Mattel (Barbie): Stop selling the Barbie doll 'Dolphintrainer'

Stop selling the Barbie doll 'Dolphintrainer'

Dear Sir/Madam
...



I am writing to you to express my concern about products you are selling that promote dolphin captivity and lead young children to believe captivity is a good thing.


I am deeply disturbed to see you are encouraging young children to become dolphin trainers by selling the "Barbie I Can Be... Dolphin Trainer" toy, as well as the other variations of this theme eg. SeaWorld Trainer, Splash and Spin Dolphin Trainer, etc.


Clearly these toys are sending the wrong message to children. Recently, a young girl was bitten by a captive dolphin at SeaWorld, and a former SeaWorld trainer wrote a letter to the girl to discourage her from becoming a trainer when she grows up. Why? Because it's wrong.http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/338974?fb_action_ids=349779931785864&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582


And of course lets not forget about the trainer who was killed by a killer whale in captivity. Despite the name "killer" whale it is not normal for an orca to do this..the whale was upset and distressed and driven to killing its own trainer! Captivity is cruel ad unnatural there are absolutely no advantages for the animals and it is dangerous for the people working with the animals.






Dolphins do not thrive well in captivity. No dolphin has ever reached the maximum age expectancy (60 years) that can be attained by those in the wild, therefore belugas, dolphins and whales do not belong in an aquarium!


Whales and dolphins have large brains, they are smart perceptive animals. More and more studies have demonstrated that dolphins live in complex societies in which individuals form close social bonds. More and more scientists have proved that whales, dolphins and beluga’s show intelligent behaviour and experience pain and emotions similar to humans. Therefore they do feel fear, depression, and anxiety. This is the reason many whales and dolphins in captivity are put on anxiolytica and antidepressive medication!


In this day and age more and more people are disagreeing with captivity, There is no excuse to put these magnificent, highly socialised and intelligent animals in captivity!


Dolphins have very complex social interactions, they live in pods of >150 animals.
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/libre.htm
In captivity they don't have any of these interactions, so they become depressed. Many captive dolphins are put on anti-depressive or anxiolytic medication!
They perform tricks because they are deprived of food.
You've probably heard about the movie 'the Cove' http://www.takepart.com/cove
Ric O Barry the trainer of the famous dolphin 'Flipper' is now completely against dolphin-captivity because he realised dolphins really do not belong in tanks but in the open ocean.


In the last 20 years more and more dolphinaria arise in countries like Dubai, Japan and China. They get their dolphins from Taiji. If you have watched to movie 'The Cove' you know that the hunt in Taiji is very cruel. The trainers search the best looking young female to transport them to dolphinaria. The rest of the pod is slaughtered (700 dolphins in Taiji per year).


So by promoting dolphin-captivity you are also promoting the cruel hunt at Taiji.


In the last few years more and more people have turned against dolphin-captivity, it really is not a message to promote dolphin-captivity to impressionable children, it out belief that we will be able to eliminate captivity forever, so when these children are adults they will be unable to be dolphin trainers. Don't you think it would give a more positive message if you created a Barbie Dolphin Rescue toy? We should be preserving our marine animals not encouraging abuse!




Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, I hope you will take my words into careful consideration and help us support an end to captivity.


Kind regards

toys: http://shop.mattel.com/product/index.jsp?cp=3768131.3771360&productId=17783636
http://shop.mattel.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12952893 http://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Can-Be-Dolphin-Trainer/dp/B004RC5NKE and http://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Can-Be-SeaWorld-Trainer/dp/B003E1AHAU/ref=pd_sim_t_6and thishttp://www.amazon.com/SeaWorld-Male-Trainer-Doll/dp/B003XO116C/ref=pd_sim_t_3
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