Dolphin Therapy Persuasive Essay

Even with all of the different forms of medicine in the world, people still feel helpless when their children have a disorder that cannot be cured. One of the last resorts people may go to is called dolphin therapy. People look into dolphin therapy to help with their situation. Not everyone should look to this as a possible source of help, though, because the whole process leads to many risks for everyone involved. Dolphin therapy, using dolphin assistance in hydrotherapy sessions, has shown to be effective in many cases but is controversial in the eyes of the public due to the risk to the patients and potential harm to the dolphins.

Unlike many other forms of medicine, dolphin therapy has been around for a short amount of time, but swimming

Often times patients will see the most growth in the areas they had been struggling with. Some of those areas include self-confidence, academic achievements and social skills. Improvements do not only come from the mental side of DAT. People with muscle issues may have lessening of symptoms from the t- cell release. Another reason for the lessening of symptoms is the hydrotherapy. Hydrotherapy is a more common practice that works on strength in water. Adult suffering from PTSD have seen the dramatic results of dolphin therapy when they had more peace than they had gotten from any other type of therapy. As with anything, the benefits mentioned before come with great risks that need to be considered. People tend to forget that dolphins were not originally captive animals. That being said, it is very possible for them to be aggressive. No amount of training can guarantee a safe experience. A recent study found that half of over 400 people working with marine animals have experienced traumatic injuries (Herzog). For example, participants in the DAT program have reported being slapped, bitten, and rammed, resulting in broken ribs and punctured lungs. Not only can the dolphins hurt the people, but the dolphins can be harmed by transferring skin diseases between the

The reason for the controversy is the possible harm involved. The people involved and uninvolved with this form of therapy for the most part have very different opinions. Many parents look to dolphin therapy as a last resort for their child because it is very expensive. The families of patients mostly say that their relative benefitted from it and that the dolphins seemed to be in a happy healthy environment. One woman wrote,” My autistic cousin benefited greatly from it. From what I have seen of dolphin therapy on TV, it does not look like the dolphins are harmed in any way. They actually look very happy” (Bliss). More often than not it is the parents of children that claim it works, not the children. In many situations the children do not speak for themselves because the change is more noticeable to their relatives. Doctors in the business tend to agree that it works while others outside disagree. The main reason doctors outside of the business do not agree is because there is no scientific evidence behind it. Some people even started out in the business claiming it works, but after they were uninvolved, they said the therapy actually had no effects. Likewise, other than the people directly connected to dolphin therapy, people are not nearly as open to the ideas behind it. One reason it is so controversial is because the dolphins do not have a choice