Japan Dolphin Day Demonstration

On September 25, WDCS will join in a worldwide protest to denounce Japan’s annual slaughter of dolphins during the 4th annual “Japan Dolphin Day.”  The demonstrations will be held at Japanese embassies and consulates in dozens of cities around the world.  Join WDCS in Boston at the Consulate General of Japan from Noon until 2:00 PM and let your voices be heard.

Dolphin ‘drive’ hunts, also known as the ‘drive fisheries’, occur annually from September through April of each year in the coastal towns of Taiji and Futo.  During these hunts, dolphins are encircled by motorboats out at sea and are then chased and corralled into shallow waters where they are trapped with nets and then killed or hauled off live to be sold into captivity. Every aspect of the hunt is extremely cruel, from the exhausting drive from the open ocean that can separate mothers and calves and other family groups, to confinement in a netted cove where the dolphins are crudely slaughtered with spears and knives.  Killed for their meat, or because they are considered pests in competition for fishery resources, the dolphins are often held for days before slaughter.  Some of the dolphins are selected alive for sale to local and national marine parks.  WDCS exposed this growing connection between the zoo and aquarium industry and the drive hunts in its report, Driven by Demand, available at www.drivenbydemand.org.  Video footage of the hunts is also available here.

Over 2,000 dolphins and small whales are killed annually in these drive hunts, including bottlenose, Risso’s, striped, and spotted dolphins and pilot and false killer whales. On September 1, the 2007 drive hunt season began with the round-up of ten Risso’s dolphins in Taiji.  Up to 20,000 small whales and dolphins are taken in other hunts along the coastline of Japan, including over 17,000 Dall’s porpoise taken in hand-held harpoon hunts in northern Hokkaido. 

Many Japanese people are unaware that these hunts occur in their country.  Japan’s Fisheries Agency directs fishermen to hide evidence of the hunts from the public eye, erecting tarpaulins and tents behind which the dolphins are slaughtered.  Aware that the world will not tolerate the killing of these beautiful animals, filming of the dolphin slaughter is hampered, access is closed off and people are kept away from the areas where the killing takes place.

Additionally, despite growing evidence that the dolphin meat from these hunts is heavily tainted with dangerous levels of mercury and poses a potential threat to human health, the Japanese government continues to promote whale and dolphin meat in school lunch programs. 

WDCS opposes all killing of marine mammals in commercial hunts and continues its efforts to encourage the aquarium industry to end their association with the brutal dolphin drive hunts in Japan, develop and support educational initiatives on the ground in Japan, and collaborate with the international marine mammal scientific community to encourage an end to these hunts.

Contact the Japanese Consulate in Boston to politely express your objections to the drive and other dolphin hunts that occur in Japan, and then show up on the 25th!  Please take a few minutes to contact Consul General Suzuki by politely explaining your opposition to these brutal dolphin drive hunts and urging the Japanese Government to stop the suffering.

Consulate-General of Japan
Consul General Yoichi Suzuki
Federal Reserve Plaza, 14th Floor
600 Atlantic Ave,
Boston, MA 02210
Phone: Tel: (617) 973-9772
Fax: (617) 542-1329
Email: r.winslow@cgjbos.org

If you are unable to attend a protest in a nearby city, you can email the Japanese authorities responsible for overseeing this annual dolphin slaughter by using our online eCampaign, or send an email to the Japanese media. According to our information, the Japanese public is not aware that these cruel dolphin slaughters are occurring, or that the international community is opposed to these hunts. It is the responsibility of the media in Japan to inform their citizenry of these atrocities. Let the Japanese media know that you support this campaign to end the drive hunts, and that you believe the Japanese people should know about these hunts, and the opposition of the international community.

Thank you very much for your support!  For any inquiries about Japan Dolphin Day, please contact Courtney Vail at courtney@wdcs.org or call 480-678-7977.