveness of using dolphins as a procedure for improving the behaviours of
young children with disabilities are therefore not supported by available
research evidence.”
Despite claims from the advocates of DAT, there remains
no concrete evidence for the long-term benefits of this type of therapy.
Recommendations
It is essential that in any Animal Assisted Therapy
programme the health and welfare of both the humans and the animals involved
are paramount. As an absolute minimum, Animal Assisted Therapy programmes
should incorporate the involvement of medical, veterinary and psychology
professionals.
Due to:
WDCS recommends that the practice of dolphin assisted
therapy with captive dolphins is terminated.
WDCS, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society,
Email: info@wdcs.org Website: www.wdcs.org Tel: +
44 1249 449 500 Fax: + 44 1249 449 501. Reg. Charity No. 1014705
WDCS is the global voice for the protection of
whales, dolphins and their environment and also has offices in
[1] Brensing, K.; Linke, K. and Todt, D. 2003. Can dolphins heal by ultrasound? Journal of Theoretical Biology 225 99-105
[2] Humphries,
T.L. 2003. Effectiveness of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy as a Behavioral
Intervention for Young Children with Disabilities. Bridges Practice-Based
Research Syntheses. Research and