Even though Margaret Lovatt’s experiment of living with a dolphin for six months was extraordinary, many people do not praise the commitment she made in trying to teach Peter how to speak the English language.
Two articles from British publications, The Telegraph and Mirror, use words such as “sin” and “sex” to describe their relationship. Specifically, The Telegraph article entitled, “The woman who lived in sin with a dolphin” discusses how “even dolphin experts who today hold some of Lilly’s other work in high regard believe it was deeply misguided”, and that the media has only focused on her failure to teach Peter to speak, and the “sexual relationship” they had.
As we can see, this article does the same. Instead on focusing on Lovatt’s dedication and the bond she and Peter shared, they fixate on something that Lovatt did to make the experiment easier. If she had not made the decision to relieve Peter’s urges, she would have had to transfer him to lower pool with Sissy and Pamela more often, which would halt their speaking lessons. In her mind, she just wanted to allow them more time to both form a bond and teach Peter to speak.
Like The Telegraph article, the Mirror article, “Woman who had sex with dolphin during lab experiments speaks out for first time” written by David Raven, uses very specific language to persuade audiences in believe she really had sex with him. Writing sentences like, “As the two bonded, their relationship soon progressed to a more physical level”, is used to try and make the public believe what Margaret did for Peter was indeed sex, AND that the pleasure was reciprocated. By solely using her quotes that discuss this in the article, Raven is choosing to ignore other things she has said about their relationship. Even though he uses the quote, “I was there to get to know Peter, that was part of Peter” I do not think it seeks to illustrate Margaret as a woman trying to both teach and form a bond with a dolphin, but purely highlight the minor sexual encounters.
It is articles like these that can shed negative light on people that are trying to learn more about these amazing marine mammals.
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