What Happened?

Dolphins in the circus come from direct capture in nature, this process can cause trauma and stress so that it has the potential to injure or even kill the dolphins. In this ex situ maintenance practice, the number of dolphins that died during the arrest or when maintained by circus who held the conservation permit was never publicly announced.

Some captive institutions or facilities state that dolphins that are kept are animals that have been saved from the sea, but after recovering from injury and being rescued there is no record of the reintroduction of these animals to nature. The circus operator also failed to fulfill the task as a conservation institution, namely increasing the population and returning to the high seas.

All circus interest is just profit, but they always say circus dolphins are a form of education. One misleading claim. Here are the facts why the dolphin circus must be stopped.

PRISON

In the wild Dolphins are always on the move, traveling up to hundreds of miles every day. Explore many places and recognize the surrounding environment with sonar adapted to the environment. They play, swim and sleep with family and friends in very tight groups.

But in the circus they live in narrow and unhealthy pools. Depriving dolphins of the right to swim with groups to explore the wild. They have no place to hide from humans. Such an environment causes tremendous stress on dolphins. There is little difference between prison and captivity. Their sonar system will also be damaged while in a captive pond

FORCED TO PERFORM

Circus attractions are not dolphins' natural behavior, but are taught by "trick or treat' methods. Dolphins are given little food so as not to die, but not really fulfill their actual need. So the dolphins will continue to obey the coach's orders to get food.

NO PENSION

Dolphins in the circus are forced to perform every day until they die at a short age. In the wild the age of dolphins reaches 40-50 years, but in captivity only up to 5 years.

How to Help?

If there is no demand, there will be no more supply of dolphin circus shows. So if you see a dolphin circus coming to your city, don't ever watch it, the money you pay to the circus will only enrich the bos and nothing to use for the welfare of dolphins.

If there is a dolphin circus in your city, you can do some of the following actions.

Educate people around you, especially children. Circus dolphins always use the guise of education to promote their exploitation actions. Children are the main target. Gives understanding to children, that the lives of dolphins in the circus suffer greatly. And their happy life is on the high seas. Use this poster (download link) to give children a simple understanding.

Convey your attitude to the school. In some cities there are circus managers who openly come to schools, give tickets to teachers to sell them, in exchange for special prices or free tickets for teachers. If you know a mode like this is done in a particular school, go. Convey objections to the school, and post an educational poster in the school information media, so that no more children get false education about the behavior of dolphins.

Send a letter of objection to the local government. Dolphins circus can operate because they get permission from the local government, as citizens you have the right to express objections. Form groups to protest and meet the government. Also do education in public spaces. The more people you educate, the more people will know the cruelty facts hiding by the dolphin circus.

If you have no idea about how to run education acivity, you can contact the AFJ team through the Animal Friends Jogja's Instagram account

Sing the petition below, to rise goverment awareness that dolphins circus can no longer exist in Indonesia, because it is practice of cruelty, false education and causing reduction in dolphins population.