Dolphins and Human Rights - a possible reality?

[Deleted]

Just found this whilst trawling the BBC site, piqued my interest:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17116882

The consensus of a meeting in Canada is that dolphins and Cetaceans in general should have their own Declaration of Rights which would ultimately prevent them from being used in entertainment purposes, wholly protect them from hunting, and (hopefully) guarantee them absolute freedom as a normal person should do.

This is based upon scientific investigations into the complexity and brain capacity of dolphins, among some remarkable stories is the realisation that Cetaceans understand a concept of 'self', as humans do.

Any thoughts? Not quite sure where I stand on the issue, I recognise that these are incredibly intelligent beings, however as a human, I don't frequently get myself entangled in tuna nets. The implications of 'accidents' where the death of a whale / dolphin might be accidentally caused by mundane means could be quite drastic if they are by law, given some of the same protection as human beings are.

[Beazy]

I dont think you can eat dolphin meat, so there rly is no reason to kill them in the first place.

[Swaggah]

I dont think you can eat dolphin meat, so there rly is no reason to kill them in the first place.

It also includes whales going by the article

And I don't think any animal should be captured purely to be entertainers should be allowed in any case
Saving an animal not capeable of living on it's own, could by all means provide funds to keep those organizations going by entertaining

[Deleted]

I dont think you can eat dolphin meat, so there rly is no reason to kill them in the first place.

Bear in mind it's not just Dolphins, it's Cetaceans. I.E, Aquatic mammals which therefore brings Whales and other notorious sea creatures into the legislation. On the dolphin side, it would pretty much screw over places such as aquariums (which I'm not saying I'm against, just putting it out there).

[Activi-T]

We can't even get equal standards of human rights across the world for humans. I think we would find it impossible to get every nation to go along with this for nonhumans. Though i do believe we should do more to protect species that exhibit cognative reasoning skills or problem solving skills.

[Grrwaherr]

Humans are at the top of the food chain. Deal with it.

[Bubbletrance]

We can't even get equal standards of human rights across the world for humans. I think we would find it impossible to get every nation to go along with this for nonhumans. Though i do believe we should do more to protect species that exibit cognative reasoning skills or roblem solving skills.

This. And unless your nation is prepared to go to war over dolphins or whales, it will never be enforced universally.
An unenforced law is nearly meaningless.

[Hakusan]

Goodbye sea world. Goodbye dolphin slaughter. Goodbye dolphin on the menu at one of my favorite sushi places.

Sacrifices have to be made. Dolphins are actually pretty smart. If a 2 year old who's less intelligent than a dolphin has rights... Why don't dolphins have rights?

[grandpab]

Goodbye dolphin on the menu at one of my favorite sushi places.

Isn't that dolphin like the fish aka mahi mahi, and not dolphin like a porpoise?

[Larynx]

Isn't that dolphin like the fish aka mahi mahi, and not dolphin like a porpoise?

They don't actually serve real dolphins as sushi.

At least I hope not o_O

[Activi-T]

Dolphins (porpoises) have a high concentration of mercury something which, I'm sure, you all know we should limit our intake of as it's poisonous. So i hope they aren't selling actual dolphin.

[Spectral]

Isn't that dolphin like the fish aka mahi mahi, and not dolphin like a porpoise?

If he lives in Japan (or Peru, oddly), it might be on the menu. It doesn't look very appealing though -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileolphin_Sashimi.jpg

[Chirri]

Well, it would mean dolphins would be freed from educational and entertainment venues, while the people out there who hunt or mistreat them on purpose would pretty much continue what they're doing... I think the very small population in captivity serves dolphins as a species better than removing them from the reach of vacationing families.

If humans were a more (trust)worthy species, I'd say yes. But we're not. And there isn't yet a more powerful force actively keeping us in line (I suspect technologically superior aliens stand a better chance than religion).

It's really too bad we've still got such a long way to go. Dolphins have always been known to be an amazing species. Perhaps one day we WILL get a "Thanks for all the fish."

[Cptmyname]

They're considering giving dolphins human rights...
...Oh god I'm disappointed in my country right now.

---

Okay actual smartness.
Sure it seems weird.... but if dolphins do turn out to be sapient (couldn't think of a better word), it wouldn't be to fair to have them in parks.
Still, I don't see why we should stop now.

[Queen0fCups]

As weird as this seems, I feel we should await the formation of a greater dolphin civilization, and establish clearer communication with them. Just to make sure they aren't simultaneously passing any Kill All Humans resolutions into dolphin law.

[Larynx]

They're considering giving dolphins human rights...
...Oh god I'm disappointed in my country right now.

---

Okay actual smartness.
Sure it seems weird.... but if dolphins do turn out to be sapient (couldn't think of a better word), it wouldn't be to fair to have them in parks.
Still, I don't see why we should stop now.

sentient...?

[Deleted]

I found it interesting, I'm suprised they limited it to dolphins and not certain primates as well, who we know are also highly intelligent.

The point I never got though was that the logic seemed to be: "By philosophical definition, Dolphins are similar to humans. Dolphins should therefore have the same rights".

Still not sure where I stand on the issue, I whole heartedly support the protection of Dolphins and Cetaceans alike, but I'm not quite sure giving them the equivalent of human rights is perhaps the way to do so. Then again, the current proposals don't seem to be that effective either.

[Adam Jensen]

I dont think you can eat dolphin meat, so there rly is no reason to kill them in the first place.

A little off topic but I've always felt a bit queasy about eating dragon flank in WoW . . . wouldn't that count as cannibalism? Dragons are sentient after all. And while I would like a bite of Alexstrazsa's ass (if you know what I mean) that's not quite how I imagined it.

OT: The question is, are they intelligent enough to be anywhere near a human intelligence? They are very smart from what I understand but they are still . . . animals for lack of a better word. Cognitive reasoning and logic isn't enough, ants can do that after all. I'd say, in order to be on our level, they have to understand more abstract concepts and at a high degree.

[Sunseeker]

Maybe we should be more concerned with equality among humans before we start giving animals legal rights?

[Narbootz]

Humans are at the top of the food chain. Deal with it.

A human in the middle of the ocean alone is at the bottom of the food chain. Just sayin~