Interesting Facts about The Killing of Dolphins and Whales but mainly Dolphins

• 23,000 permits are issued each year by the Japan Fisheries Agency to kill dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales. The total kill varies from year to year (for example, in 2007, 13,107 dolphins and small whales were reported killed in Japan waters. These numbers do not include the large whales killed under so-called “scientific” whaling permits in the North Pacific and Antarctic Oceans.). This is the largest scale slaughter of cetaceans in the world.

• About 1,200 to 1,800 dolphins and other small whales are killed in the so-called dolphin drive hunts that takes place six months out of the year in Taiji. The rest are killed with hand-held harpoons from small boats out at sea.

• In the small fishing village of Taiji, Wakayama prefecture, the dolphin drive hunt is carried out by about 26 fishermen from September 1st though March.

• Operating with 13 motorized boats, the fishermen go out to sea at early sunrise and look for migrating dolphins. Banging on metal pipes submerged into the water, they terrorize the dolphins with a "wall of sound," causing the dolphins to panic.

• Terrorizing the dolphins with underwater sound, the fishermen herd the dolphins into a secret killing cove close to Taiji Town.

• Often times, dolphins die during the chase that can last eight hours or more.

• The Taiji fishermen claim that dolphins eat too much fish and therefore must be exterminated.

• Operating with a permit from their government, the Taiji fishermen have referred to the dolphin hunt as "pest control."

• The majority of people in Japan have no knowledge about the annual dolphin blood bath.

• The fishermen kill the dolphins with spears, fishermen's hooks and knives. Trashing about in their own blood, the dolphins emit high-pitched screams during the massacre.

• The slaughtered dolphins are processed into meat and distributed to supermarkets throughout Japan for human consumption.

• Dolphin meat from drive hunts in Taiji proved to be highly contaminated with toxic chemicals such as mercury, methyl mercury and PCBs.

• Repeated chemical analyses have shown that the level of mercury in dolphin meat is much higher than the maximum allowable level set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan.

• Some of the dolphin meat is given to children as part of their school lunch program.

• The Japanese government and the supermarkets issue no warning that dolphin meat is mercury-contaminated.

• The fishermen of Taiji have told us that the Japanese people have no right to know about the dolphin hunt or the high levels of mercury found in the meat.

• Concealing this information from the public is a violation of Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution.

• Some members of the international aquarium and zoo industry are strongly connected to the Japanese dolphin slaughter, in that they pay top dollar for dolphins deemed suitable for commercial exploitation in dolphin shows and captive dolphin swim programs.

• Dolphinariums throughout the world, including Japan, repeatedly make the claim that captivity of dolphins promotes dolphin conservation and protection.

• Several of the hundreds of captive dolphins in Japan's 50 dolphinariums were obtained through the dolphin drive hunts; yet the dolphinariums do nothing to educate the public to the hunt.

• The World Association for Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the world's largest network of zoos and aquariums around the world.

• Dolphinariums that have conducted business with the dolphin killers of Japan have been welcomed into WAZA's network, although the trade in these dolphins clearly violates WAZA's Code of Ethics.

• The dolphins that are purchased by members of the dolphin captivity industry represent a much higher commercial value to the Japanese dolphin hunters than the ones that are slaughtered for meat.

• Live dolphins captured in a Taiji dolphin drive hunt recently sold for $154,000 per dolphin.

• The Japanese dolphin hunt will continue for as long as members of the international dolphinarium industry continue to reward the hunters for show quality dolphins, thereby making the hunt tremendously profitable.

• The most sought after dolphin species for public display are bottlenose dolphins, orcas, white sided dolphins, Risso's dolphins, pilot whales and Pseudo orcas, all of which have been targeted in the Japanese dolphin drive hunt.