Maneka Gandhi, former Union Environment Minister, has
slammed the proposed dolphin park of the Greater Cochin Development
Authority’s as a “colossal waste of money” which will lead to killing of
animals and end up in a “scam.”
The cost of the
project is “prohibitive and uncalled for” and India does not have
expertise in either catching or keeping dolphins. The catching of
dolphins for the project will result in the death of hundreds of
dolphins and those which survive will die in a few weeks in the tanks or
during “training.”, Ms. Gandhi told.
Ms. Gandhi has also written to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy against the park and the ocenarium project of the State government.
Hinting
that she may take a legal recourse against the project, Ms. Gandhi said
that India will have to obtain permission from the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora as the
capture of the marine mammal is regulated internationally. Endangered
dolphin species are included in Appendix I of CITES and its trade is
permitted only in exceptional circumstances, she said.
Dolphins
have a lower survival rate in captivity and require foreign doctors and
modern medical facility which would be very expensive. Fish fed to the
dolphins should be decontaminated and brought afresh. Many dolphins die
from eating contaminated fish, Ms. Gandhi said.
No
wild dolphins have been allowed to be captured for dolphinariums in the
U.S. since 1989. Breeding programmes have been set up to provide the
dolphinariums with new animals as they die quickly. India does not have
such a breeding programme and setting one up would cost at least Rs. 50
crore, she said.
Keeping dolphins in dolphinariums is
animal abuse and researches show that dolphins do not have enough
freedom of movement in pools, regardless of the pool size. Captivity
severely compromises its quality of life. In the wild, they swim
hundreds of miles every day. They have complex social lives which cannot
be recreated in captivity. Dolphins are large, strong animals perfectly
adapted to the conditions of the open ocean. If held in a confined
space and subjected to forced interaction with humans, they would show
aggressive behaviour, she said.
The proposed park
will not serve any educational purpose. Marine parks significantly
distort the public’s understanding of the marine environment.
Educational messages take second place to the whale and dolphin
performances, where the jumping and splashing of the animals are the
main feature, Ms. Gandhi pointed out. in the death of hundreds of
dolphins .”
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