The September to March dolphin massacre has began in certain parts of Japan pitting western conservationists against Japanese cultural promoters. The season is celebrated by the brutal mass killing of dolphins along the coast of Japan using methods that have can only be described as barbaric.
Taiji is a coastal town in Japan of 3,500 people. The town is famous for its tradition of hunting dolphins every year during their hunting season. The local fishermen are permitted by the Wakayama prefectural government to hunt down an annual quota of 2000 dolphins and porpoises. The government supports the tradition, claiming it's a traditional practice.
How the dolphins are killed is the real shocker. The technique used is called "drive hunting." The fishermen use metal banger poles to create a wall of sound that disorients the dolphins, forcing them to swim away from the boats and into the shallows of the killer cove. Once netted by the cove, the dolphins are wrangled and tethered. Large metal rods are hammered into the spinal cords of the dolphins and small whales. They do not die immediately, they are left to bleed out from internal injuries.
Last season, an estimated 850 dolphins were killed, 920 in the season before and 820 in the season before that.
The plight of these dolphins gained worldwide recognition after the 2009 Academy Award Winning movie The Cove was released, documenting the hunting industry.
Western conservationists have pitched tent along the coast of Japan to drum up support against the mass killing of the dolphins. Conservationist Sea Shepherd has been in Taiji for the past five years, broadcasting from the village via a livefeed, mobilizing a social media campaign against the hunt.
The campaign has drawn celebrities across the world to Taiji. Comedian Ricky Gervais and U.S ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy both tweeted their support against the mass killing. Former Beverly Hills 90210 actress Shannen Doherty was shocked by the hunting. "It's eerie," Doherty said in a statement. "You wonder how they (the hunters) are able to go to bed at night... I think being here rocks even the most hardened human being, because it is just atrocious."
