WDC is reeling from the news that over 200 bottlenose dolphins were driven into the cove in Taiji on December 12, and over the course of six days, over 100 have been taken into captivity. During this time, at least 25 were killed during the process of selection for aquaria or slaughtered directly for their meat.
Please join our campaign and sign our petition to end the hunt.
Photos: courtesy of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Cove Guardians
Photos from this prolonged and horrific hunt can be viewed here.
Over the course of six days, these dolphins were forced to suffer the trauma of separation from their families, or worse, the slaughter of family members. Video footage and photographic evidence reveal numerous injuries to the dolphins during the selection process; many were bloodied as a result of being run over by skiffs or hit by propellers, and trainers were observed to stand by without assisting dolphins that were suffocating underneath tarps and nets. In no instance does footage show that trainers intervened to prevent these injuries or to treat the injured dolphins after the fact. Footage from this horrific hunt can be viewed at http://taiji.ezearth.tv, as dedicated Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians continue to provide livestreaming video of these brutal hunts.
The first dolphin hunt of the season occurred on September 7th, where approximately 20-25 pilot whales were driven into the killing cove in Taiji. Since then, and including this recent hunt, nearly 300 dolphins (striped, bottlenose, and Risso’s) and pilot whales have been killed in the hunts, with over 140 being taken alive into captivity. The hunt will continue through next spring with catch limits determined by the central government and allowed through permits issued by the Wakayama prefectural governor.
Dolphin drive hunts, also known as the ‘drive fisheries,’ occur annually from September through April of each year in the coastal town of Taiji. The town of Futo also maintains a quota to conduct the drive hunts, but has not done so since 2004. During these hunts, dolphins are encircled by motorboats out at sea and are then chased and corralled into shallow waters where they are trapped with nets, dragged beneath tarpaulins, and then killed or hauled off live to be sold into captivity. Every aspect of the hunt is extremely cruel, from the exhausting drive from the open ocean that can separate mothers and calves and other family groups, to confinement in a netted cove where the dolphins are crudely slaughtered. More recently, the award-winning documentary, The Cove, has raised worldwide consciousness to this practice.
WDC continues to work for an end to these brutal hunts, and calls upon the public to make the right choice: do not attend any marine parks that hold whales and dolphins in captivity. Selection of dolphins alive for captivity is a driving force for these hunts to continue.
Please join our campaign and sign our petition to end the hunt.
See our report Driven by Demand, for more information on the connection between the drive hunts and captivity. Dolphins from the drive hunts are being shipped within Japan and all over the globe to captive facilities for display and swim-with-the-dolphin programs. More recent shipments of dolphins from the Taiji hunts have been sent to Egypt, Ukraine, Armenia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and China.
Contact WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquaria) and IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers Association) and demand that they, and their members, halt all association with the dolphin drive hunts in Japan!
WAZA Contact details
Phone: +41 (0) 22 999 0790
Fax: +41 (0) 22 999 0791
Email: [email protected]
IMATA Contact details
Phone: 312-692-3193
Fax: 312-939-2216
Email: [email protected]