The saga between Vancouver Aquarium and the city’s Park Board over the aquarium’s right to house cetaceans has taken a new turn after the aquarium decided to take the board to court over its decision to prohibit the breeding of whales, dolphins and porpoises at the tourist attraction.

Vancouver Aquarium has requested a judicial review, filed last week (27 August), the latest in an ongoing battle between the aquarium and animal rights protesters over the ethics of keeping cetaceans in captivity, not only in Vancouver but across the US.

Last month, the Park Board ruled the aquarium would be allowed to keep whales and dolphins in captivity, but must not breed them or otherwise promote reproduction among captive mammals. However, the aquarium contests that, short of sterilisation, this is an impossible task and would be psychologically damaging to the highly social animals.

Vancouver Aquarium president John Nightingale also argued that in making the decision, the Park Board – made up of seven elected commissioners with jurisdiction over a raft of leisure facilities and visitor attractions in Vancouver – acted outside its jurisdiction.

“The aquarium is exercising its legal right to challenge the validity of those resolutions in court,” he said. “In short, we believe that caring for animals in the aquarium should be left to the experts.”

Nightingale also accused the body – with an upcoming election on the horizon – of using the decision as a “political football.”

Aquariums housing cetaceans have been feeling the pressure across the US. As a reaction to lagging attendance, tumbling shares and a backlash of negative publicity in the wake of the controversial documentary Blackfish, Seaworld has announced multi-million dollar expansion plans for its habitats housing killer whales, while Baltimore Aquarium s considering retiring its dolphins to a one-of-a-kind sanctuary.

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