Dolphins are going to be given special " Non-human Person" status

The problem with this is that it justifies cruel treatment of animals that fall below a certain line of intelligence without addressing the cruelty. They are basically saying that dolphins so they shouldn't be kept in a cage to be studied and watch. But other animals like sharks, rays, eels, and fish it is fine because they are just stupid animals. You can't even gage intelligence because each species has it's own way of being intelligent.

I don't remember the zoo, but there was an octopus that had memorized the schedule of the security person. When the person had pass, the octopus squirted water on the light to put it out because it was to bright. For like a year, the people at the aquarium couldn't figure out why the light was going out and had the electrician checking for bad wiring. They only figured it out when they caught the octopus putting the light out. So should they be considered nonhuman person? It will probably never happen because they aren't mammals.

Giving only dolphins, and probably soon orcas, rights equivalent to a human is biased against other animals based on both assumed intelligence and the fact they are mammals. Instead of giving dolphins rights doesn't fix the inhuman aquariums that provide enough room or good food for their animals. It doesn't fix the core problem is the low standards we have for animals that we take into captivity.