The Indian Minister of Environment, Jayanthi Natarajan, has clearly stated that the government will not allow dolphinaria to be established in India.
Credit for achieving this historic ban goes to The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) along with their partners Born Free Foundation, Global Green Grants Fund, Earth Island Institute’s Dolphin Project and Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation who have been working on bringing about this prohibition in India for the past year and have together been leading the campaign across the country.
All State Governments are asked to reject any proposals for establishing dolphinaria ‘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’.
This statement is groundbreaking also in that it accepts that ‘the unusually high intelligence; as compared to other animals means that dolphin should be seen as “non-human persons” and as such should have their own specific rights and is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose’…
The spirit of ahimsa lives on in India and the minister and animal advocacy groups are to be congratulated on this wonderful advance.
Wild dolphin family
QCA reproduces this photo by kind permission of the photographer Jim Capaldi (c) and Chris Draper at Born Free.
Please visit www.bornfree.org.uk