When I stood at the edge of the boat off the Monterey Bay and watched over 300 common dolphins bow hopping around me,
I became lost in their world, unable to think about them in a scientific or utilitarian sense.
I was paralyzed by their beauty, and I still cannot find words to describe that experience.
 I realized that dolphins and all other marine mammals need to be preserved,
not for biological research or so that we have mammals to maintain whaling and sealing companies,
 but because they have their own unique habitat and possess natural rights to live just as humans do.

Kim Simon