8/10/2019 Letter to Jim Murren MGM
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Jim MurrenCEOMGM Resorts International3600 Las Vegas Blvd.
SouthLas Vegas, NV 89109
Dear Mr. Murren,
I am writing to inform you that the morals and ethics of keeping
dolphins in captivity has become morecontroversial over the past
year and is increasingly being reflected in public opinion in part
due to the popularity ofthe documentary Blackfish.
In case you arent aware, scientific evidence has found dolphins
to be self -aware meaning that they seethemselves as individuals,
separate from the environment and other individuals. This trait has
only been provenamong Great Apes, Elephants, Orcas, Bottlenose
Dolphins, And European Magpies and of course, humans.
In the wild, dolphins have complex social lives which cannot be
recreated in captivity. Even if the majority of yourdolphins are
related; males and females and juveniles would never be forced to
separate in the wild.
The Dolphin brain is not only larger than the human brain, but
they have a cerebral cortex that is about 40% largerthan the
humans. This cortex concerns emotional control, objectivity,
reality orientation, humor, logicallyconsistent abstract thought
and higher creativity. Some say that dolphins are even more
emotional than humans.If this is so, how can we ethically confine
them to such small living quarters? How would you feel if you lived
yourlife enclosed in a small room?
Dolphins are wide ranging intelligent and social animals and no
holding pool can be adequate to fill their physicalor mental needs
no matter ho w often they are trained. There are numerous pictures
of The Mirage dolphinsdisplaying unnatural behaviors like lying
listless at the gates and beaching themselves (beaching would only
occurin the wild due to extreme stress). There are pictures of a
few of The Mirage dolphins with poxvirus (which wouldnormally go
into remission in the wild). Maverick has shown poxvirus spreading
for over a year and no sign ofremission and stress is a key
implication of this.
The death rate of The Mirage dolphins since 1990 is 55%. 12 out
of 22 dolphins have died (mostly from stressrelated illness). Wild
dolphins can live to their 50s, even 60s. The average ag e of death
at The Mirage is 10.6years.
26 MILLION People have seen Blackfish. Those people are asking
questions and beginning to research on their ownand coming up with
their own conclusions that these animals do not belong in
captivity. They shouldnt be captivein Florida, or California, or
Texas and certainly not in the Mojave Desert.
Currently, the re is a bill in California that could end Orca
captivity. The state of South Carolina hasnt alloweddolphin
captivity for almost 30 years. Countries such as the U.K., Costa
Rica, Hungary and Chile have banneddolphin captivity. India was the
most recen t to ban dolphin captivity, even going as far as to
declare dolphins high
level of intelligence as non -human persons.
Please consider closing the dolphin exhibit at The Mirage.
Thank you.
