Watch dramatic video
footage here (You may find some images disturbing)
WDCS, the
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, today releases a new report detailing
the involvement of the aquarium industry in the dolphin ‘drive
fishery’ in Japan, and collaborates with scientific and congressional
representatives to call for an end to these cruel hunts
Washington, DC. – WDCS’s report,
Driven by Demand,
traces the evolution of the Japanese drive fisheries, or drive hunts, to the
present day. For many years, fishermen have killed small cetaceans (whales and
dolphins) along the coastlines of Japan with little regard for the humaneness
or sustainability of the hunts. The cruelty endured by dolphins and whales
caught in the drive hunts is immense. Corralled by motor boats and disoriented
by loud noises, they are driven into the shallows and systematically
slaughtered with knives.
However, demand for live dolphins from
marine parks and aquaria is now underpinning Japan’s drive hunts. National
and international aquaria and marine parks rely on drive hunters to provide a
source of live dolphins for their displays, shows and human-dolphin interactive
programs, thereby subsidizing the hunts.
Although Japan has conducted
drive hunts for many years, evidence suggests that this inhumane practice may
have been dying out. With little demand for dolphin meat, an increase in the
popularity of whale and dolphin watching, and confinement of the hunts to just
a few villages, drive hunts were becoming a thing of the past. However, the
high prices offered by aquaria for live dolphins have now become an important
motivation for the hunts.
Dolphins are intelligent, sensitive and
socially complex animals; far-ranging, fast-moving and deep-diving predators.
Scientific studies have shown that bottlenose dolphins, one of the main species
targeted in the drive hunts, are capable of recognizing themselves in a mirror,
a trait shared only by the great apes and humans.
WDCS unites with a
growing movement of diverse interests calling for an end to the hunts:
- Senate Resolution 99 , introduced by Senator Frank
Lautenberg (D-NJ) in April 2005, urges countries to stop the brutal treatment
of these animals. • Marine mammal scientists will soon issue a statement
calling for an end to the hunts, insisting that the sourcing of animals from
this fishery, for any purpose, is a violation of professional codes of ethics
for collection of animals from the wild.
- Several zoo and aquarium associations have issued
statements against the drives, although they have yet to take definitive action
against member institutions that continue to source from drive hunts.
“This cooperation between the aquarium industry
and the drive hunts is a devastating development for Japan’s
dolphins,” said Courtney S. Vail, North American campaigns officer for
WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. “We will continue our
efforts to expose the connection between the drive hunts and the aquarium
industry and educate the public to put an end to this cruel practice.
Procurement of dolphins for entertainment through these grisly drive hunts is
not only a violation of the code of ethics of many of these facilities, it is a
violation of the public trust.”
