Seven-year-old Mani’s teacher planned a field trip to the «Marineland Antibes» sea life park on the Côte d’Azur, France, where orca shows are staged. His mother Audrey stopped her young son from going on the trip, providing the reason for her decision in a letter to his teacher:
«We don’t find it ethically justifiable to keep dolphins and orcas in pools and force them to jump through hoops when they’d otherwise be swimming 60 to 120 miles a day. I taught my child to not take pleasure in animals’ suffering. Thank you for your cooperation.»
Before sending the letter, Audrey had asked her son whether he wanted to go to the sea life center with his school friends. «He said: ‘no, I’d rather go to the amusement park,'» said Audrey. «We also have this game we play every two months where everyone writes down eight wishes. One of his was that dolphins could live in freedom, and not in parks.»
Here is a local news report about the story (in French):
In May, the French environmental minister issued a decree that would stop dolphins and orcas from being kept in captivity. Maybe Mani’s wish will come true after all.
