Taiji Dolphin Campaign: Sea Shepherd Exposes & Stops the Slaughter

Staff · Issue 17, Feb/Mar 2004 · pp. 26–30

26 Taiji Dolphin Campaign Sea Shepherd Exposes & Stops the Slaughter Sea Shepherd, with the support of many activists, held protests in 28 cities around the world over the brutal annual killing of 22,000 dolphins and small whales in coastal towns in southern Japan. The thousands of letters, faxes and emails delivered a powerful global message to the Japanese Embassies and Consulates, that the insane slaughter of these gentle, intelligent marine mammals must stop. Future protests and direct intervention against these "dolphin roundups" will only escalate, unless these hunts are banned by the Japanese government. Fishermen capture these dolphins by working in small boats, using sounding rods below the water’s surface to interfere with the dolphin’s sonar and navigational abilities. Once located, the dolphins are penned overnight then smaller skiffs drive the pods onto the beach where they …