Great news: New South Wales bans captive dolphin breeding
This is big! The New South Wales (NSW) Government today introduced a regulation to the Biodiversity Conservation Act that bans dolphin breeding and the importation of dolphins to the state.
"If a dolphin were bred today, it may still be alive in 2070. This regulation frees future dolphins from being confined to a life in lockdown..."
Image credit: Courtnie Tosana
This wouldn’t have been possible without thousands of dedicated supporters being a voice for dolphins over many years! It also leaves Sea World on the Gold Coast as the only dolphin park in Australia to continue breeding dolphins in captivity.
In August last year, Ben Pearson, Head of Campaigns (Australia and New Zealand), appeared before the NSW upper house inquiry into the use of wild animals for entertainment to put forward our case for a ban on captive dolphin breeding in the state.
“If a dolphin were bred today, it may still be alive in 2070. This regulation frees future dolphins from being confined to a life in lockdown at a time when the public acceptability of keeping dolphins in captivity for entertainment is declining.”
“As the tide turns against using marine mammals in captivity for entertainment, the conversation about what will happen to the dolphins at Sea World needs to start now. First step is a ban on further breeding," – Ben Pearson said.
Major travel brands including TripAdvisor and Booking.com have already committed to stop selling tickets to dolphin shows and encounters.
As well as changes from the travel industry, Canada recently passed a ban on keeping dolphins, whales and porpoises for entertainment.
This is part of a global movement towards better treatment of these wild animals, which includes the nations of Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.
Dolphins are intelligent, wild animals. They belong in the wild, not bred in captivity for entertainment.
In their natural environment, dolphins swim freely in 100 square kilometres of ocean, sometimes more, but the average dolphin in captivity has a space a fraction of that space!
Together, we can make this the last generation of dolphins at Sea World kept captive to entertain visitors.
