Breaking News: Officials Confirm Taiji Drive Season Over
Dolphin Project announce:
“TAIJI – Officials have confirmed to Dolphin Project that, after a run of 18 “blue cove” days with no dolphins killed or taken for captivity, the 2015/2016 drive season in Taiji, Japan officially ended on February 29. Spanning almost six months, a total of 41 drives took place over this period, with five species of dolphins affected.
While this is seemingly positive news, the drive permits are valid until the end of March (for all species of dolphins) and until the end of May for drive fishing and/or offshore whaling (for pilot whales only). What now follows is “opportunistic hunting” with little to no oversight, thus, hunting will end only at the fishermen’s discretion – and usually with the arrival of bonita and other migratory fish.”
The dolphin hunt that takes place in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan every year is a shocking slaughter that has environmentalists and animal rights groups up in arms, but all efforts before had failed to end the brutal practice. You can read more about the annual hunt in our article published earlier this month: “5 Reasons Why You Should Care About the Tragic Taiji Dolphin Hunt”.
2015/2016 Final Drive Counts, Taiji, Japan
Slaughters: 652 Total
Pacific White-Sided Dolphins – 0
Striped Dolphins – 290
Pantropical Spotted Dolphins – 0
Bottlenose Dolphins – 66
Risso’s Dolphins – 245
False Killer Whales – 0
Pilot Whales – 51
Captures: 111 Total
Pacific White-Sided Dolphins – 4
Bottlenose Dolphins – 98
Risso’s Dolphins – 8
Pilot Whales – 1
Releases: 121 Total
Bottlenose Dolphins – 80
Risso’s Dolphins – 19
Pilot Whales – 22
Source: Dolphin Project