The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums announced Wednesday that it will ban its members from buying dolphins caught off the town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, amid protests from activists and pressure from a global industry body to stop the practice.
JAZA reached the decision earlier in the day at an emergency board meeting where votes from all of its 152 members — 89 zoos and 63 aquariums — were counted.
Of them, 149 members voted. Of the 142 valid votes, 99 voted in favor of staying in the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) by stopping the purchase of dolphins from Taiji, while 43 voted against it. The breakdown of votes among zoos and aquariums was not made public.
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