(JP) Environmentalists condemn Taiji's annual dolphin hunt

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http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/390076

 

ENVIRONMENT

Environmentalists condemn Taiji's annual dolphin hunt

Saturday, November 11, 2006 at 07:15 EST

 

LONDON EInternational conservation groups have once

again called for the end of Japan's annual dolphin

hunt which they described on Friday as " brutal " and

" unnecessary. " They said that according to eyewitness

accounts a total of 314 dolphins and small whales were

killed in drive hunts during one week in the village

of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.

 

In a drive, fishermen herd a group of dolphins to the

shoreline by banging on metal bars in the water. The

animals are then enclosed by a net and later killed.

The animals are supposed to be killed swiftly by the

insertion of a pin into their neck. But

environmentalists claim the dolphins often take

several minutes to die. The fishermen in Taiji claim,

however, that the kill is swift. The meat is then sold

on to consumers in local markets. They say their

livelihoods depend on the hunts and the

environmentalists are attacking a part of their

cultural heritage.

 

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