Cabo Dolphin Center Protest

Recently, we found ourselves in Cabo San Lucas (I know good environmentalists don’t fly, but we did offset, fly economy, packed lightly and made sure to void our bladders/bowels before getting on the plane – every little bit helps). We were staying in a reasonably nice all-inclusive hotel that, aside from the food wastage and overuse of pesticides to keep cockroaches and other insects at bay, seemed like a pleasant enough place. We both speak Spanish so it made it a bit easier to get to know and connect with the local people.

All was going well in the "make believe tourist world" we were inhabiting when, on our second day in Cabo, I found out that there is a Cabo Dolphin Center where people can watch dolphins ‘perform’ and/or have the opportunity to swim with the captive animals. I know this is a mainstream dream for many people, but I tell myself that people simply don’t understand, or don’t want to see, the ugly reality behind the cheery dispositions of these highly intelligent captive mammals.

As dolphin activist Richard O'Barry explains; “A dolphin's smile is the greatest deception. It creates the illusion that they're always happy." And, for anyone who has seen the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, we know, and cannot ignore, the brutal reality of the international dolphin trade.

Each year more than 23,000 dolphins are herded into a no-longer-secret cove in Taiji, Japan where the ‘best’ animals are selected for sale to dolphin centers and aquariums around the world, while the remaining animals are brutally slaughtered and sold for meat. A dead dolphin sells for about US$600 (€418) and a live one can fetch upwards of over $US150,000 (€104,450).

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Now, I know I can’t change the world, but I do know I should speak up when I see things that aren’t right. So I asked my partner if he would accompany me to the Cabo Dolphin Center where we would try to stage a small protest outside the center. I know it really isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things, but I hoped we could maybe reach one person and make a small difference.

We positioned ourselves outside the Cabo Dolphin Center and attempted to engage with the people entering it, we did not pass judgment on the center, but explained about the grim reality of the international dolphin trade, inquired if people had seen The Cove documentary and also explained the generally unhealthy conditions of animals forced to live in captivity.

It didn’t take long, maybe ten minutes at most, before four or five Cabo Dolphin Center male employees surrounded us and began shouting at us (while standing way too close for our comfort) that we were interfering with their business, spreading lies, that we were on private property and that they were going to have us arrested.

Although we were on public property, the intimidation from the Cabo Dolphin Center employees quickly escalated to threatening to have us deported, arrested, suing us, and also insinuating that they would make trouble for us at immigration - all the while screaming in our faces that it was a real mistake to mess with them.

We held our ground, as we knew we were standing on public property and told them to go ahead and call the police. The experience was extremely unpleasant, threatening and more than a little scary. If this is even a small indication of the reality of the dolphin industry where people will do anything to protect this exploitative multi-billion dollar industry and continue to perpetuate, at any cost, the myth of the happy captive dolphins that love to swim with humans, then people really do need to learn more about the reality of dolphins held in captivity solely for profit and exploitation.

Some form of harbor marine security did eventually arrive and we were able to explain to the head of the marina and a security guard what was taking place and how the Cabo Dolphin Center employees were threatening us even though we were on public property and that our main focus was trying to educate people on the ugly reality of the dolphin trade. The police also did arrive, but we didn’t deal with them directly.

The security officials attempted to diffuse the situation and explain how the local and national political systems work in Cabo San Lucas and Mexico in general. They took us to their office and provided us with a website to contact the Ministry of Environment to directly lodge a complaint. We will do this, but I can’t help but tell myself that the only way these mammals are no longer going to be used for profit and kept in captivity, is when there are no longer people willing to support these industries and ‘institutions’.

You see, I know people love dolphins, but how they love them varies so greatly. Some people love them in a cage existing solely and selfishly for their entertainment and pleasure, while other people love them swimming freely in the oceans.

On a gentler side note, several fishermen who had watched the drama unfold thanked us for speaking up for the dolphins and explained how they felt powerless to do anything to help the captive animals. They described the Cabo Dolphin Center as a form of enslavement that exists solely for the pleasure and use of the tourists. I couldn’t agree more.

Visit: http://www.thecovemovie.com & http://www.cabodolphins.com/

Valerie Williams is a writer living on Salt Spring Island and she does not support animals in captivity.

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