The House of Commons announced that the Mexican parliament on Thursday approved a ban on entertainment programs involving dolphins and other marine mammals, which delighted animal rights athletes.
The reform that won unanimous support has been passed by the House of Lords and is now to be signed into law.
This means that dolphins will be eliminated in Mexico, which accounts for 8% of the world's occupied dolphins, according to figures published by Congress.
Marine mammals are allowed to be captured or imprisoned in the wild only for conservation purposes.
Mexico's non-governmental organization Humane World praised the vote as a “decisive move towards an end to the exploitation of whales, dolphins and other marine mammal recreation”.
The ban marks a “major big stride in the welfare and conservation of animals in Mexico”.
The NGO said there are an estimated 350 dolphins in Mexico's captivity and they must now be moved to the sea pen.
JLA-DR/KSB/DW
