Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...
Image showing two harpoon wounds in fin whale

Whalers kill just days after Iceland’s hunt suspension is lifted

Whalers in Iceland have claimed their first victims since the lifting (just a few days...
Fin whale

Icelandic government lifts suspension on cruel hunts

The Icelandic government is to allow fin whales to be hunted again after lifting a...

Despite recent claims that six dolphins caught in the infamous drive hunts in Taiji, Japan arrived at Heathrow Airport via a Japan Airlines on flight from Tokyo, Whale and Dolphin Conservation has received confirmation directly from UK government department Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) that this is not the case. Some of the dolphins that escape slaughter in the cruel drive hunts in Japan are selected for transportation and a life in captivity at entertainment parks and aquariums across the world but, in a direct communication to WDC, a senior Defra spokesperson stated that no dolphins were shipped through Heathrow yesterday (11th October).

“The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency is aware of suggestions circulating online that dolphins travelling between Japan and the United Arab Emirates transited through Heathrow Airport during the last few days. AHVLA (the UK CITES management authority) has issued no CITES Permits for Dolphins, nor received any applications to do so; neither have AHVLA inspectors at Heathrow Airport been made aware of any such consignment.” (Defra).

WDC welcomes the fact that a UK airport was not used, but the fight against the Japanese dolphin hunts and the captivity industry continues.

More on drive hunts here