Animal rights petition the layoff of dolphins from Epcot's The Seas

[montyz81]

Meet DRU:

I love Turtle Talk with Crush and all, but this by far blows away that. So much more learning involved with Dru vs Crush. This is disappointing to me as I assume this is no longer available at The Seas. if that is true, then the Nemo overlay was another example of the dumbing down of Epcot Center. I miss Epcot Center.

 

[montyz81]

Or they could fill the aquariums with screens and projections of dolphins. Or has this been done...?

Not dolphins but fish. the Nemo ride in The Seas has projections of fish.

 

[The Duck]

I've had encounters with animal rights people in the past. Some of the more radical groups have a goal of "Total Animal Liberation" which not only means, no zoos or animal/marine parks but also includes ALL domestic animals.
Imagine a world with no dogs, cats, hamsters and goldfish. No pets of any kind. No domestic horses, cows, pigs, chickens and sheep. No farm animals of any kind. And don't even think about eating the meat of any animal whatsoever. This is considered the ultimate goal of many of the radicals that are behind some of these groups.
There are certain groups that focus on a certain kind of animal. This group wants the dolphins free while another group wants elephants or apes free. In the end, they all have the same goal.
Of course, not all of these people are this misguided but far too many of them are. I've personally dealt with some of the more "passionate" individuals and I can honestly say that they're as persistent as they are brain-washed.

 

[BrerFrogger111]

I believe they had a dolphin named Amber that was seperated from her mate and wouldn't eat and she was saved by the Living Seas or was it by a Topanga....

 

[ChrisFL]

I'm not 100 percent sure if they still have this, but there used to be an exhibit were you could feed dolphins. It always seemed cruel because the tank was very small and people would tease the dolphins. They would also throw things in the tank.

Yes, Sea World used to have this a long time ago but now its only used for baby dolphins I believe. The adult dolphins have a large, very nice area now. Having said that, I did watch the dolphin show they have there and those dolphins had pretty small tanks behind the stage they are in between shows.

Then again, Sea World is in enough of trouble with the killer whale incident which they're still fighting in court.

 

[automation85]

I love Turtle Talk with Crush and all, but this by far blows away that. So much more learning involved with Dru vs Crush. This is disappointing to me as I assume this is no longer available at The Seas. if that is true, then the Nemo overlay was another example of the dumbing down of Epcot Center. I miss Epcot Center.

DRU-1 was only a prototype (similar to Lucky or Wall-E). While it made appearances at the Living Seas, it was not a regular or long-lived part of the pavilion (read: 5-day demo). The magic of the old pavilion design, though, was the ability to test something like this out and have it fit with the theme, as if it was a regular attraction.

Check out former Imagineer, Shawn Slater's blog on the topic: http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-kind-of-animal-tronic.html

 

[twinnstar]

on my last trip to WDW, i had "The Cove" fresh in my brain and when I saw the dolphins I began thinking about it. I walked over to the manatees and asked the CM there why were the dolphins separated from each other, etc (I was very polite, dont worry!) - and she explained everything to me about the larger area, the rehab, born in captivity, etc and I felt a-ok about it after speaking with her. I don't think everyone who visits would go so far to ask a CM, or know what most of you already do that I didnt - they should put a little plaque somewhere to explain the situation, I think that could help!

 

[J_Carioca]

Everyone is entitled to their own views, and the petition in question was clearly not written by wildly radical activists. They are not suggesting that the animals be set free in the ocean, but rather in sea pens. There was nothing outrageous or uneducated about that petition.

In my view, some of the issues raised in the petition are valid. The dolphins at Living Seas are certainly not in a terrible environment, but there are definitely some problems (lack of light, excessive noise, etc...). I think Disney would be better off relocating them somewhere more suitable and updating those tanks. And I DEFINITELY agree with the previous poster that there should be more information signs up indicating how the animals came to be at Disney. If animals are being kept in captivity, there should be plenty of information available so that people actually learn about them.

 

[maxairmike]

Even though the tanks are not lit with natural light, Disney does their best at recreating the light cycle according to the current time of the year. I've been to the top of the tank, and the systems are impressive, to say the least. You'll notice that as the sun starts to set outside, the aquarium will begin to gradually darken, and while the aquarium does not go completely dark while guests are there, it is significant enough to trigger natural responses.

 

[koryadams]

Oh yeah, let's send then back to the Ocean so BP can kill more sea creatures...no I think they are in good hands at WDW!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I have a certain uneasyness about keeping dolphins in an enclosed tank.

I'm not sure about keeping killer whales in places such as Sea World either.

 

[Beholder]

Not dolphins but fish. the Nemo ride in The Seas has projections of fish.

Yeah, I was being a little tongue and cheek. Please, no screens. I like real stuff.

 

[MarkTwain]

I don't see the problem. If Disney releases their dolphins, then all "companies" must do the same! Why pick on Disney?

People love to hate on Disney... it's kind of sad. Remember all the protests during Animal Kingdom's construction about how Disney would be "theme park-ifying" the animals, and how disturbed they would be by fireworks? (From Magic Kingdom and Epcot, presumably... several miles away...) The reality is that the animals at AK and the dolphins likely have some of the best living environments of any man-made exhibit on earth.

 

[Beholder]

I have a certain uneasyness about keeping dolphins in an enclosed tank.

I'm not sure about keeping killer whales in places such as Sea World either.

The animals intelligence I think makes people question their captivity, but most people don't seem to have a problem with the great apes, who also display significant mental agility. I really don't have a problem with dolphins in
captivity (under optimum conditions) but Orca
do cause me a moments consideration. They
have been known to display "disturbing" behavior
in captivity. Very few animals fill me with such awe as a full grown Orca, I'd like to believe they'd be better off in the "endless" oceans, but the irony is that I developed my fascination with them at Sea World.

Maybe, in the big picture, these dolphins, Orca, all the other marine mammals serve a greater cause. Educate, respect, preserve. ?

 

[montyz81]

Yeah, I was being a little tongue and cheek. Please, no screens. I like real stuff.

I thought that, but didn't want to assume. I am in agreement. Back to what made Disney great. I have always said that Toy Story Mania was just a big full size video game. What makes it really stupid is that you can do the same exact thing on the wii. What is the point of waiting in line. I think the same thing about mission space... it is a video game with some motion enhancements and a lot of puke!

 

[Beholder]

I thought that, but didn't want to assume. I am in agreement. Back to what made Disney great. I have always said that Toy Story Mania was just a big full size video game. What makes it really stupid is that you can do the same exact thing on the wii. What is the point
of waiting in line. I think the same thing about
mission space... it is a video game with some
motion enhancements and a lot of puke!

I tend to think that screens, while ok in some areas, are kind of an "easy" route. Sure, footage must be obtained, scenes developed, CGI rendered, but it's not a novel idea. It's very common place, with game consoles, movies, simulators at the local mall, it's not that special. Give me AA's, details galore, and a great story any day.

 

[Bairstow]

So what kind of interaction/training does Disney do with the dolphins?
Last time I was there there was a team of young cast members/researchers standing in the guest viewing areas with a series of cards. A dolphin was shown a card at one area, then rewarded if it swam over to the the area where the corresponding card was shown.
Anyone ever watched something like that?

 

[Kuhio]

I really don't see the porpoise of this petition.

 

[njDizFan]

I've had encounters with animal rights people in the past. Some of the more radical groups have a goal of "Total Animal Liberation" which not only means, no zoos or animal/marine parks but also includes ALL domestic animals.
Imagine a world with no dogs, cats, hamsters and goldfish. No pets of any kind. No domestic horses, cows, pigs, chickens and sheep. No farm animals of any kind. And don't even think about eating the meat of any animal whatsoever. This is considered the ultimate goal of many of the radicals that are behind some of these groups.
There are certain groups that focus on a certain kind of animal. This group wants the dolphins free while another group wants elephants or apes free. In the end, they all have the same goal.
Of course, not all of these people are this misguided but far too many of them are. I've personally dealt with some of the more "passionate" individuals and I can honestly say that they're as persistent as they are brain-washed.

Some of these ideas are pretty radical but there are about a half billion people that live as vegetarians so I would not consider that point too out of bounds.

 

[montyz81]

I tend to think that screens, while ok in some areas, are kind of an "easy" route. Sure, footage must be obtained, scenes developed, CGI rendered, but it's not a novel idea. It's very common place, with game consoles, movies, simulators at the local mall, it's not that special. Give me AA's, details galore, and a great story any day.

see Horizons!