( Note to teachers: For the sake of time, the text and questions go through 6:15 of the video.) The eight dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland will have a new home — the first sanctuary of its kind in the world. As attitudes toward keeping dolphins and orcas in captivity change, the National Aquarium announced Tuesday that the animals — who have spent their lives in sterile concrete tanks — will be moved to an outdoor marine mammal sanctuary in Florida or the Caribbean by the end of 2020. Instead of tanks with manufactured saltwater, the dolphins will swim in a habitat with natural seawater and as much as 100 times more space, said National Aquarium CEO John Racanelli. One well-known critic of the world’s 30 dolphinariums, Dolphin Project founder Ric O’Barry, was once the highest-paid dolphin trainer in the world. He became the head trainer on the popular 1960s TV series “Flipper,” before having a complete change of heart after seeing the long term effects of captivity. Ever since, he has traveled the world fighting to shut down aquarium shows and end dolphin captivity. Heather Morris, a frequent protester at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore called the National Aquarium’s decision to move the dolphins into an environment more like their natural habitat “a crucial step” for animal rights.

animal rights — rights believed to belong to animals, usually in regards to medical research, hunting, and other services to humans dolphinarium — an aquarium in which dolphins are kept and trained for public entertainment