I expect you pretty well knew this was coming. Nothing else would make much sense in the context of where this story's been going.
Jason's comments about the advantages of animal captivity are of course accurate. Some animals voluntarily give up their freedom for these benefits; think about dogs, cats, other pets and the like. To be sure, human care for captive or domesticated animals isn't consistent across the board, and in some cases the animals stay in place through intimidation or lack of knowledge about any alternative way of living-sad cases. But many pets-I'd like to say most, but I've read (and seen) enough of the bad stuff to be less sure than I'd like to be of that-stay voluntarily even when offered their freedom. And even wild animals will give up some portion of their freedom when offered a steady supply of food and other advantages of living in proximity to humans, pretty much like Minacou's "boat dolphins" (a phenomenon I've witnessed myself). So it isn't entirely a one-way street, as Jason says. But most thinking creatures-humans being the prime example-will opt for freedom if offered the choice, as do the dolphins of my story.