dolphins

India bans captive dolphin shows, says dolphins should be seen as ‘non-human persons’



India's Minstry of the Environment and Forests released a statement banning "any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.”

In so doing, India became the largest of four countries to ban the practice -- which includes Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile. But the ministry didn't stop there; their thoughtful reasoning behind the ban seems squarely aimed at the dozens of countries across the globe, like in Europe and the United States, where dolphin shows are big business.

“Whereas cetaceans in general are highly intelligent and sensitive, and various scientists who have researched dolphin behavior have suggested that the unusually high intelligence; as compared to other animals means that dolphin should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights and is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose,” reads the ministry's statement.

Ever watch the way dolphins swim through the water? How they come up for breaths, and go back under, up and down, up and down,  almost like a wave of themselves as they swim? That breath at the surface that they are taking is voluntary; in fact they have to will the blowhole to open, not like us where the breathing is automatic. In water, open blowholes would take water in on dives, so everything is forceably blown OUT, and then quickly breathed IN. This way of swimming is called porpoising, as there are no other creatures that swim quite like this.

Dolphins live in two realms: beneath the surface of the water, but also some time is spent above in the process of getting air and breathing.

Humans are like this also. We have Spirit that we need to take in, and is a part of every cell in our body. Think of it like oxygen but like the life-giving gas, Spirit is something essential that we need and also cannot see. When we breathe, Spirit is coming in to us just like air. I am not sure exactly how our light body and our Vibration processes it, but it is so.

Like the dolphin bound to life in water, humans are bound through the body to life on Earth. We need food, light, shelter, and our society to survive. Dolphins have a highly evolved social structure too.

The point of this blog post is to emphasize the importance of play. Dolphins are seen swimming, breathing, hunting and eating but always having fun. If you look at them they are always smiling!

Remember to bring genuine pleasure and play into your daily activities. Not the 'fun' like going to the movies and a club. But real fun, like the way Weird Al Yankovic raises his eyebrows at the camera to make us laugh.

I was feeling weird yesterday so I took the afternoon off work. After running some errands I came home. It was unbearable for me to sit inside so I sat out on our swing on the back porch and listened to the rain come down on our metal awning. It was incredibly peaceful.

There were some awesome cloud formations. The first one I saw was a low, dark, misty sort of cloud. I literally thought it was the Dark Mark at first. I watched it for a little while. Then Josh came out and I talked to him for a few moments. I looked back and it was all but gone. Only a few wisps remained.

A little while later another cloud caught my eye to the west. I can't even explain what it looked like. A light cloud in front of a darker cloud. And then all of a sudden it looked like a dolphin shaped cloud came out from behind the light cloud. It was really surreal. I'm fairly certain I was watching with my jaw dropped. The "tail" of the cloud even seemed to be kicking like a dolphin would!

I came inside a little after that as it had stopped raining. And also, I was hungry. It started raining a little while later after that and the sun was out! There was a gorgeous rainbow. It was a perfect ending to the day.

I also meditated outside in the rain for the first time ever. First time ever meditating outside. I guess it was just a bonus that it was raining. So peaceful. I started out with a greeting to any other beings who might be listening. I started out with a few mantras -- whatever came to me at the time, but I finally settled on the following:

I am pure energy. Pure being. Pure light. Pure love.