An Australian animal welfare activist says a Japanese court ruling, that has found an aquarium had no right to stop her from entering, is a victory in the fight to stop dolphin killings.
In 2014, Sarah Lucas tried unsuccessfully to get into the Taiji Whale Museum, to check on an albino baby dolphin in captivity.
The museum, run by the town of Taiji in central Japan, was made famous by the Oscar-winning film The Cove, which documents dolphins being herded into an inlet by fishermen and slaughtered for meat.
Sankei newspaper reported that Wakayama District Court awarded Ms Lucas damages of 110,000 yen ($NZ1450) yesterday.
The court declined to confirm the report.
"This win proves the Taiji Whale Museum, the institution at the heart of the dolphin hunting trade, behaved illegally," Ms Lucas said in a statement yesterday.
"It also shows the Taiji dolphin hunts are not above the law, which means the Japanese legal system can be used to end the cruel dolphin hunts for good."
She said she hoped the ruling would expedite the process to move the dolphin, Angel, out of her "tiny tank" and into a sea pen as soon as possible.
