Children jet off for dolphin therapy

To the Editor / EDP 24
06 March 2006 (EDPEditor@archant.co.uk)

Sir

I noticed an article by Amy Lyall regarding the above and would like to comment in my capacity as director of a UK based dolphin and whale protection charity, as the continued use of dolphins in therapy is of growing concern to us.

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (DAT) has been used by facilities since the 1980s to sell expensive ‘treatments’ to some of the most vulnerable members of society. It is understandable that parents would wish to attempt any treatment available to alleviate the suffering of their children or to help give them a better quality of life, but we believe that DAT is simply a money making tool for these facilities preying on already vulnerable people. Companies that sell DAT describe it as a therapeutic approach used to increase speech and motor skills in children and adults who have been diagnosed with developmental, physical, and/or emotional disabilities, such as mental retardation, Downs syndrome, and autism. Now they appear to be using depression as a further marketing tool.

A recent article in the British Medical Journal used subjects with mild to medium levels of depression for the study, however it only focused on treatment within the marine environment either with dolphin interaction or without, there was no comparison with any other type of interaction therapy, so who is to say it is definitely the presence of dolphins that effect this change or whether it is the child being in a sunny climate, beside the ocean in a different environment and having one to one attention from the staff? Animal assisted therapy with domestic animals has been used successfully for a number of years in the UK and abroad to help people overcome a number of illnesses including depression, so why do we feel the need to use what is intrinsically a wild, free ranging animal to get results that could be obtained by other means?

In a report to ACCOBAMS in May 2005 Dr K Brensing stated; “Until now no studies exist which prove or show any indications that DAT is more successful than other animal assisted therapies.” Furthermore, there has never been any scientific evidence of DAT working in the long term. Previous reports show that in some cases people with autism have shown some short term improvements lasting up to a few days. However, better results have been seen in studies which have shown that human interaction programs and positive reinforcement methods are far more successful, with as much as a 65% success rate. To obtain a real overview, trials should also use those types of therapies as a comparison to obtain a precise overview. Furthermore, no follow up of the participants in this particular study occurred, they were asked to self report on their condition after 3 months.

Dr Betsy Smith, a pioneer whose work with neurologically challenged people in the 1980's is recognised worldwide, has refused to work in the field again for ethical reasons. In ‘Peace Between Species’ by Dr Toni Frohoff, Dr Smith states, “Therapeutic purposes are often the justification given for this rude invasion. People would never throw their child in with a strange dog, but they will throw them in with a strange dolphin. What you are looking at are vulnerable people and vulnerable dolphins.” There have been numerous reports of people being injured during dolphin interaction programs, ranging from being bitten to broken bones. Also of serious concern is the possible transmission of disease, from dolphin to humans but vice-versa. Some of these diseases are serious like streptococci and pseudomonas which can be transmitted through touching or ‘kissing’ of dolphins and by the spray emitted from the animals’ blowhole.

While some people temporarily benefit from visiting these facilities, they are offered no follow up treatment or support, simply and expensive form of animal therapy, which is not proven to cure. Furthermore, as it has been scientifically proven and recorded that dolphins in captivity suffer greatly from stress related illnesses, who then will act as “therapists” for these dolphins, taken from the wild against their will to help us? There have been many fantastic results in other areas such as “cranial therapy” which can be offered locally, at a fraction of the cost and can also offer follow up treatment and care and support for both patients and carers as and when needed.

Further information on DAT and cranial therapy is available on our website via the following link

http://www.marineconnection.org/campaigns/captivity_dat.html

Sincerely,

Margaux Dodds (Director & Co-founder)
Marine Connection