Whales and dolphins 'should have legal rights'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...?newsfeed=true

Campaign for intelligent marine mammals to have right to life, which would protect
them from hunters and captivity.

Campaigners who believe that dolphins and whales should be granted rights on
account of their intelligence are to push for the animals to be protected under
international law.

A group of scientists and ethicists argues there is sufficient evidence of the
marine mammals' intelligence, self-awareness and complex behaviour to enshrine
their rights in legislation.

Under the declaration of rights for cetaceans, a term that includes dolphins,
whales and porpoises, the animals would be protected as "non-human persons"
and have a legally enforceable right to life.

If incorporated into law, the declaration would bring legal force to bear on
whale hunters, and marine parks, aquariums and other entertainment venues
would be barred from keeping dolphins, whales or porpoises in captivity.

"We're saying the science has shown that individuality, consciousness and
self-awareness are no longer unique human properties. That poses all kinds
of challenges," said Tom White, director of the Centre for Ethics and Business
at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

"Dolphins are non-human persons. A person needs to be an individual. And if
individuals count, then the deliberate killing of individuals of this sort is ethically
the equivalent of deliberately killing a human being. The captivity of beings of
this sort, particularly in conditions that would not allow for a decent life,
is ethically unacceptable, and commercial whaling is ethically unacceptable," White said.

The group spoke at the annual meeting in Vancouver of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, to raise support for the declaration among
scientists and the visiting public. The 10-point declaration sets out a framework
to protect cetaceans' "life, liberty and wellbeing", including rights to freedom
of movement and residence in their natural environment, and protection
against "disruption of their cultures".

"The next step is taking the science and advocating for law in different places,
from a regional point of view, from a national point of view, and eventually from
a multinational and international view," said Chris Butler-Stroud of the Whale and
Dolphin Conservation Society.

Decades of research on cetaceans, and dolphins in particular, has revealed that
their brains, while markedly different from humans, are large, complex and capable
of sophisticated behaviour. Observations of dolphins have shown that they can
recognise themselves, use tools and understand symbols and abstract concepts.

In 2001, Lori Marino of Emory University in Atlanta, who is promoting the declaration,
tested whether dolphins recognised themselves by drawing temporary marks on different
parts of their bodies and watching them check the mark by swimming up to an immersed
mirror. "When we did that with two dolphins they passed with flying colours," she said.

Orcas off Patagonia displayed a seemingly extraordinary act when an aged member
of the group suffered jaw damage and could no longer eat properly. The whale's
companions kept the animal alive by feeding it. "The animal, we would say, was past
its sell-by date, an older creature. They must have conceptualised that if it wasn't
fed, something would have happened to it, and they were able to work out what
was needed to keep it alive," said Butler-Stroud.

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi, a dolphin named Kelly
outwitted its human keepers and passed on some of its tricks to its offspring.
Dolphins at the centre were rewarded with fish if they collected litter from their
anks and carried it in their mouths to the staff but Kelly found a weakness in the
scheme. When people dropped paper into her tank, she hid it under a rock on the
bottom. When a keeper next approached, she swam down and tore a small piece off,
and returned to the surface to claim her reward. She worked out that a small
piece of paper earned the same reward as a big piece, and so maximised her meals.

Then one day, Kelly managed to grab a gull that flew into the tank. When she delivered
it to her keepers, she got an especially large fish reward. The next time Kelly was fed
she hid the fish at the bottom of the pool, and later brought it to the surface to lure
more gulls into the pool. The strategy proved so successful that she taught her offspring,
who went on to teach others.

Though much of the declaration is intended to bring pressure on whaling nations and
venues that keep cetaceans in captivity, the document has major implications for
conservation programmes and environmental assessments that impinge on communities
of dolphins, whales and other cetaceans.

As an early step, the special rights for cetaceans are being considered by the UN as part
of its convention on migratory species, which aims to protect migrating species over their
entire ranges.

Enshrining the rights in law could be some time, though. "If we are lucky it could take
10 years," said White. "We are at the stage of climate scientists 20 years ago.
This is the first step."

Nothing in this world pains me more than to see harm come to these amazing beings. :(

Thank you Panther.

Great Thread! I totally agree. Thanks for Sharing this. Peace

In 1972 Olivia Newton-John cancelled a tour of Japan due to their "abuse" of dolphins.

She wrote this song.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fEtwsTfBzLc

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Posted by WhiteFeather

Great Thread! I totally agree. Thanks for Sharing this. Peace

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Certainly it is a most worthy subject; but since a few people already commented in the other thread, perhaps they could be merged?
Anyway, I expressed my opinion here. :-)

Nice tune Goot. Words are awesome and inspiring to many I'm sure.

all animals on this planet have the right to life. humans dont have the right to pick and choice. if humans are this stupid to think they do then we have a lot of growing to do.

I agree that it's a good idea to protect whales and dolphins but why not protect all creatures?

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Posted by NeverMind

Quote:

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Posted by WhiteFeather

Great Thread! I totally agree. Thanks for Sharing this. Peace

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Certainly it is a most worthy subject; but since a few people already commented in the other thread, perhaps they could be merged?
Anyway, I expressed my opinion here. :-)

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I always check and double check if there is also another thread about the same subject.
This time didn't find it. It's ok to merge of course.

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Posted by Cjay

I agree that it's a good idea to protect whales and dolphins but why not protect all creatures?

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All creatures should be protected and all life respected. Life is precious in all forms. But the thing with dolphins is that their consciousness level is very high. Scientists say it is around the level of a three year old human, but having spent many many hours with them in the wild i can attest that they are much much more conscious than humans are. Sure they are animals (like we are) and they can be territorial and attack other species even at times, but in my experience with them i would say they are more aware than the average human is.

They have the ability to heal people quite dramatically, and they are also telepathic. I can't tell you have many times i had to prove it to myself to make sure that they really were reading my thoughts and that i wasn't imagining it.

Anyway, my point is, we can all agree as a culture that it isn't right to take a three year old child and chain her up in a basement. Our society agrees that that crime is equivalent to life in prison. Yet we 'kidnap' dolphins, take them away from their family and place them in captivity, and people don’t bat an eye about it. They pay money to watch them 'perform.' If they have proven that dolphins have the awareness level of a three year old child, how can we be OK with this?

The thing is, dolphins are happy wherever they are, and so they (the dolphins) let this go on, and they don't fight it. But i feel someone should fight this on their behalf.

As far as the slaughtering and other crimes against them i would fight for any animal against that. Animal cruelty is barbaric, selfish, and immature, and it's time that humans grew out it.

You only have to look at a dolphins eyes and smile to know they are like us.
its a very human and narrow minded veiw to assume they are not as intelligent as us just because they never got round to inventing war, guns and dirty earth damaging technology.
They adapted to there environment as we should have.
Progress of a species is in the mind not what it creates.

The native Americans where testimony to that.
But apprently the genocide of a native culture is just a by product of civilisation.
And people wonder why I ****ing hate our race.
SeanTW (now angry)

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Posted by seantimberwolf

You only have to look at a dolphins eyes and smile to know they are like us.
its a very human and narrow minded veiw to assume they are not as intelligent as us just because they never got round to inventing war, guns and dirty earth damaging technology.
They adapted to there environment as we should have.
Progress of a species is in the mind not what it creates.

The native Americans where testimony to that.
But apprently the genocide of a native culture is just a by product of civilisation.
And people wonder why I ****ing hate our race.
SeanTW (now angry)

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Don't get me wrong, i do agree with you .... but something tells me that hating the haters that hurt things, doesn't really help matters. :)

Thanks Black Panther for this Tread.

All whales and dolphins but also all the animals ressources that live amongst us, that stand as food, that stand as our subsistence, etc...!

All the best to you.

Deega