Perth Voice Interactive

AROUND 25 people gathered outside Perth’s Japanese consulate to protest the killing of dolphins in Taiji.

The demonstration called for an end to the annual dolphin drive hunt in the coastal town, which Sea Shepherd says results in the death of several hundred dolphins and small whales.

“For a staggering six months of every year—September until March—a group of hunters herd wild dolphin and small whales from the ocean’s open waters into a hidden shallow bay, now infamously known around the world as the COVE,” says protestor Caroline Watt.

“Hunters capture entire families, or pods, of various species of dolphins and small whales at a time in order to satisfy the international demand for captive cetaceans in the entertainment industry.

“Remaining dolphins and small whales are killed by a hunting technique known as ‘pithing’ which leaves the still conscious animal paralysed and often drowning in the blood of their own family members.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK