‘Whales, dolphins deserve human rights for their intelligence’

Marine biologists and philosophers have joined forces to support a controversial declaration of rights for whales and dolphins on the grounds that their astonishing intelligence and emotional empathy puts them on a par with humans.

Research into the complex behaviour of cetaceans - whales, dolphins and porpoises - is revealing that these sea mammals are so highly evolved and complex in terms of their behaviour that they deserve special protection with a universal bill of rights, they said.

Dolphins and whales have complex vocal communications and are able to learn an astonishing variety of behaviours when they come into contact with humans, such as cooperative fishing with native fishermen.

The proponents of the bill of rights argue the cetacean mind is so advanced and selfaware that whales and dolphins should be classified as "non-human persons" who deserve the right to life, liberty and wellbeing.

"A person needs to be an individual," said Tom White, a philosopher at the Hilton Centre for Business in Los Angeles. The captivity of beings of this sort particularly in conditions that would not allow for a decent life is ethically unacceptable, commercial whaling is ethically unacceptable."

THE INDEPENDENT