Dolphin hunt won’t be stopped, mayor of Japanese town vows
PRESSURE IS ON: Aquarium group will stop buying specimens
Dolphins are herded together in a hunt by fishermen near the fishing town of Taiji, Japan before being killed or captured for sale to aquariums and zoos. of traditional fishing communities such as Taiji.
In Taiji’s hunt, filmed in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, dolphins are scared by banging, herded into a cove and speared by fishermen for their meat. The best-looking animals are sold to aquariums and marine shows for thousands of dollars. Sangen scoffed at WAZA’s views. “WAZA gave in to the anti-whaling activists that turned dolphin hunting into an international problem. I believe there was a better way to handle the issue,” he said.
Even if the Japanese group’s 63 member aquariums and 89 zoos stop buying Taiji dolphins, they still could be sold to overseas marine parks.
WAZA has more than 1,000 members and has talked with the Japanese aquarium group about the Taiji hunt for more than a decade.
TOKYO — The fishing town of Taiji will not stop its dolphin hunts, the mayor said Thursday, despite international pressure sparked by cruelty concerns.
“We are hunting under the permission of the Japanese government and prefecture, and so we will continue to protect our fishermen and the methods. We will not quit,” said Kazutaka Sangen, mayor of the small town in central Japan.
The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums announced Wednesday it would stop buying Taiji dolphins. It had risked being suspended by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which characterized the Taiji hunt as “cruel” and decided that none of its members should acquire dolphins in such a way.
While eating dolphin and whale meat is waning in Japan, some see it as no different from eating chicken or beef. They are puzzled by how the international view on dolphin and whale hunting is so different from that