In Reply to: To swim with Dolphins in Melka or not? posted by ElliDiArt on Thursday, 16. August 2007 at 02:59 Bali Time:
To be honest, I don't really understand the appeal of getting into an artificial environment to swim with animals that can't choose where to be, but that's just me.
If you really want to swim with dolphins, why not plan a holiday somewhere that dolphins come naturally in the wild - where they interact with humans by choice and not because they're stuck in a pool and have nowhere else to go?
Regardless of how the dolphins are being cared for (some say they're well looked after and others agree, but I'm no dolphin expert so won't enter into that debate), paying to swim with them is only encouraging the act of keeping them on display that way. It's a bit of a circular argument really. It's been argued that the money from tourists swimming with them goes toward their upkeep and medical treatment, as they're meant to have been "rescued" dolphins. I figure if anyone really wants to help, they can donate without jumping in the water and that would be even more beneficial.
The choice is yours really. Everyone makes their own decisions on this type of thing. For me it was a no brainer, but everyone's got different ideas.