activists film bloody dolphin kill in japan

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Activists film bloody dolphin kill in Japan

Posted 31st October 2003

Compiled from an article on

29th October 2003 atIndependent on Line www.iol.co.za

Pictures and Video Clip

Courtesy & ©Sea Shepherd

Our thanks to Local-2 Ltd for hosting the Taiji dolphin slaughter .mpg file

Taiji, Japan - An American anti-whaling group trying to stop the killing of dolphins has released

video footage of a recent hunt in the small fishing town of Taiji that shows blood-filled covesand several dead dolphins being brought ashore in boats.

The tape, shot by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, graphically captures the end of a hunt,

in which fishermen pound on the water, causing waves that confuse the mammals' sense of direction, and then corral dolphins into small coves where they can be more easily killed.

Though subject to government-set quotas, the hunts are not banned under Japanese law and are

not subject to international regulations because they are done near the shore.

Several dead or dying dolphins can be seen on the boats, bleeding profusely, in the footage.

The meat is usually canned and sold in supermarkets"It's a wholesale slaughter, which results in immense suffering for these animals," said activist

Nik Hensey. "It's a sight that one just can't imagine."

Requests for comment from the mayor were denied and other town officials declined tocomment. A fisherman's union representative, who demanded anonymity, said the kills are

conducted as humanely as possible, and noted that dolphin hunts have been part of local culturefor 400 years.

Hunting dolphins is not banned by the International Whaling Commission, which has maintained

a moratorium on commercial whaling since 1986.

Fishermen in this western Japanese town regularly conduct dolphin hunts during the October toApril season. They've caught more than 60 striped dolphins so far this year under the

government quota system. The meat is usually canned and sold in supermarkets.

But because of international pressure for an end to the killing of dolphins and the bloodiness of their hunting method, fishermen here have tried to keep out of the public eye. They do not permit



videos of their hunts, refuse on-the-record interviews and have even erected barriers along theshoreline to discourage cameramen.

Japan is also allowed to kill hundreds of whales a year

The Sea Shepherd activists said they managed to get the video by camping out in town for

several weeks. They provided Associated Press Television News with a copy of their footage.

Three activists from the Malibu, California-based conservation group were briefly detained by

Japanese police after allegedly trying to stop a dolphin hunt and scuffling with a fishermanearlier this month.

The activists - a Briton, a Canadian and an American, all in their 20s - were taken in for about

nine hours of questioning before being released. They weren't charged with any crimes.

Japan is one of the few major fishing nations that continues to support the hunting of whales anddolphins.

Officials here say the populations of many of the marine mammals have recovered enough to

sustain limited catches, and have argued that pressure to quit killing them is based more oncultural biases than on science.

Under a special IWC allowance, Japan is also allowed to kill hundreds of whales a year. Critics

say the catch is commercial whaling in disguise because most of the meat ends up being sold inmarkets and restaurants.

Tokyo counters that the kills are done as part of a research programme needed to study whale

populations and migration patterns



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Dolphin and Whale Meat can be easily found in Japanese food markets.



Since the Sea Shepherd crew in Taiji documented this dolphin slaughter on Oct 6, 2003, andsupplied the evidence to world-wide media, no more dolphins have been killed in the area. The

Sea Shepherd crew is on a daily 24-hour watch of the harbor to prevent a departure of theJapanese dolphin fleet.

This scenic cove near Taiji, Japan will soon become a deathtrap for 60 dolphins on 6th October 2003.

A couple hours later, the scenic cove is painted red with blood of dead and dying dolphins.

Japanese fishermen work in concert to load butchered dolphins into one of the catch boats.

Some of the fisherman get into the water to assist the hunt. Baby dolphins, like the one here, arekilled along with their families.



A Japanese fisherman sits proudly atop his catch of dead dolphins as the boat searches for more.The dolphin fleet regroups at sea to compare catches. Over 60 are slaughtered in one day.

Brooke McDonald and Sea Shepherd crew capture the massacre on film and video.

Rather than arrest the fishermen, the police arrest and carry away the Sea Shepherd crew onbogus charges.



The fisherman, realizing their butchering has been documented, start threatening and movingtowards the Sea Shepherd crew, who call the police as when they are assaulted by the angrymob.

Since the Sea Shepherd crew in Taiji documented this dolphin slaughter on Oct 6, 2003, andsupplied the evidence to world-wide media, no more dolphins have been killed in the area. The

Sea Shepherd crew is on a daily 24-hour watch of the harbour to prevent a departure of the

Japanese dolphin fleet.

activists film bloody dolphin kill in japan

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