Facts About the Drive Hunt
Death or Imprisonment for Life
The dolphin drive hunts in Taiji do not just
end in the killing of the dolphins. Taiji is
"ground zero" for international trade in
live dolphins. There is money -- big money
--
in the captive dolphin entertainment
industry. Without the money the FU makes
from the live trade business, it is doubtful
that the Taiji FU would be able to sustain
the killing of dolphins. The operation is
expensive. We understand that the FU makes
about $32,000 USD for each live dolphin it
captures. Trained dolphins sell for much,
much more. There is a direct link between
the captive dolphin entertainment industry
and the bloody waters of the Cove in Taiji.
Supporting a live dolphin show or
participating in a confined
swim-with-dolphin program anywhere in the
world is the same as slicing open a dolphin
in Taiji. The dolphin entertainment industry
drives the hunt. The killing of the dolphins
follows in its wake. Well-intentioned marine
mammal trainers and the dolphin-show-viewing
public all have the blood of innocent
dolphins on their hands.
For the dolphins pulled from their families
and sold into captivity, life is beyond
horrible. Even those dolphins born in
captivity exist in prison-like conditions.
It is now illegal in the United States to
import a dolphin which has been caught in
the wild, so there is a big business in
captive-bred dolphins. One wonders though
how many of the so-called captive bred
dolphins imported into the US each year are
actually wild-caught. Even the captive-bred
dolphins most likely have ancestors who were
captured in Taiji. The link to the killing
in Taiji is undeniable, and unavoidable.
Banger Boats
Taiji is located in a protected nook off of
a bay. The rocky land soars up from the
water along the coast there. The water in
the bay is shallow and there are many rock
spurs and islets. Near the entrance to Taiji
harbor is the entrance to the infamous Cove.
The rock spurs, islets, and shallows create
a natural funnel right into the entrance of
the Cove.
There are a dozen small fishing boats in
Taiji equipped with metal poles on their
sides. These boats go out into the ocean off
the Wakayama coast each morning at first
light. They fan out and start patrolling in
the known dolphin migratory routes looking
for pods of dolphins or small whales. They
often go over the horizon. They also look
for seabirds because the birds will follow
the dolphins looking for an easy meal from
the fish the dolphins chase. Once a hunting
boat finds a pod, the operator will radio to
the other boats. While the others are racing
to that location, the first boat will follow
the pod. Once there are five or more hunting
boats on the scene, they will herd the
dolphins using their boats and by banging
with a hammer on a flange on top of the
poles. We call them "banger boats" because
of these poles. This banging creates a wall
of sound from which the dolphins and small
whales swim away. This is the "drive hunt."
The banger boats next drive the pod into the
bay, along the coast past the entrance to Taiji harbor and then into the entrance to
the Cove. Once the dolphins are past the
entrance, other dolphin hunters close off
the entrance with nets.
Death Row
Entire extended family units -- pods -- are
caught this way. Elders, reproducing age
adults, pregnant females, adolescents, and
babies are all driven into the Cove.
Sometimes, the pod will slip away from the
boats or the pod will get separated, but
more often than not, the entire pod is
driven into the Cove.
The Cove is a public beach. There is a
parking apron up on the road. There are
stairs down to the beach with inviting rock
paved walking paths along the edges. There
is even a well-maintained public restroom
there. Above the steep sides of the Cove are
public vistas which double as tsunami escape
locations. Most of the walkways and "vistas"
have been barricaded to keep folks from
viewing what happens to the dolphins. It is
now a criminal offense to cross these
barricades.
Once the dolphins are driven into the Cove
area, they are then herded into a southern
finger off of the Cove. This is a narrow and
shallow beach area and the site of the
slaughter. It is also the site of the
documentary film, The Cove. The
barricades keep the activities of the
killers from view. Often, marine mammal
trainers from the nearby Dolphin Base
(swim-with-dolphin program) and from the
Taiji Whale Museum (and live dolphin show)
will move among the captured dolphins and
select individuals for the captive
entertainment industry. Sometimes, the
others will be released, but more often than
not, they are all killed. Grandparents,
parents, pregnant females, and babies are
all killed. When the movie was made, they
were killed by spear thrusts. This created a
lot of blood in water. Now, in an effort to
reduce the amount of blood, the hunters push
a metal rod into their spinal cords. Once
the rod is removed, a wooden plug is then
hammered into the hole. The insertion of the
rod sometimes causes death, but mostly
causes paralysis. The dolphins are still
alive and very much aware of what is
happening to them and to their family
members.
A rope is tied around their tails and they
are hauled out to the waiting gutting barge
by small skiffs. Most of them slowly drown
and die during this towing activity. For
those that do not die with the insertion of
the rod or by drowning on the way to the
gutting barge, their deaths come when they
are cut open and their entrails and organs
are removed on the gutting barge. There, the
massive amounts of blood are unavoidable.
The dolphins chosen for the entertainment
industry are taken by skiff/sling to pens in
Taiji Harbor. The gutted dolphins are towed
to the butcher shop in Taiji Harbor.
Please join with the Cove Guardians and help
end this death-or-prison process today!
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