As reported by the Times of India (TOI), dolphinariums are commercial captive facilities that house wild dolphins that have been caught "through cruel methods like drive captures", says the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO). The proposals for such projects in areas like Kochi, Sindhudurg and Noida have been vehemently opposed for months at a stretch, as activists and experts alike presented scientific evidence that the practice was unethical and detrimental to populations of these cetaceans.
As a result of the widespread momentum protests that such proposals faced, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), the statutory body under the environment ministry, not only asked state governments to halt and prohibit such projects from developing, but also asked the chief wildlife wardens of states to withhold permission to any persons, government or private players that proposes to import any cetacean species for commercial exhibition or research purposes.
Welcoming the AWBI advisory, Puja Mitra, FIAPO's campaign manager said, "This move of the AWBI's is a big step forward to ensure that India never has captive dolphins - a barbaric practice that is fast being phased out internationally." "Additionally, dolphinariums have absolutely no conservation or educational value," she said in a statement to TOI, refuting the greatest argument of stakeholders that such exhibitions allow for captive breeding, repopulation of dolphin species and the spread of awareness on marine life conservation.
In reality, dolphins are captured from the wild, thus depleting numbers, destroying their social structures and degrading the viability of their populations by removing vital breeding members. The offspring of such breeding programmes are non-starters - they are not unable to survive or hunt in the wild. There is documented proof that some cannot even recognise live fish as food after eating the dead fish they are fed in captivity! Just a few years ago, when three dolphins died after just a few months in a similar marine park in Chennai, the Government intervened and prevented the import of five more dolphins.
Keeping intelligent marine mammals captive is cruel and the India should take the lead in banning, not promoting this. The funds to be allocated for a dolphinarium would be better spent protecting India's wild dolphins and restoring her degraded coastlines, perhaps by enabling local communities to take visitors out in their boats to see dolphins in the wild. This will serve the dual purpose of offering sustainable livelihoods and spreading awareness on marine life. Read the full report here.
Source: Sanctuary Asia.
