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| Recognising the rights of dolphins would end whaling and their captivity |
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Dolphins
should be treated as non-human "persons", with their rights to life
and liberty respected, scientists meeting in Canada have been told.
Experts in
philosophy, conservation and animal behaviour want support for a Declaration of
Rights for Cetaceans.
They
believe dolphins and whales are sufficiently intelligent to justify the same
ethical considerations as humans.
Recognising
their rights would mean an end to whaling and their captivity, or their use in
entertainment.
The move
was made at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Canada, the world's biggest science conference.
It is based
on years of research that has shown dolphins and whales have large, complex
brains and a human-like level of self-awareness.
This has
led the experts to conclude that although non-human, dolphins and whales are
"people" in a philosophical sense, which has far-reaching
implications.
'Self-aware'
Ethics
expert Prof Tom White, from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, author of
In Defence of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier, said dolphins were
"non-human persons".
"A
person needs to be an individual. If individuals count, then the deliberate
killing of individuals of this sort is ethically the equivalent of deliberately
killing a human being.
Intelligent
cetacean behaviour
- A member of a group of orcas, or killer whales, in Patagonia had a damaged jaw and could not feed. The elderly whale was fed and kept alive by its companions.
- Dolphins taking part in an experiment had to press one of two levers to distinguish between sounds, some of which were very similar. By pressing a third lever, they were able to tell the researchers they wanted to "pass" on a particular test because it was too hard. "When you place dolphins in a situation like that they respond in exactly the same way humans do," said Dr Lori Marino. "They are accessing their own minds and thinking their own thoughts."
- A number of captive dolphins were rewarded with fish in return for tidying up their tank. One of them ripped up a large paper bag, hid away the pieces, and presented them one at a time to get multiple rewards.
- In Iceland, killer whales and fishermen have been known to work together. The whales show the fishermen where to lay their nets, and in return are allowed to feed on part of the catch. Then they lead the fleet to the next fishing ground.
- "We're saying the science has shown that individuality - consciousness, self-awareness - is no longer a unique human property. That poses all kinds of challenges."
The
declaration, originally agreed in May 2010, contains the statements "every
individual cetacean has the right to life", "no cetacean should be
held in captivity or servitude, be subject to cruel treatment, or be removed
from their natural environment", and "no cetacean is the property of
any state, corporation, human group or individual".
It adds:
"The rights, freedoms and norms set forth in this declaration should be
protected under international and domestic law."
Psychologist
Dr Lori Marino, from Emory University in Atlanta, told how scientific advances
had changed the view of the cetacean brain.
She said:
"We went from seeing the dolphin/whale brain as being a giant amorphous
blob that doesn't carry a lot of intelligence and complexity to not only being
an enormous brain but an enormous brain with an enormous amount of complexity,
and a complexity that rivals our own."
Dolphins
had a sense of self which could be tested by the way they recognise themselves
in mirrors, she added.
"When
you get up in the morning and look in the mirror and know that's you, you have
a sense of 'you'," said Dr Marino.
"They
have a similar sense. They can look in a mirror and say, 'Hey, that's
me'."
Related Articles:
“.. The cetaceans’ spiritual mission, to embody in huge bulk and inhabit your oceans where they absorb and anchor the light beamed to the planet from distant civilizations, soon will have been fulfilled. These whale and dolphin souls, which species-wide are the most highly evolved spiritually and intellectually on your planet, will soar to their original light stations when they leave physically, but they will continue to grace your planet with their love energy… “ - Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age – Jan 19, 2012 (Channeller:Suzy Ward)
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Kayaker Alan Brady is surprised by two humpback whales Oct. 25.
Biologists believe whales have followed food closer to shore, leading
them to feed just a mile from land this year. (Paul Schraub / AP) |
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