JOIN USThe Centre has prohibited setting up of dolphinariums, large aquariums housing dolphins, nipping in the bud plans for four dolphin parks in states that were planning to host shows for attracting tourists.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on Friday issued an order stating it would not allow establishment of dolphinariums in the country.
State governments have been advised to reject every proposal that involves import or capture of these animals for commercial entertainment and private or public exhibition.
Outside India, amusement parks with dolphins are in existence for decades and continue to be a major attraction for tourists.
The immediate casualty of government's new policy would be two planned dolphinariums in Kerala as well as one each in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
All of them involves the local governments in one way or the other. The two proposed dolphinariums in Kerala were to come up near Kochi.
The first one involved Greater Kochi development authority, while the state fisheries department was the government representative in the second project, said Puja Mitra from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations, a non-governmental organisation that lobbies for protection of animal rights.
Maharashtra Tourism Development corporation planned a Rs 1,000 crore dolphinarium in Sindhudurg district in coastal Maharashtra.
Whereas the Surat Municipal Corporation wanted to create a dolphin park and a shark tank, for which construction was in progress, Mitra told Deccan Herald.
In addition, other states including Andaman and Nicobar islands conceptualised several dolphin parks.
The Gangetic Dolphin and Snubfin Dolphin are protected species as per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
The government has also declared Gangetic Dolphin as the national aquatic animal.
Interestingly, the ministry order says dolphins should be seen as “non-human persons” because of their intelligence.
They should have their own specific rights and is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purpose.