A dolphin hunter covering the camera lens of the media.
The Campaign
The only way to stop the dolphin slaughter is to keep showing up in these remote villages and going on patrol. We will continue monitoring, advocating, filming, and bringing international media attention to the dolphin slaughter and the related captures. One of the main reasons that the killing continues is that very few people — in Japan and around the world — even know it is happening. Worldwide exposure of the slaughter is the key to stopping it.
When the hunt is over each day, the bodies of the dolphins are hauled away to the slaughterhouse for processing. Our team tries to photograph the butchering in order to get the information out to the Japanese people, but we are constantly blocked by the Taiji dolphin killers. They don’t want the public to know about their dirty, little secret, so they spend a lot of time covering it up. They know that if the Japanese public and the world learn the truth about this barbaric practice, world opinion would immediately put an end to it.
The whalers in Taiji told us not to take any photographs. They said that if our photos and video footage get out to the rest of the world, it would pressure the authorities in Tokyo to deny them permits for the annual dolphin slaughter.
Our campaign has brought tremendous international attention to the slaughter. The killings are carried out in remote fishing villages, and the dolphin hunters are not used to being monitored and exposed to this degree. It is becoming more and more difficult for them to keep the slaughter a secret from the world.
We need to continue returning to Japan to document the dolphin massacres and give the photos and video footage away to the media, free of charge. We will continue to encourage journalists to return to Japan with us. Exposing these crimes against nature is crucial to the success of our campaign.
