20th September 2006 was a peaceful Day of Protest at various locations around the world – against the dolphin drive hunts in Japan.
Japan began its Dolphin slaughter early this year…on 6th September? Usually commencing on October 1 – the cruel slaughter of dolphins in the annual dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan, started nearly a month early this year with the round-up of approximately 25 bottlenose dolphins in Taiji.
Each year up to 2,000 dolphins are killed in ‘drive hunts’ when large groups of dolphins are rounded up by speedboats at sea and herded into a bay or harbour; there they are surrounded by nets and then slaughtered, or selected alive for trade in the lucrative aquarium industry.
The cruelty endured by dolphins caught in ‘drive hunts’ is immense. Aboard motorised boats, ‘drive hunt’ fishermen bang metal pipes over the side of their boats to disorient the animals and drive them toward shore – where they are stabbed with long knives, usually just behind the blowhole or across the throat.
Some dolphins caught during Japanese ‘drive hunts’ are kept alive and set aside for sale to theme parks and aquaria. Dolphins are highly intelligent and socially-complex animals. Scientific studies have shown that bottlenose dolphins, one of the main species targeted in the hunts, is capable of recognising itself in a mirror, a trait only shared by humans and the great apes.
You can help with various Adopt an Animal programmes available.
