Dolphin Drives About to Begin in Taiji—5 Ways You Can Help End the Slaughter

Photo courtesy of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

The notorious annual dolphin drives are scheduled to begin near Taiji, Japan, on September 1 and will continue until at least March. Every year, fishermen locate pods of migrating dolphins out at sea and herd them into Hatagiri Bay with boats, nets, and long metal rods that crew members dip below the surface and pound to create an acoustical wall that disorients the dolphins’ sonar. The fishermen leave the animals overnight in a narrow cove and return at dawn armed with the knives and spears that will gradually turn the blue tide scarlet. While many dolphins are killed for meat, others are sold to zoos and marine parks worldwide, making the drives an incredibly lucrative business.

Some say this could be the final season for these hunts. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) has ordered the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) to stop purchasing dolphins captured in Taiji or be permanently suspended as a WAZA member, and JAZA members reluctantly agreed. If all the Japanese aquariums follow through on their pledges to stop buying Taiji dolphins, it could render the entire Taiji dolphin killing operation uneconomic and unsustainable.

But activists and nonprofits are not waiting. Taiji will still be able to export live dolphins overseas to aquariums and zoos that are not WAZA members, including those in China, Russia, and the Middle East. Groups such as Sea Shepherd and Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project will be in Taiji to monitor the drives and bear witness to the suffering.

What You Can Do:

1. Educate Yourself. Watch The Cove—the Academy Award-winning documentary about the Taiji drives—or read Salt Water Tears by Len Varley. I also examine this issue in my book Bleating Hearts, for which I interviewed renowned dolphin trainer-turned animal advocate Ric O’Barry. Then share your knowledge about this issue with others.

2. Don’t Buy a Ticket. The captive-dolphin entertainment industry gets rich from dolphin suffering and death. By boycotting their profit stream, we can sink them economically. Don’t patronize any parks that keep dolphins in captivity, including places that offer swim-with-the-dolphins programs. Encourage your family and friends to stay away from these businesses, too.

3. Sign Up for Dolphin Day. Join individuals, activists, and organizations around the world by participating in this International Day of Action on September 1. Click here for information.

4. Speak Up. Contact authorities in Taiji, as well as the Japanese Embassy, US Embassy to Japan, US and Japanese Ambassadors to the UN, and the US Senate members of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Call or send them a polite message expressing your feelings about the dolphin hunts and ask them to do everything in their power to help put an end to the misery.

Prime Minister of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Cabinet Office, Government of Japan 1-6-1 Nagata-cho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN +81-3-5253-2111

Website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html Online comment form #1: https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html Online comment form #2: https://form.cao.go.jp/kokusai/en_opinion-0001.html

Japanese Embassies Worldwide: Websites of Japanese Embassies, Consulates and Permanent Missions

List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan: List of Embassies and Consulates-General in Japan

Please thank Caroline Kennedy for her defense of the dolphins:

US Embassy in Japan: Caroline Kennedy – Ambassador of the United States to Japan Telephone: 011-81-3-3224-5000 Fax: 011-81-3-3505-1862 Send E-mail to the U.S. Embassy in Japan

Japanese UN Representatives: H.E. Mr Kazuyoshi Umemoto – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

H.E. Mr. Jun Yamazaki – Deputy Representative of Japan to the UN japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

United States UN Representative: Samantha Power – US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power’s Twitter United States Mission to the United Nations Contact Form

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Wakayama Prefecture Office, Fishery Division: E0717001@pref.wakayama.lg.jp Telephone: +81-73-441-3010 Fax: +81-73-432-4124

International Whaling Commission (IWC) The Red House, 135 Station Road, Impington, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB24 9NP, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 1223 233 971 Fax: +44 (0) 1223 232 87 Email: secretariat@iwcoffice.org

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Convention on Migratory Species (CMP) UNEP/CMS Secretariat Platz der Vereinten Nationen 1 53113 Bonn, Germany Tel: (+49 228) 815 2401 Fax: (+49 228) 815 2449 Email: secretariat@cms.int

5. Join Volunteers in Japan. Sea Shepherd and the Dolphin Project are both looking for people to travel to Taiji. Those who are interested in volunteering as a Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian for Operation Henkaku should email groundcrew@seashepherd.org. (Please note that volunteer applicants must be able to commit to participating in the campaign for a minimum of one week.) To sign up to join Ric O’Barry and his Dolphin Project team as a Project Cove Monitor, please click here.

 

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