Monitoring of wild and rehabilitating dolphin interactions during rehabilitation period using surveillance...

Amidst growing animal rights movements, the release of captive cetaceans, particularly killer whales and dolphins, into their natural environments has gained increasing support from activists due to ethical concerns. However, there is a notable lack of quantitative studies on the interactions between wild and captive dolphins during rehabilitation before release. This study assesses the rehabilitation process of captive dolphin during its stay in the sea pen using advanced surveillance techniques. Methods including CCTV, hydrophone monitoring, and drone observations were utilized to document interactions between rehabilitating and wild dolphins. A convolutional neural network-based detector for dolphin whistle sound was used to automatically detect the whistle from underwater sound recorded at the rehabilitation site, which significantly expedited the identification of wild dolphin encounters compared to traditional manual methods. This technology also facilitated synchronized analysis of underwater sounds, CCTV footage, and drone videos, providing comprehensive visual and acoustic observations of captive and wild dolphins during encounters. This research offers insights that can guide future dolphin rehabilitation monitoring and release strategies.