Taiji, Japan Holds Security Drill For Dolphin Hunt

TOKYO — Japanese police and coast guard officers practiced chasing a protest boat and arresting activists Wednesday in preparation for annual dolphin hunts that are attracting more foreign opponents to a sleepy fishing village.

The security drill with about 100 officers was aimed at guarding the southwestern town of Taiji before hunting season starts in September, a Wakayama prefectural police official said.

The officers practiced responding to a ship carrying several activists intruding in the bay and damaging a fishnet.

In a mock chase in the cove, a coast guard patrol ship stopped the protest boat and arrested a pair of activists for trespassing and vandalizing the net. On the ground, police officers practiced arresting other activists trying to block a truck carrying a freshly harvested dolphin.

The drill ended safely without incident, the official said on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The bay is where the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" was secretly filmed. Its shocking scene of about a dozen fishermen scaring and culling the animals outraged many around the world, but Japan defended the hunts as tradition even though many Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat.

Since the success of the movie, Taiji has been inundated with a growing number of foreign protesters, including the environmental group Sea Shepherd that has also stepped up violent protests against Japan's research whaling in the Antarctic waters in recent years.

"We understand that people have different views about dolphin hunts in Taiji, but we must crack down on actions such as harassment, slander, vandalism and trespassing, which clearly constitute crime," Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka said last week.

Police will be added in the town before the hunts begin to deter anticipated standoffs between activists and townspeople, the governor said.

Japan allows about 20,000 dolphins to be caught each year. Only about 2,000 of those are taken in Taiji, but it has caught attention because the town's practice is to push the animals to shore and slaughter them in shallow water, as opposed to harpooning them at sea.

Comments

[PumpkinLeeGuts]

02:05 AM on 08/01/2011

The Cove was one of the most heart breaking things I've ever seen in regards to animals. Very hard to watch, especially through tears...

[Pero]

06:08 PM on 07/30/2011

In one Japanese town they have been killing dolphins in thousands. And - dolphins no longer visit that bay at all. Nobody knows why - most probably that huge herd or community is now extinct.
After that - the town built a monument - celebrating dolphins.

One can never underestimate humans stupidity...

[Max Shaw]

03:19 PM on 07/28/2011

This just in:

A second drill is being held to organize the hunt of the hunters in order to allow the doplhins to live peacefully and avoid senseless and useless slaughter..

[Roberta Rochetti]

10:59 AM on 07/28/2011

First step... stop supporting shows where dolphins and whales are used for entertainment

[Roadrun]

10:15 AM on 07/28/2011

The Vikings used to have a tradition of marauding and pillaging villages.
The Samurai used to have a tradition of beheading anyone who disturbed their wa.
Mayans used to have a tradition of sacrificing virgins.

Protecting outdated traditions isn't all that supportable.

[cagog]

08:24 PM on 07/27/2011

Japan please dont anger motha nature cus she will punish you even harder.

[Evil Twin Rove]

08:13 PM on 07/27/2011

this is barbaric with no true purpose but the fact that they get a rush from it...

Japan - stop it

[HLL]

06:20 PM on 07/27/2011

Re-post ☮

Save Japan Dolphins
http://www.savejapandolphins.org/

Take Action: Support Us on the Frontlines in Japan
http://savejapandolphins.org/take-action/support-us-on-the-frontlines-in-japan

PETITION: End the Brutal K i // in g of More Than 20,000 Dolphins Every Year In Japan
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/252?m=b6d32709

PETITION ~ The Cove: Help Save Japan's Dolphins
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/724/210/624/

The Cove Move: About Activist Richard O'Barry
http://www.thecovemovie.com/richardobarry.htm

"Dolphins are free-ranging, intelligent and complex animals."
~ Richard O'Barry

[Lunamoth]

07:33 PM on 07/27/2011

Thank you for the repost, HLL.

[Jaxsie]

05:51 PM on 07/27/2011

you'd think they would have learned from Mother Nature's wrath they just endured. I hope Karma takes another route and hits them even harder.

[Caligal1]

05:51 PM on 07/27/2011

I saw a story about these dolphins that circled around these two young girls and wouldn't let them go out of the circle that they had formed around them. It turns out that the dolphins were protecting the young girls from a great white shark.

Japan stop the slaughter of whales and dolphins! They are such intelligent, emotional, and majestic beings.

I know that when the tsunami and earthquake hit Japan that some members of Sea Shepherds were in Taiji to try to stop the slaughter that was being planned. Luckily, they were all okay and I am sure that they're back in Taiji to try to end it again. Also, when the ocean tide went inward before the tsunami, the fisherman that were going to slaughter the dolphins went out to sea to avoid the tsunami and just left the dolphins they had trapped to be killed by being slammed against the rocks. You think that they would at least let them go knowing there was going to be a tsunami and give the dolphins a fighting chance much like a rancher would with farm animals if there was a wildfire, but no, they just left them to that horrible fate.

So many people of Japan are great people and they are known for their hospitality. It's so sad that Japanese government is letting the dolphin and whale slaughter be what most people think about when they think of Japan now.

[KarlaElisa]

05:51 PM on 07/27/2011

i warned them if they continue these hunts, i'm using my powers to send more earthquakes and tsunami's.

[riverdew149]

05:04 PM on 07/27/2011

So sorry that this practice still goes on. It breaks my heart. Such wonderful animals capable of so much. Am I correct that they still hunt whales as well?

[GaelicWench]

05:23 PM on 07/27/2011

Yes, but Captain Paul Watkins and his Sea Shepherds of the Steve Irwin, the Bob Barkley and the Gojira put the ky-bosh on the Japanese whaling fleet last summer down in the Antarctic. They were successful during this voyage.

Now let's hope that they can get back their ship, the Steve Irwin, which was taken for apparently trying to stop the fishing of tuna. I don't remember the country in which the ship is being held, but that it will take a 1.4 million dollar bond to recover their ship. I hope they get it back in time before it's time to go back to the Antarctic again.

[floodberg]

06:32 PM on 07/27/2011

GO SEA SHEPHERD!!

[Moose Luck 99]

05:02 PM on 07/27/2011

THE FAVORITE JAPANESE DELICACY BABY SEALS!!
Get out of bad trade deals and tell Japan;
No whale hunting no dolphin hunting or NO IMPORTS!

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

11:01 PM on 07/28/2011

For a culture known for being intelligent, conscientious and patient, they sure have some serious short comings regarding creatures of the sea. There should be a worldwide agreement regarding harvesting of the oceans with painful economic penalties for noncompliance and more importantly nonparticipation. Money speaks volumes over 'traditions'.

[MFM008]

04:05 PM on 07/27/2011

Jeezzzzz, after the CATASTROPHE of March these clowns are still worried about their dolphin kill? Unbelieveable. Hey people, note the ground still shakes.. Cant you postpone this?????

[KarlaElisa]

05:52 PM on 07/27/2011

they sell that meat as if it were whale and the mercury levels in the dolphin are quite high. eventually, down the road they will kill the consumers with cancer.

[Txexpat]

08:05 PM on 07/28/2011

The mercury levels in canned tuna that Americans regularly consume is also quite high.

http://www.chelationtherapyonline.com/technical/p112.htm

[jal6641]

04:02 PM on 07/27/2011

What on earth is wrong with this country??!!! How could anyone kill these wonderful animals. It makes me sick!