The Case for Personhood and Rights for Cetaceans
Dr. Lori Marino and ethicist Tom White discuss the characteristics of cetaceans that demonstrate they meet the standard of legal and moral personhood. They argue for the legal rights of cetaceans based on their species-specific characteristics, how those rights are currently violated, and why it is important to recognize them.
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Freed from “Whale Jail,” But Not Out of Danger
Russia’s so-called “whale jail” has no more inmates. All 97 whales held captive there have been returned to the ocean. But what kind of world are they returning to? Kait Parker of the Weather Channel talks with Charles Vinick of the Whale Sanctuary Project and oceanographic explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau about the need to retire captive whales to sanctuaries and about the future that all whales face in a warming world.
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Marine Mammal Captivity – Time for a Paradigm Shift
Review of the intelligence and social complexity of dolphins and whales and why this makes them more vulnerable to the negative effects of living in concrete tanks. Provides argument for phasing out the keeping of these animals in marine parks and moving them to seaside sanctuaries.
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Humans, Dolphins and Moral Inclusivity
Dolphins are both like us (intelligent, highly social, etc.) and unlike us (aquatic, streamlined, etc.) in ways that challenge our moral sensibilities. Argues that we must be able to take into account both aspects of dolphins and whales simultaneously in order to include them in our moral circle.
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