Behind the Smile: We’ve Banned it at Home, Let’s Not Do it Abroad – with Melissa Matlow

December has finally arrived, and for many people, it is a time for fun, entertainment, and vacations with family and friends. In this episode of Now You Know, Kathryn Sussman talks with Melissa Matlow, campaign director at World Animal Protection, about WAP’s WildLife. Not Entertainers campaign, which aims to get travel companies and tourists to understand the impact they can have on animals through tourism. Melissa, with more than fifteen years experience leading welfare and environmental campaigns in Canada and around the world, provides us with a background to this particular campaign: it was launched in 2015 with the goal to get travel companies to stop selling elephant rides. The most recent focus in the campaign is Behind the Smile, a thorough report that expounds on the multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry. 

Kathryn and Melissa discuss the problems of dolphins in captivity: Dolphins are socially complex, highly intelligent animals that are wide roaming and deep diving. Their living conditions in captivity are highly unnatural, inappropriate environments that are very stressful for them. Most dolphins in captivity are kept in concrete tanks in chemically treated water, and according to one report, even the biggest tank is 200,000 times smaller than what they are used to travelling in the wild. The dolphins are forced to perform circus-like tricks for human entertainment and for huge profits at the expense of their own welfare. 

Melissa reflects on why this message is hard to convey to the average person; the dolphins’ anatomical quirk, their human-like “smile” endears them to many people and it often belies the suffering of the animal. In dolphinariums, they appear to be housed in their natural element, water, and there are no obvious implements of restraints, like chains on an elephant, or physical tools of cruelty, like whips, for the purpose of training and control over the dolphins. 

Kathryn points out that tourists only experience a snapshot of the life of a captive dolphin entertainer, which may appear happy for the dolphin, but that in reality has a very dark underside. Visitors to dolphinariums may not realize that the dolphins are workers in an industry with no voice of their own. Many are forced to perform many times a day, all year round. 

Despite the sobering facts involved, Melissa sees an opportunity to raise public awareness because she believes that people who are drawn to this industry are generally animal lovers who want a chance to see the dolphins up close, and they do not know the harm they are contributing to the animals that they love. In fact, WAP launched a behaviour change campaign earlier this year. People were asked to click the ads if they were interested in swimming with dolphins. 88% of people who clicked the ads changed their minds when they were presented with the information in the “Behind the Smile” report. 

“I’m confident that with the right information, and reaching people in the right way, not shaming because we’ve all been there, [we can open] people’s eyes and their hearts.” – Melissa Matlow

Melissa continues to shed light on the dolphin entertainment industry as Kathryn and Melissa shift the focus of discussion to the profitability of dolphins. The economics are staggering – a single dolphin can generate up to two million USD per year for a venue which tallies to about one to five and a half billion USD annually for the entire industry of dolphin entertainment and tourism. With such huge profits at stake, it is no wonder that commercial interests often override welfare interests, Melissa points out. 

Melissa explains how WAP has created an online group petition to ask Expedia to stop selling these attractions. She shares some positive news of businesses that are supporting the shift in attitudes and understanding of the dolphin entertainment industry. This includes Virgin Holidays which announced this summer that they would remove all dolphin captive experiences. In addition, they will put funds towards solutions like moving dolphins to seaside sanctuaries. Trip Advisor followed soon after, and it has committed to remove captive dolphin excursions by the end of the year. In Canada, companies like Transat, Air Canada, WestJet, and Sunwing have all made commitments as well. Melissa attributes the success in Canada to the importance of Canadian opinion and the Canadian government’s firm position to ban captive cetaceans in June 2019 with the passage of Bill S-203.

While there is more work to be done, there is a definite shift in people’s opinions regarding wild animals in captivity, and Melissa believes that “Blackfish,” the documentary, has played a significant role here – the Blackfish ripple effect, she calls it. WAP aims to shine a spotlight on dolphins as they are the majority of cetaceans around the world. 

“Because they have a love for animals, [people] want to swim with dolphins; they want to interact and to touch animals because animals are so fascinating and wonderful. But I guess, it is a learning process – Life. And if you really stop to think about it, it’s just important to make that change, and to be thinking of the animal’s point of view rather than your own. And there really are other ways to help, to contribute, to even have a kind of up-close experience with these animals, but you have to be a bit more creative and do your research.” – Kathryn Sussman

Now you know!