Some groups raise support for wild whales by setting up so-called whale adoption programs. In recent years attention has also centered on captive dolphins held by oceanariums. They can be seen. Any dissent within the movement, i.e., any questioning of the overall strategy and tactics, is stifled. Those who champion the captive animals become the good guys, no matter what, and those who keep the animals are the bad guys.
Reality is, of course, never so simple.
In truth Sea World rescues more animals in the wild, chiefly from strandings, than all animal advocacy groups combined. Also forgotten is that Sea World does not capture dolphins or whales from the wild, and that the much maligned Shedd Aquarium is involved in breeding, maintaining, and restoring more than 100 species of African fresh-water fish called cichlids. The truth is that the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas holds animals rescued from inferior facilities. Many of the Mirage dolphins were at one time cruelly abused. No expense is spared now to give them the best care available.