Dolphins in India

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

CHENNAI––The Animal Welfare Board of India on January 14,  2013 ordered state governments and wildlife agencies to deny permits to anyone who “proposes to import or capture any cetacean [whale or dolphin] species for training,  to use as a performing animal for commercial entertainment,  private or public exhibition,  private or human interaction, educational or research purposes.”  The directive formalizes policies which have informally prevailed against would-be marine mammal exhibitors since 1998,  when a now defunct Chennai aquarium called Dolphin City imported four dolphins from Bulgaria.  All four died within six months.  Whether the AWBI directive can be enforced is likely to be tested by would-be developers of dolphin parks in Mumbai,  Delhi,  and coastal Kerala state.