14 DAY TRIAL // Conservationists have for some time now been trying to put an end to annual dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan. Interestingly enough, they now have the full support of a man named Izumi Ishii, who used to work as a dolphin hunter himself.
Ecorazzi tells us that, last week, Izumi Ishii, who, again, used to make a living by capturing dolphins and slaughtering them, had a chat with Japanese people and foreigners at the Temple University's Azuma Hall in Tokyo.
Together with former Flipper trainer Ric O'Barry, the ex-dolphin hunter said that, contrary to what high officials in Japan would have people believe, dolphin hunts were by no means a Japanese tradition.
According to Izumi Ishii, such slaughters only started being carried out in the late 1970s, when people figured out that they could use sounds to scare dolphins and herd them into an area of their choice.
The former dolphin hunter plans to soon launch a major campaign against Taiji's way of treating dolphins, and hopes to raise enough signatures to convince high officials that ending these slaughters is mandatory.
In case anyone was wondering, Izumi Ishii now makes a living by organizing tours during which people can observe dolphins doing what they do best: swimming around in the ocean without a care in the world.