Marine Mammals under human care.

Note: I'm deeply sorry, I've been very busy lately and I completely forgot about posting something for round 2. Due to the lack of time I have to enrich this argument (unfortunately I'll be gone until Monday) I will take this round to focus on dolphins in captivity. "Here my opponent restricts this debate to aquariums only. This excludes zoos, wildlife parks, laboratories, and any other venue or institution that houses animals under human care. I agree to this restriction. This discussion will apply only to AZA accredited aquariums." Noted. This argument will solely be about AZA aquariums. "AZA aquariums are established and accredited for four main purposes: Animal care and welfare Public outreach and education Scientific research Conservation." Here, my opponent assumes 2 things about human involvement with marine mammals. Assumption #1 Scientific research is a good thing. Assumption #2 By breeding animals in captivity, aquariums are helping to conserve them. Assumption 1 - The reality of this particular assumption is that scientific research is incredibly ambiguous, and there have been many people who have questioned the methods of scientists in regards to mammal research. Scientific research based on animals in captivity isn't really scientific at all - scientists cannot assume that their observations of animals in captivity will be of any use to being able to figure out the behaviors of animals in the wild. Assumption 2- If "conservation" to you simply means to keep a species alive, then yes, AZA aquariums are helping to conserve marine mammals. However, I think conservation has a much bigger meaning than that. Instead of just keeping species alive in captivity, I believe that humans who really want to help conserve species need to help conserve them in the wild. After all, it isn't really "conservation" if a species is only being kept alive through the care of humans. "My opponent equates the act swimming to happiness of the dolphin. Her argument consists of "This is what dolphins do in the wild, therefore it must make them happy". My opponent gives no thought in the slightest to the reason dolphins swim such long distances. Dolphins are intelligent and social creatures that, in the wild, interact with hundreds of pod-mates, hunt communally, and have entire coastlines as their playground. In captivity, all of this is lost. Social partners are restricted to a handful of tank-mates. Captive dolphins are fed dead fish (wild dolphins only catch and eat live fish) and they face a profound reduction in space and stimulation. Dolphins in the wild may swim up to 40 or 50 miles in a day and can dive to depths of hundreds of feet. Even in the largest captive facilities, dolphins have access to less than 1/10,000 of 1% (0.000001%) of the space available to them in their natural environment. Because of this, dolphins in captivity are often restricted to swimming in circles. In many dolphins, this behavior is a sign that the dolphin is suffering psychologically; it is engaging in what is known as a stereotypical behavior. For an inquisitive, intelligent creature like the dolphin, a barren tank offers no exploratory stimuli compared to the vast, complex ocean. Source: http://www.wspa-usa.org... You said that "according to experts" dolphins only swim in order to avoid predators or hunt their prey. However, I noticed that the source you referenced is from nearly 20 years ago. Note that I have found information from a much more recent source that seems to say otherwise: Many animals, including dogs, lions, primates and insects, display social behavior. Typically, such social behavior occurs because it is beneficial for the species on the whole, whether for hunting, protection or resource consolidation. However, dolphins love to socialize for the sheer fun of it. Dolphin socialization is centered around swimming. The fascinating element of this habit is that dolphins can survive quite happily on their own, but choose to socialize. Source: http://animals.pawnation.com... Again, I'm deeply sorry, I don't have time to address the rest of your arguments. If you could wait at least 24 hours before posting your reply on the next round, that would be appreciated as I cannot post another argument until Monday.