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Japan Dolphin Day: Abolish the Slaughter

"I heard the sound of the dolphins crying as they were killed. I could not bear it. The value I now see in dolphins is not the value of their meat, but of the wonder they incite in us."

– Mr. Izumi Ishii, former Japanese dolphin hunter turned whale watch tour guide.

Every year from October through March in small towns along the Japanese coast, fishermen kill about 20,000 marine mammals in the most brutal way imaginable. They use loud noises to disorient and herd whole pods of dolphins, porpoises and small whales into shallow bays, then stretch nets across the mouth of the bay to close off all exits. The next morning, the slaughter begins, as fishermen use sharp spears and hooks to massacre the helpless cetaceans. Most of them are butchered for meat that is sold in restaurants and supermarkets, while some are sold to marine parks where they spend years in loneliness and deprivation for the "entertainment" of audiences.

This annual slaughter is the largest massacre of dolphins anywhere in the world, and it continues because the atrocity is deliberately kept hidden from the Japanese people. That is why each year on September 20th, a host of groups around the world join together to organize an international day of protest to expose the killing and put pressure on the Japanese Government to end it once and for all. As part of this day of action, IDA and the Earth Island Institute will co-host a demonstration at the Japanese consulate in San Francisco to coincide with protests taking place around the world. Volunteers from both groups will carry signs and hand out literature condemning the slaughter. IDA will also hold protests at the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland, Ore.

4. For more information, including photos and video of the Taiji dolphin slaughter, see www.savetaijidolphins.org.