DAT has considerable potential for harm for both the human and dolphin participants. It presents high costs to both the human participants, in terms of possible injury and high expectation and to their families, in terms of monetary expense. It also presents high costs to dolphins, in terms of capture, confinement in captivity and having to interact with people. Due to the lack of official standards or guidelines, the industry continues to grow with no regulation. There is no scientific evidence to demonstrate its long-term effectiveness as a therapy and viable alternatives exist.

WDCS is launching its campaign to coincide with the third meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS, the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area, in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Lori Marino, a senior lecturer in neuroscience and behavioural biology at Emory University in the USA, is in Croatia presenting her review of DAT research, which has recently culminated in a paper published with co-author Scott Lilienfeld in the journal Anthrozoos: “Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data and More Flawed Conclusions”.

The meeting of the ACCOBAMS Parties will include a discussion on dolphin interaction programmes, an issue of concern in the Agreement Area, in particular in relation to the capture of dolphins in Turkey for DAT purposes. WDCS is a partner to ACCOBAMS and is represented at this meeting.

Cathy Williamson
Captivity Programme Manager
WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

WDCS
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