Jake and Molly were perfectly healthy, no dolphin has ever died at Sugarloaf, and the dolphins had needed no medication for over a year before their seizure. They were taken from the largest, most beautiful dolphin facility in the country and delivered by the government to the most overcrowded. My only consolation is that the dolphins were taken because of the philosophy of the project, not because there was anything wrong with them. Elephants are regulated by the exact same language and they are allowed out of their cages and are displayed without being trained. The policy of feeding the dolphins unconditionally is a complete reversal from that of the captive display industry.
Dolphins are the most controlled of any species in human care.
Every morsel of food given a dolphin in captivity is conditional upon the dolphin submitting to the will of a trainer. The latest manifestation of this control is a procedure called medical behaviors. The dolphins are made to submit to intense physical manipulation in return for being fed. Needles in their tail, tubes up their anus and down their throat, and swabs down their blowhole are a few of these procedures. Medical behaviors are humiliating, painful and stressful, and unless dolphins are healthy and hungry they will not submit to any food rewarded behaviors.