On Dolphin Personhood: an Interview with Karsten Brensing

Abstract

KB: I wouldn’t say that I’m one of the leading experts – there are just too many – but I’m one of the few scientists focusing explicitly on the protection of theses amazing animals. However, I have dreamt of becoming a marine biologist since my early childhood. I was always fascinated by the sea and I love swimming and diving. After studying marine biology in Kiel, I started my career as a PhD student in behavior research at the Free University of Berlin in 1997. I spent a year in Florida at the Dolphins Plus and I made several trips to Israel conducting research at the Dolphin Reef – both facilities are fenced pens with captive dolphins. I was interested in the self-motivated behavior of dolphins towards human swimmers. It was a shock when I realized that the dolphins are not excited about swimming with humans. It is widely promoted that dolphins in the swim programs enjoy human company, but that’s not true: the dolphins in Florida tried to escape (without success due to the limited space) and showed signs of stress. The Dolphins in Israel were only interested in the trainer and not the visitors, but at least they could escape because the facility was about 10 times as big as in Florida. To be honest, after my PhD I felt a bit guilty because I saw myself as someone who abused those animals, not for money but for my career. That led me to the decision to work for an NGO which has a clear policy against cetaceans in captivity and so I started to work for the international charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation in 2005.