Aloha to positive change! Two popular vacation destinations are making waves for dolphins after PETA told them that “swim-with” encounters are stressful and unnatural for them. Aulani—a Disney Resort & Spa in Kapolei, Hawaii—and Hawks Cay Resort in Duck Key, Florida, have both confirmed that they have stopped offering the harmful encounters.
Turning the Tide for Dolphins
The good news is making a big splash. Aulani has stopped promoting an off-site “swim-with-dolphins” encounter at Sea Life Park Hawaii, a marine park with a long and sordid history of animal suffering and death. The change follows Disney’s 2024 decision to remove dolphins from EPCOT’s The Seas With Nemo & Friends. Meanwhile, Hawks Cay Resort—once home to a dolphin encounter operated by the parent company of the notorious and now-defunct Miami Seaquarium—told PETA that it will change course following the program’s closure.
Why You Should Never Pay to Swim With Dolphins
In the ocean, dolphins choose their own friends, stay close to their families, and swim miles a day. They dive deep, hunt, play, and explore. They live in tight family groups and communicate in ways humans are still learning about. Their lives are rich and self-determined—and no one has the right to take that from them.
But in “swim-with-dolphins” encounters, strangers grab at them all day. The businesses that sell direct contact with dolphins often confine dolphins in concrete tanks or shallow, makeshift lagoons. They have nowhere to escape when conflicts inevitably erupt among other frustrated individuals. Loud crowds and constant handling leave dolphins stressed and frustrated. Some facilities tear dolphins away from their families. Others force them to breed so the business can keep trying to profit off their bodies.
How YOU Can Help Dolphins
Never pay to swim with dolphins or visit marine parks that condemn them to miserable lives. Every ticket you buy funds an industry that traps dolphins, tears families apart, and forces them to perform. Choosing not to participate sends a clear message: Dolphins belong in the ocean, not in pool prisons.
Tell other companies to join Aulani and Hawks Cay Resort and stop offering captive dolphin encounters:
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