Japan’s Hunt Continues: More Dolphins Slaughtered, Captured And Transported

<p>Wikimedia Commons</p>
<p>Wikimedia Commons</p>

Taiji's brutal dolphin hunt continues in Japan, as two more animals were taken yesterday and more were slaughtered. The two Risso's dolphins (a valuable species for captivity, known for its unusually bulbous head) were taken to sea pens in preparation for marine parks, while nine other dolphins of the same species were slaughtered by hunters in the cove under tarps to hide the action from activists on the shore.

2 Risso's dolphins taken captive and 9 slaughtered this morning in Taiji. #tweet4taiji Jan 29, 2014 - Cove Guardians (@CoveGuardians) January 29, 2014

Meanwhile, other dolphins that have been taken captive this season were being transported, likely for shipment to marine parks, Sea Shepherd's Cove Guardians report.

Transport truck "Tamaya Traffic" transport company located in Ooita in Kyusyu. Heading toward Wakayama on hwy 42 pic.twitter.com/198Uy4ob9w

- Cove Guardians (@CoveGuardians) January 29, 2014

4 Pantropical dolphins have been on truck for more than 3 1/2 hours now. #tweet4taiji 2:37pm - Cove Guardians (@CoveGuardians) January 29, 2014

Transfer truck now heading toward Kyoto. Dolphins have been in truck for 5hrs. #tweet4taiji 5:09pm - Cove Guardians (@CoveGuardians) January 29, 2014

ACTION GUIDE: Taiji Dolphin Slaughter

Dolphin roundups and slaughter -- brought powerfully to the public's imagination by the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" -- happen every year in Japan. You can visit Sea Shepherd's site to learn more about the problem. The organization has many ways you can help -- from volunteering to simply spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter. Sea Shepherd also encourages concerned citizens to call and write to the authorities in Taiji as well as the Japanese Embassy in your country, the U.S. Embassy to Japan, U.S. and Japanese Ambassadors to the UN and the U.S. Senate members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, among others -- all of their contact information is on this page. Another group involved in the issue is Earth Island Institute's Save Japan Dolphins.