Aruba Marine Mammal                            Foundation

                                                             Courtesy of :

Letter of DAT founder Dr. Betsy Smith

June 18, 2007

To whom it may concern,

As the person who discovered and developed dolphin assisted therapy,
conducted the first scientific studies and published the first
scholarly articles, I believe I can provide some insight into the
captive dolphin program being proposed.

First, the primary motive of all captive programs is monetary.   The
individuals involved expect to receive large fees from vulnerable
families who seek relief for their suffering children.  Whether a
claim is made that keeping dolphins is for educational or therapeutic
purposes the ultimate goal is to congregate as many paying
participants as possible into proximity with dolphins. It is a cynical
use of the words therapy, education and non-profit. All of these
programs are business enterprises and to pretend otherwise is morally
repugnant.

Secondly, this kind of activity undermines valid therapy programs that
try to integrate an environmental component with tested therapies.
People trying to establish dolphin assisted therapy programs with
captive dolphins fall into two categories: behavioral therapists who
use the dolphin as a favorite treat when the child performs a task
correctly; and those who represent all kinds of pseudo scientific
activities. Because dolphins enable them to collect exorbitant fees
from desperate people these activities need to be examined.  A review
of the credible research will find that, except for my seminal study,
none show that using dolphins will provide any better results than
accepted therapies that use domesticated animals or aquatic
interventions.  Also, there is presently no credible dolphin assisted
therapy research being conducted.

Lastly, there is the question: what about the dolphins? At a time when
we understand nature is not limitless, do we wish to treat these free
roaming people friendly creatures in this manner?

I urge you to resist with all your collective authority this assault
on the integrity of the dedicated therapeutic and animal welfare
communities in your country.  Do what you can to stop the exploitation
of these vulnerable families and vulnerable animals.

Respectfully,


Betsy A. Smith,PhD
Founding Professor (retired)

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy

A Discussion paper

Lori Marino, Ph.D., Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, Emory University
Scott O Lilienfeld, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Emory University

Abstract

Proponents of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT) make expansive claims of its effectiveness at treating patients with clinical disorders and diseases ranging from autism and epilepsy to cancer and AIDS.   However, there is no scientific evidence to substantiate these claims.  Scientific evidence actually suggests that DAT is associated with potential harm to both humans and dolphins.   Human harm can include direct injury from aggressive behavior to an increased chance of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection.  Harm to dolphins can include capture from the wild, separation from mates, and confinement, all of which may lead to severe stress and a predisposition to act aggressively.

Background

DAT is a practice whereby sufferers of certain clinical disorders are subjected to direct, supervised contact with confined dolphins. DAT practitioners claim that this practice provides treatment for these various conditions.  DAT has become increasingly popular since its commencement in 1970's.  Sessions can cost from hundreds of dollars for a single session to thousands for an extended session of a week or longer.   There are currently facilities all over the world including the United States, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Japan, China, and the Bahamas.  Disorders variously claimed to be treatable with DAT include autism, microcephaly (a congenital disorder resulting in an underdeveloped brain), epilepsy, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, depression, AIDS, and cancer.

The Purported Benefits of DAT Discussed

Proponents of DAT claim that the practice gives significant benefit to the patients in terms of their condition.   Purported benefits range from increased stimulation, improved memory and motor skills, accelerated healing of disease, and increased well-being.  DAT proponents often attempt to appear scientific by using terms that sound technical but lack meaning, such as "bio-physical healing", or by using genuine scientific terms that are taken out of context, such as "hemispheric synchronization."  The use of "obscurantist language" is a common ploy used by pseudoscience practitioners to mislead unsuspecting clients into believing that they are advancing legitimate scientific claims. [i]  The following discussion presents each of these claims in turn followed by a discussion on the merits of the claim based on the scientific literature currently available.  

Enhanced Concentration

DAT proponents argue that it provides a rewarding stimulus that increases patients' attention and motivation to learn. [ii]^{, [iii]}  Proponents assert that mentally handicapped children suffer from attention deficits rather than information processing difficulties and that, consequently, DAT is an effective way to enhance learning, memory, motor skills, and language in those with intellectual disabilities.

Discussion: Independent reviews show that the research used to substantiate this claim is seriously flawed and lacks scientific support. [iv], [v]  Moreover, this claim about the basis of learning deficiencies is at odds with current expert knowledge on the etiology of these disorders. [vi]  A recent review of other DAT papers [vii] concludes that there is no compelling evidence that DAT is a legitimate therapy for any of the disorders purported to be treatable in these articles. [viii]  Furthermore, a former prominent practitioner and proponent of DAT has also concluded that DAT is therapeutically ineffective. [ix]

Shift in Brainwaves

Some proponents also claim that DAT facilitates a shift in brain waves from alpha to theta rhythms (the "alpha-theta crossover"). [x], [xi]   In this way they purport to show that DAT produces a specific and measurable effect on brain function.

Discussion: This phenomenon is widely held to be merely a nonspecific shift from alertness to relaxation that occurs throughout a normal day and associated with calmness or drowsiness.  The same results could be obtained merely by encouraging participants to go to sleep.  This claim is also in conflict with other DAT proponents who state that DAT enhances alertness, through an increase in alpha waves – not theta waves. [xii]

Sound as a Healing Force

DAT proponents claim that ultrasound from the echolocation emitted by dolphins exerts an electro-mechanical affect on patients' endocrine and neural systems and thus influences healing. [xiii]^{, [xiv]}   They state that after swimming with dolphins, patients exhibit more theta waves than alpha waves.

Discussion: As already discussed, this change in brainwaves can be attributed to a more relaxed state and therefore does not demonstrate any specific therapeutic effects of dolphin ultrasound.  There is no scientific evidence that dolphin echolocation can heal, nor that dolphins echolocate on humans in a manner even minimally consistent with this claim.   One particular study found that dolphins did not echolocate on patients long enough to meet the minimal requirements for common ultrasound therapies, that most of the dolphins did not differentiate between patients and other swimmers and even the lone dolphin that spent the most time with patients did not stay with them long enough to produce ultrasound stimulation equivalent to that applied by medical practitioners. [xv]

Biophilia (reconnection with nature)

DAT proponents claim that contact with dolphins produces the intense emotions and feelings of reconnection with biophilia which enhances well-being in patients. [xvi], [xvii]

Discussion: There is no evidence that DAT, particularly as practiced in a captive setting, exerts a significant effect on enhancing a "reconnection with nature".   This vague effect is also difficult to even define, let alone measure.  It is likely that interacting with dolphins in an attractive natural setting is pleasurable for many individuals as is being exposed to any scenic nature settings, without dolphins.  Nor is there any evidence that such positive effects, if present, endure beyond DAT sessions.

The Potential Harm from DAT 

Studies show that swimming with dolphins in captivity can be dangerous with many documented incidents of aggressive behaviors (threats, biting, and ramming) towards swimmers . [xviii], [xix], [xx], [xxi]  Broken bones, severe bruises, and fractured ribs requiring hospitalization are not uncommon. Additionally, there is the risk of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection. [xxii]  There are currently no USDA-enforced safety regulations on DAT.

DAT may also be harmful to dolphins.  Many DAT facilities outside the U.S. obtain dolphins from the wild in ways that cause severe stress and injury in those animals that survive and are placed in aquaria.  In the U.S., where wild capture is forbidden, the aforementioned studies show that the severe stress and abnormal social conditions of captivity can predispose dolphins to act aggressively.

Conclusion

There is no scientific evidence that DAT is therapeutically effective for any of the disorders the proponents claim to be able to treat.  Claims of treatment are often couched in pseudo-scientific terms to confuse clients.  Three review studies conclude that the testing methods used in DAT studies are inadequate to provide evidence for any lasting physiological or mental health effects. [xxiii], [xxiv], [xxv]  Moreover, there is evidence that human-dolphin interactions can lead to harm to humans and harm to dolphins.

[i] van Rillaer J (1991)  Strategies of dissimulation in the pseudosciences.  New Ideas in Psychology 9: 233-244.

[ii] Nathanson DE (1998) Long-term effectiveness of dolphin-assisted therapy for children with severe disabilities. Anthrozoos, 11(1):22-32.

[iii] Nathanson DE, de Castro D, Friend H, McMahon M (1997) Effectiveness of short-term dolphin-assisted therapy for children with severe disabilities. Anthrozoos 10: 90-100.

[iv] Humphries TL (2003) Effectiveness of dolphin-assisted therapy as a behavioral intervention for young children with disabilities. Bridges: Practice-Based Research Synthesis 1(6): 1-9.

[v] Marino L, Lilienfeld SO (1998). Dolphin-assisted therapy: flawed data, flawed conclusions. Anthrozoos 11: 194-200.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Antonioli C, Reveley MA (2005) Randomized controlled trial of animal facilitated therapy with dolphins in the treatment of depression. British Medical Journal 331: 1231 – 1234; Iikura Y, Sakamoto Y, Imai , Akai L, Matsuoka T, Sugihara K, Utumi M, Tomikawa M (2001) Dolphin-assisted seawater therapy for severe atopic dermatitis: an immunological and psychological study. Archives of Allergy and Immunology 124: 389 - 390; Lukina LN (1999) Influence of dolphin-assisted therapy sessions on the functional state of children with psychoneurological symptoms of diseases. Human Physiology 25: 676- 679; Servais,V (1999) Some comments on context embodiment in zootherapy: the case of the autodolfijn project. Anthrozoos 12: 5-15; Webb NL, Drummond PD (2001) The effect of swimming with dolphins on human well-being and anxiety. Anthrozoos 14: 81-85.

[viii] Marino L, Lilienfeld SO (in press). Dolphin assisted therapy: more flawed data, more flawed conclusions. Anthrozoos. in press.

[ix] Smith B (2003) The discovery and development of dolphin-assisted therapy. In: Between Species, celebrating the dolphin-human bond. Eds T. Frohoff and B Peterson. Published by Sierra Club Books. p 239-246.

[x] Aqua Thought Foundation. http://www.aquathought.com.

[xi] De bergerac O (1999) The Dolphin Within. Australia: Simon & Schuster.

[xii] Nathanson, 1998.

[xiii] Birch S (1997) Dolphin-human interaction effects. Doctoral Thesis, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, Caulfield Campus.

[xiv] Cole DM (1996) Phenomenological effect of dolphin interaction on humans. International Symposium on Dolphin Healing. AquaThought Foundation, pp. 1-7.

[xv] Brensing K, Linke K, Todt D (2003) Can dolphins heal by ultrasound. Journal of Theoretical Biology 225: 99-105.

[xvi] Wilson EO (1984) Biophilia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

[xvii] Antonioli and Reveley (2005).

[xviii] Frohoff TG, Packard JM (1995) "Interactions between humans and free-ranging and captive bottlenose dolphins." Anthrozoös 8(1): 44-54.

[xix] Samuels A, Spradlin T (1995) Quantitative behavioral study of bottlenose dolphins in swim-with-the-dolphin programs in the United States. Marine Mammal Science 11: 520-544.

[xx] Webster LS, Neil DT, and Madden CA (1998) Dolphin-initiated inter- and intra-specific contact and aggression during provisioning at Tangalooma. Special Topic report, Department of Geographical Sciences and Planning and School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland.

[xxi] Frohoff TG (2000) Behavioral Indicators of Stress in Odontocetes During Interactions with Humans: A Preliminary Review and Discussion. International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, SC/52/WW2. 20 pp.

[xxii] Buck CD, Schroeder JP (1990) Public health significance of marine mammal diseases, in Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease, and Rehabilitation, ed. L.A. Dierauf, pp. 163-173, CRC Press, Cleveland, OH. (A review of reported cases of humans infected with micro-organisms acquired from direct contact with various marine mammals is presented.)

[xxiii] Humphries, 2003

[xxiv] Marino and Lilienfeld, 1998

[xxv] Marino and Lilienfeld, in press.