Marine parks and aquariums are built on a billion-dollar industry that uses aquatic animals for entertainment. As watching dolphins and orcas perform flips and tricks, or other aquatic animals putting on a show for an audience may seem mesmerizing, you may not be aware of what goes on behind the curtains. As you know, wild aquatic animals such as dolphins, orcas, or whales swim in a vast ocean in groups using their natural behavior and communication skills. Marine parks and aquariums are a medium that strips them of their identity entirely. They are taken captive from their families and put into small tanks where they can only swim in circles. These mammals are regularly drugged to manage stress-induced aggressive behavior. They break their teeth chewing on the metal bars and concrete sides of their tanks and are forced to perform tricks for tourists in exchange for food, all in the name of entertainment. Seals, dolphins, orcas are all abused, slashed, and whipped to learn the tricks that they perform. These animals die shorter than their average life expectancies due to the conditions they are put into. As stated by PETA, "Touch tanks as well as “swim with dolphins” and “paint with dolphins” programs allow the public to pet, kiss, paint with, or even ride these animals. Such programs invade their already diminished worlds and are intrusive, stressful, and even dangerous for them and risky for human participants.
Animals in “petting pools” are frequently exposed to foreign bacteria and other pathogens, and they can become anxious, frustrated, aggressive, and even neurotic as a result of being confined to shallow tanks and exposed to constant interaction with humans.
Even programs that enable people to swim with dolphins in nature can be invasive. Boats and swimmers may chase, harass, and scare them, interfering with their natural feeding, resting, migrating, and playing behavior."