For the past week or so, animal rights activists have been doing their best to spread this video of a dolphin jumping out of its tank in the middle of a July 4th show at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium.

The video was apparently filmed by an American tourist, who then sent the video to Ric O’Barry. It should come as no surprise that O’Barry and other radical animal rights activists are claiming that they are 100% certain of why the dolphin ended up outside of its tank:

“The habitat of that false killer whale is so unnatural it leaped out in desperation,” he said in a telephone interview from Florida. “It wanted to end it. Why does a person jump out of a building?”

Other people with the ability to read the minds of animals have claimed that the dolphin was “trying to escape” from the aquarium.

Meanwhile, the Japanese aquarium that “enslaves” the dolphins has said it was probably an accident:

Hideshi Teruya, who manages the dolphin section of Churaumi, said the dolphin suffered minor scratches and bruises on its head and fin but was fine, and had a healthy appetite for mackerel and squid almost as soon as it was returned to a tank.

“It was playing around and jumped out by accident from the momentum,” he told The Associated Press.

The age of the dolphin, a female named Kuru, which means “black” in Okinawan dialect, is unknown. It was captured about six years ago in the seas around Okinawa, Teruya said.

Teruya acknowledged that dolphins sometimes spring out and so he has placed mats around the tanks to prevent serious injury.

He denied the captivity was cruel, and said the tank was not overcrowded and followed general aquarium guidelines.

Via japanprobe.com