From: Durga Rajaindern Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:49 PM To: krist.boo@RWSentosa.com Cc: john.hallenbeck@rwsentosa.com ; robin.goh@rwsentosa.com ; kris.koh@rwsentosa.com ; enquiries@rwsentosa.com ; reservations@rwsentosa.com ; info@acres.org.sg Subject: Concern about dolphins in captivity Dear Krist, I am writing to you to express my concern about the remaining 25 Bottlenose dolphins that are awaiting their enclosures in Sentosa. Please let these dolphins go. Everything that has to be said about dolphins, their intelligence and natural behaviour has been said so many times. Yet, I feel compelled to say this again. Dolphins really don’t belong in captivity. They are born to be wild and free. If we were to meet indigenous people from a remote part of the Amazon, completely untouched by human civilization, obviously they will not be able to communicate with us in a way that we are used to. But that doesn’t mean that we will put them in enclosures and make them perform tricks. Why? Because they take the human form and we will assume that they have the same feelings and emotions as us. But when the form changes to that of a marine being, somehow, our lack of understanding of their ability to think and feel makes us conveniently believe that they don’t have the ability to do either. Doesn’t this anthropocentric approach seem to be the epitome of ignorance? Or rather, epitomise the desire to remain ignorant? Perhaps you might be wondering why so many people would take all the time and effort to campaign to free these dolphins. The answer is simple. All of us have, in one way or another, been deeply moved by an animal and that experience has garnered us to fight for the freedom of all animals. The freedom to live and die in their natural habitat and environment. It is about the quality of their lives, not the quantity. Resorts World Sentosa has enough world-class attractions to bring the tourists in by the millions. We really do not need to exploit these beautiful marine animals for further commercial gains. Besides, with renowned dolphin experts like Ric O’Barry coming forth to release the dolphins back into the wild, I strongly urge RWS to be humane and allow the dolphins their freedom again. Thousands of us will applaud RWS when you decide to release the dolphins back into the wild. I thank you for your time and end my email with a quote that I deeply hope, impacts you the way it has impacted me. ‘I was therefore astonished to see the shows there in which the killer whales and the dolphins were trained to wave, shake hands, and splash water at the spectators. They had been trained to behave like people – more precisely, like people who had been bent and formed into amusing slaves in the service of commercial exploitation’ - When Elephant Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieft Masson & Susan McCarthy Yours sincerely, Durga Rajaindern
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