March for Dolphins, 18 March 2016

Petition to End Taiji Dolphin Slaughter –  UK Residents and Citizens Only

Protest Facebook Page Link

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Pictures and Videos from the 18 March Protest, London

The protest started from Derry Street, London and made its way to the Japanese Embassy in Piccadilly. Derry Street is home to some key, UK media outlets that have previously covered the dolphin slaughter in Taiji (Mail Online, 9 February 2016).

Dolphins are taken from the wild to be sold into a life of captivity (but for every one taken, 14 are slaughtered). Recently, we have seen dolphins transported from Taiji, Japan to Russia, plus advertisements for Russia to obtain 5 bottle nose dolphins for ‘combat roles.’ These magnificent creatures deserve to live in the wild with their families, not to provide ‘entertainment’ for humans from a concrete pool, or attend some aquatic military school in Russia…….

This season’s Taiji slaughter, capture and release is as follows:

Taiji Drive Figures for 2015/16

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

Below, is some coverage of the day:

Video of speeches, 18 March 2016, Dominic Dyer (Born Free Foundation) and Ric O’ Barry (Dolphin Project)

Ric O’ Barry (Dolphin Project) and Elena Montrasio (To Free a Dolphin book in hand)

Ric O’ Barry was recently incarcerated in Japan whilst seeking to raise awareness of the dolphins’ plight in Taiji.  Ric was a dolphin trainer in the 1960s (of Flipper fame), but has since sought to highlight the perils and anguish that cetaceans suffer in captivity, plus the cruelty inflicted in their capture, highlighted in the award winning 2009 feature film, The Cove.