Each year, between the months of December and March, thousands of dolphins are brutally killed in small towns and villages across Japan. In Taiji, a village popularized for these acts, fishermen go out in small boats and strategically place themselves in the paths of migrating dolphins. Once the dolphins are spotted, the fishermen drop long metal pipes into the water which they bang on to interupt the dolphins’ ability to navigate. In attempt to swim away from the sound, the dolphins are herded into a small bay where they are then enclosed by nets.

The fishermen then injure a few of the dolphins with a spear or knife–the killers know that dolphins are caring animals and will stay by the sides of their injured pod members. It is at this point that the fishermen can draw the nets in closer and start slaughtering with knives, spears, and hooks. The act is gruesome and literally turns the sea red. The meat is then butchered and sold to markets severely contaminated and often disguised as whale meat.

I am not able to convey the extent of the brutality in words so I have included a video created by the Sea Shepherd Conservation society, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. It is a very graphic video, but necessary to understand the situation. For more information on this senseless slaughter of dolphins in Japan, please visit the Sea Shepherd’s Taiji Dolphin Campaign. Their site has lots of information on the subject and provides various ways for you to take action.

(new video posted Dec. 11, 2009. Old one was taken down)

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