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Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...
Narwhal with beluga whales

Unusual Whale Adoptions

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Irrawaddy dolphin

Helping fishers protect dolphins in Sarawak, Borneo

Fishing nets are bad news for dolphins and porpoises, so we're working with local fishers...
Dolphin watching from Chanonry Point, Scotland. Image: WDC/Charlie Phillips

Discovering inner peace – whale and dolphin watching and mental wellbeing

Guest blog If you've ever seen whales or dolphins in the wild, you'll know that...
Whale tail

An ocean of hope

In a monumental, jaw-dropping demonstration of global community, the nations of the world made history...
North Atlantic right whale Porcia and her calf.

Critically Endangered Right Whale Babies Spotted

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The infamous killing cove at Taiji, Japan

Why the Taiji dolphin hunt can never be justified

Supporters of the dolphin slaughter in Japan argue that killing a few hundred dolphins every...
Image: Peter Linforth

Tracking whales from space will help us save them

Satellite technology holds one of the keys to 21st century whale conservation, so we're exploring...

Learning to rescue stranded whales in Adelaide

Whales and dolphins swimming free in the ocean are the very essence of controlled grace. Stranded on shore they are pathetically helpless.

There appear to be many reasons cetaceans strand, including getting lost and confused, being sick or injured, or being chased there by predators such as sharks and orcas. Evidence is accumulating that loud noises produced by various human activities also play a role.

It is very clear that the sooner cetaceans can be rescued after coming ashore, the greater is their chance of survival. Having a pool of trained people can significantly reduce the response time of a rescue.

Courses on how to assist at a stranding are now run in many parts of the world. Last weekend I ran one in Adelaide, Australia for thirty government staff and volunteers (including two people from the board of WDC Australasia). The course involved providing people with some basic biological information on cetaceans and the ones which strand in our region, followed by step by step instruction on how to deal with different stranding scenarios.

We don’t have very many live strandings in the Adelaide area but we are certainly much better equipped to handle one quickly and effectively now!