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New government marine wildlife code to help reduce dolphin disturbance

The launch today by UK Government of new guidance on how to act responsibly around...

UK government to extend ivory ban to stop the sale of orca teeth

Following the UK ban on the import, export and dealing of elephant ivory in 2022,...

Dead whale beauty products to be sold in Japanese vending machine stores

Antarctic minke whale alongside Japanese whaling ship. Photo © Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert Japanese whale hunting company,...

Arrests made following illegal whale meat smuggling from Japan to South Korea

Customs authorities in Busan, South Korea, have arrested six people for allegedly smuggling at least...

Hundreds of dolphins captured in Taiji

A ‘superpod’ of around 300 dolphins has been captured by hunters in the cove near the infamous town of Taiji, Japan. Since their capture, the dolphins are being subject to a selection process by divers who will decide which dolphins should be sold to marine parks and those that will be slaughtered. The dolphins can fetch over £20,000 when sold to the captivity industry.

Footage of the capture, and subsequent abuse, has been live streamed by welfare groups working in Taiji in the hope that something might be done to prevent this annual slaughter.

The drive hunt season in Taiji, Japan runs from 1 September through to April or beyond. Curtains are pulled across the shoreline to hide the killing process from the public. Dolphins suffer extreme pain and stress and many dolphins selected for transportation to marine theme parks die of shock before they are taken away.

We are calling on airlines to stop carrying live dolphins, and especially those captured in the cruel Japanese hunts.  As the demand from countries such as China increases, we need to break the chain by stopping the transport of these dolphins.

WDC works on many different levels to end dolphins hunts. Read more about our approach in this feature from our supporters’ magazine, Whale & Dolphin


 

About George Berry

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