Photo:Clark Anderson/Aquaimages/WikimediaAround 30 pilot whales have been captured in a drive hunt in Taiji this week and reportedly await a tragic fate in the infamous cove highlighted in the acclaimed film from which it takes its name, "The Cove". The news follows a slaughter of a further 50 pilot whales in Taiji in September and reports that others were killed in October. The hunts are also used to select dolphins to capture alive for the aquarium industry. This is exposed in WDCS's report Driven By Demand.The dolphin drive hunts occur every year from September through April, and are a brutal reminder that we have a very long way to go towards securing a safe and humane future for all cetaceans.
WDCS has been active in confronting the drive hunts in Japan on a number of levels, from raising awareness of the hunts, taking part in peaceful protests and visiting Japan to document them. We have worked with the marine mammal scientific community to garner a public statement against these hunts, and helped secure a US congressional resolution condemning the practice.
WDCS has also worked to secure the acknowledgement of the dolphinarium industry of its complicity in fuelling the dolphin drive hunts through the demand generated by marine parks and aquaria that either directly, or indirectly, source live dolphins from these hunts. And within Japan, we have developed an educational campaign with our Japanese colleagues to educate the public about whales, dolphins and their suffering in drive and other hunts.
