14 DAY TRIAL // Yet another dolphin hunting season is underway in Taiji, Japan. Like the ones before it, this dolphin hunt will last for six consecutive months. Thus, it began this September, and will end next year, in March.
Conservationists expect that, during these six months, dozens of dolphins and even small whales will be herded towards the Japanese shoreline and brutally murdered by locals in Taiji.
Of the marine mammals that will be targeted over the course of the following six months, some will not be slaughtered. Instead, they will be captured and sold to wildlife parks across the globe, where they will remain for the rest of their lives.
As explained by conservations, many of the marine mammals that will somehow manage to escape death or captivity will die due to stress or because of the injuries they sustained when attacked shortly after returning to the ocean.
According to environmental group Sea Shepherd, this year's quota for the dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan, as set by the Taiji Fishermen’s Union, is one of 1,938 cetaceans. This figure indicates how many marine mammals local fishermen are legally allowed to kill or capture.
By the looks of it, fishermen in this part of Japan are by no means what some would call picky murderers. On the contrary, the hunt they are now taking part in targets as many as 7 different species, Sea Shepherd says.
As detailed by the environmental group, these species and the quotas set for each of them are as follows: 114 short-finned pilot whales, 450 striped dolphins, 509 bottlenose dolphins, 261 Risso’s dolphins, 400 Pantropical spotted dolphins, 70 false killer whales and 134 Pacific white-sided dolphins.
Hoping to convince Japan to put an end to these brutal killing, several Sea Shepherd volunteers are now on the ground in Taiji. They plan to stay here until the hunt comes to an end, and closely document the ongoing slaughter. This campaign, dubbed Operation Infinite Patience, is the fifth of its kind for the organization.
Commenting on the need to have volunteers closely monitor the dolphin hunt, Sea Shepherd Senior Cove Guardian Leader, Melissa Sehgal said, “As Cove Guardians, we serve as the eyes of the world in Taiji. Most importantly, we are the only voice that these sentient, socially complex animals have as they are brutally taken from the sea.”
“The bigger our presence in Taiji, the more effective we will be at exposing these atrocities and bringing them to an end. We want as many cameras pointed at the cove as possible as the drive hunts begin,” the conservationist went on to explain.