Why is captivity torture for dolphins?

On the surface, dolphin shows and swim-with-the-dolphin programs seem to match the natural sociability and showmanship of these remarkable animals with our human desire to be entertained. Sadly, the truth is that nearly every natural instinct the dolphin has is stifled when forced to live in captivity. Bonding with their "pod" members, swimming for long distances, chasing and catching live fish, using their highly adapted sonar-all of these everyday activities are restricted for dolphins confined to a tank or sea pen.

The captive dolphin industry destroys close-knit dolphin families.
Many of the dolphins in captivity were taken from the wild as young adults. Dolphin "pods," or family groups, are chased with motorboats at high speeds, until the animals are exhausted. Young dolphins are least able to fight off their captors; often mothers and babies are separated. Some dolphins are inadvertently killed during the capture and those that survive often have bruises, scrapes and internal injuries, not to mention the emotional trauma of having family members torn away from them.

Just as poignant is the experience of captive bred dolphins. These animals never have the chance to experience the comfort and pleasure of belonging to a family. They are doomed to emotional isolation. And the one close bond they do form - with their mothers - is broken far too soon, as they are often confined to separate pens, well before they would part naturally, or sold off to another park or aquarium.

Dolphins appear to smile because of the way their mouths are shaped; it isn't a reflection of their emotional state.
The dolphin's "smile" has been used by the captivity industry since its inception to promote the idea that dolphins actually enjoy living in shallow swimming pools and jumping through hoops to entertain humans. However, one way to understand how dolphins react to captivity is to visit a dolphin show between performances. If you do, you'll very likely see a dolphin floating listlessly near the surface of the water. Though you'll see the same "smile", you'll also see the boredom and depression that result from confining a highly intelligent wild animal to a small pen.

Dolphins are forced to perform unnatural behaviors for human amusement.
As much as we would like to believe that dolphins enjoy our company as much as we do theirs, interaction programs are often extremely upsetting for the dolphins, who must endure the advances of curious and overzealous humans. Stress-related illness and death are far too common among performing dolphins.

Trainers use hunger as their primary training tool.
Captive dolphins are trained to perform desired behaviors in order to obtain a food reward. Food is withheld to ensure that the dolphins are hungry, and therefore, motivated to do what their trainers ask. For all their efforts, the dolphins are fed dead fish. In the wild, dolphins eat only live fish that they have chased and hunted themselves.

Regulations, where they exist, don't go far enough to protect dolphins from inhumane living conditions.
Captive dolphins are routinely subjected to tiny, shallow pools that expose their delicate skin to the burning rays of the sun. In the United States, dolphin pens are only required to be 30 x 30 feet in length and six feet deep. Considering that bottle-nosed dolphins often measure 9 feet long and weigh 500 pounds, the minimum standards are absurdly inappropriate. Even the aquariums and sea parks that provide attractive-looking pools can never match the vast, changing and stimulating ocean environment that their dolphins were taken from or accommodate a dolphin that used to routinely swim forty miles per day in the wild.