New Delhi India: Dolphins for Entertainment Now Banned


B. McPherson
This kind of entertainment belongs with bear baiting and bull fighting

In a bold move, the Minister of Environment and Forests has issued an edict to ban the captivity of dolphins for public entertainment. It labels the keeping of cetaceans for entertainment as “morally unacceptable” and that they should be considered as non-human persons.

In a policy statement released Friday, the ministry advised state governments to reject any proposal to establish a dolphinarium “by any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.” Environmental News Service

Many of the dolphins trapped in Japan at the infamous Cove are not killed, but captured live to sell to dolphinaria. The life of these intelligent, social creatures is often short and beset with constant stress. For countries such as India to take a stand against marketing cetaceans will lessen the demand for their capture. We can hope that other countries will follow India’s suit.

Last year Bangaladesh announced fresh water dolphin sanctuaries in the Sundarbans, giving protection in both India and Bangaladesh to the Ganges and Irrawaddy dolphin.

Lawsuits have been tried in the past in the US alleging that dolphins captured wild and removed as youngster to Sea World to perform tricks violates the US constitution which bans slavery. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has had a long running campaign, The Cove Guardians, in Taji Japan attempting to halt the annual slaughter of marine mammals. The Guardians have entered their tenth year of that campaign.

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