Spotted dolphins, Little Bahama Bank, July 09/G.K.Wallace, ginisnaturenews.com
Three wild baby dolphins are rescued, and many more die. One captive dolphin becomes pregnant, another reaches a milestone birthday, and another passes away. Japan stops whaling for a while at least, whales and dolphins make a comeback in cleaned-up waters in two parts of the world, dolphins help rescue a dog from a Florida waterway, and whale watchers save a whale in the Sea of Cortez.
Spotted dolphins, Little Bahama Bank, July 09/G.K.Wallace, ginisnaturenews.com
Catch up with these and other headlines, see beautiful images of dolphins and whales, watch videos and audio slideshows and reap the benefit of one photographer’s encounters with one beautiful species in this first edition of GNN’s Dolphin & Whale News Digest.
Spotted dolphins, Little Bahama Bank, July 09/G.K.Wallace, ginisnaturenews.com
There’s too much news for one roundup, always will be, so expect more soon — along with a separate series on the life stories of SeaWorld’s killer whales. In the meantime, feel free to browse the entries in this roundup’s five categories: SeaWorld, Dolphins & Whales in Captivity, Dolphins & Whales in the Wild, Dogs & Dolphins and Best for Last.
Bottlenose dolphin, Little Bahama Bank, July 2010/G.K. Wallace, ginisnaturenews.com
Whatever you do, be sure to check out Best for Last: Whale Watchers Save a Whale. It’s a true story, it’s amazing, the images and video are wonderful, and it will leave you feeling all good and happy inside. Huge thanks to Amanda Dargan and Steve Zeitlin of City Lore for sharing it.
Brasington family & friends watch the humpback whale they helped free, Loreto, Baja CA, Sea of Cortez, Feb 14, 2011/Brasington family, 3brasingtonsandvan.blogspot.com
For the record: DWND opposes keeping dolphins and whales in captivity except for rescue and rehab purposes and as the only viable option for captive-born and long-captive animals who couldn’t survive in the wild. It will report captive marine mammal news out of concern for these animals and respect for people’s right to form their own opinions about the practice. It asks only that while reading these stories and watching these video reports, people who love dolphins and whales keep a few things in mind:
The captive display industry doesn’t use the term “captive” or “in captivity” anymore. The preferred euphemism is “in human care.” Watch for it.
The industry argues that marine mammals live as long in captivity as they do in the wild and isn’t above fudging facts to support this claim. Check them.
Captive animals are shipped around a lot to replace dead ones and promote breeding. This is stressful to them, not the holiday it’s called in a story below.
Industry spokespeople don’t like to discuss mortality rates. You can find some of this information at cetabase.com.
Gini's Nature News 