Dolphins
Visit to the Kolmården dolphinarium, June 1995
Visit to the Kolmården dolphinarium, September 2000
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Copyright © 2001,
Carin Olofsson
Last updated:
May 5, 2001
Dolphins
As long as I can remember I have been interested in dolphins. Already as a child, during the summers in our summerhouse, close to the bay Skälderviken, I remember how it felt those rare times when a pod of porpoises happened to find their way into the bay. Then we dropped everything and got the binoculars out.In 1969, when the Kolmården dolphinarium opened, my family and I went there to see the dolphin show. At that time we didn't know about the suffering the dolphins faced during the capture and also during their stay in the dolphinarium. I have visited the Kolmården dolphinarium a few times after that, and I have also had the opportunity to meet the dolphins. Since a lot of people ask me if I work at the dolphinarium I have to say, no unfortunately I don't.
Nowadays I'm not quite sure how I feel about dolphinariums. On one hand I believe dolphins should live in freedom instead of being kept in small ponds, where they cannot live a normal life. On the other hand I feel that the dolphins are such cosmically aware beings that they know fully well what they are doing, and some of them have chosen a life in captivity to educate us and help us to a better understanding for their situation.
Since dolphins are breathing consciously they can easily "commit suicide" simply by stop breathing. In the dolphinariums all over the world this probably happens more often than we know, while other dolphins (like Flip at Kolmården) have chosen to survive in captivity year after year.