Dr. Jane Goodall speaking at Hong Kong’s British Council in November. (Laurel Chor/Coconuts Media)
Dr. Jane Goodall, a world-renowned conservationist, said last month that “as long as they [Ocean Park] has a dolphin show, they’re not a good organisation, according to me.”
The chimpanzee expert explained that in aquarium habitats, the sound-sensitive whales and dolphins get “bombarded with sound”, and that it’s “acoustical hell” for them.
Ocean Park, which hosts 7.7 million visitors a year, said in response that any concerns that airborne noise at their dolphin show is amplified underwater and causes harm to the animals’ auditory systems “have no basis in fact”.
The theme park’s representative stated in an email that they know this “with absolute certainty” as they’ve conducted their own underwater acoustic studies, and found that the volume of the sounds at their dolphin show theatre is “significantly less” than the levels that may harm the dolphins’ hearing.
In addition, to ensure that the dolphins are healthy and happy, the park allows the dolphins to socialise with each other, gives them access to multiple pools, and lets them participate in training and enrichment activities.
The rep maintained that they work closely with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to ensure the best welfare for their animals, and that their track record is proven by the fact they’re the first zoo outside of North America to be accredited by both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA).
Ocean Park insists that its dolphin shows teaches audiences about the animals and the threats they face. A poll they commissioned found that 81.8 percent of respondents “strongly agreed that they were more committed” to conservation activities after attending the dolphin show.
But Dr. Samuel Hung, a dolphin researcher and the founder of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, said in an email that Ocean Park is just avoiding the issue at hand, as he doesn’t believe Dr. Goodall was talking about airborne noises when she criticised the dolphin show.
The dolphins are “truly” living in an acoustical hell, Hung insists, as dolphins use echolocation as their primary method to detect their surroundings. In a concrete tank, he explains, the sound waves bounce back immediately and continue to bounce back and forth against the tank walls.
Hung also says that the park’s efforts to ensure socialisation is useless considering that their dolphins may come from different populations and thus come from different cultures and speak different “languages”.
Hung, not shy about his opinions, says their spiel about meeting the highest standards in animal care is “BS”, and that they make sure their dolphins are alive and physically healthy for their own benefit, and to maximise chances of the animals breeding.
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