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Amazon river dolphins leaping

Endangered river dolphins die in Amazon drought

Over 100 endangered pink river dolphins have died in an area of the Amazon over...
Fin whale

Short and cruel hunt season ends in Iceland

The shortened Icelandic fin whale hunts season has finished with a final total of 23...
Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...

Japanese dolphin hunts are not traditional says local fisherman

Taiji - striped dolphin with dowel in blow holeJapanese government claims that the annual slaughter of dolphins in the Taiji Cove is some sort of traditional, centuries-old cultural practice, has been dismissed by a former Japanese dolphin hunter who has stated that the hunting method was first used as recently as 1969.

The Japanese government and local fishermen have previously used the argument that the hunts should continue on grounds that they are a centuries old cultural tradition, but former fisherman, Izumi Ishii, has told the Japan Times newspaper that ‘mentors’ from another area (Futo, Shizuoka Prefecture) taught Taiji’s fishermen how to conduct dolphin drive hunts for the first time in 1969!

Fishermen in Taiji kill hundreds of dolphins by driving groups of these defenceless creatures into the cove using boats and loud under water noise to disorientate them. They are then slaughtered in a cruel manner or hand-picked for live transport to aquaria where they live the rest of their lives in a small tank.

Please help WDC to stop the transport of these dolphins for captivity and so remove the economic incentive to keep these hunts alive. Over 40 airlines have already joined our campaign, we need your help to persuade the rest.

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.