Habituated Wild Dolphins

Wild dolphins can become habituated when they spend too long in the presence of humans. This means that they lose all fear of humans and this can put their lives in danger. The 2 main ways that wild dolphins can become habituated are through people swimming with them and people hand feeding them fish. Whilst swimming with wild dolphins is a concern as it can change a dolphin's behaviour, it is the hand feeding that the Marine Connection feel is a greater risk.

Australia is the main place where organised hand feeding occurs, with 4 different areas being involved in this practice. Whilst most people are probably aware of Monkey Mia in Western Australia or Tongalooma near Brisbane, Queensland others may not be aware of Tin Can Bay, Queensland or Banbury, Western Australia. It is in these places that visitors are able to purchase fish to feed to wild dolphins. You may ask, why the concern, at least these animals are being fed? To answer this you have to understand that dolphins live in highly complex, social societies where feeding is an important part of daily interaction. If you remove the need to hunt for food, you are changing the society that the dolphin lives in. Young dolphins do not survive if their mothers compete with them for handouts and don't teach them to forage. Apart from that, you are endangering the dolphins' health and changing its character. Dolphins will become dependant on food handouts and as such change from hunter to scavenger. This can lead to the animals scavenging from fishing nets and fishing lines, which can lead to them drowning in the nets or getting entangled in lines or hooks. Dolphins have been washed up on the coast of Florida, covered in line with hooks stuck into their bodies. People have also been injured by dolphins when trying to feed them, as dolphins can become aggressive when competing for handouts which can lead to people being bitten.

Apart from organised feeding, there are numerous places around the world where dolphins are fed by fisherman and tour boats. By doing this the dolphins become complacent around boats and can be injured from their propellers. In the USA the feeding of wild dolphins is Illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, however this practice still continues illegally in some places.