Taiji legal battle: court backs activist over baby dolphin kept in aquarium

Victory for animal rights after Japanese court awards Australian activist 110,000 yen after museum refused her entry to check on captive bottlenose

Justin McCurry in Osaka

Saturday 26 March 2016 01.04 GMTLast modified on Saturday 26 March 201601.12 GMT

Animal rights activists have claimed a significant victory in its battle to end Japan’sdolphin slaughter after a court ruled that an aquarium in Taiji – where hundreds of dolphins are killed every year – acted illegally when it refused entry to an Australian campaigner.

The court in Wakayama, western Japan, on Friday awarded 110,000 yen (£690) to Sarah Lucas, head of Australia for Dolphins, who had attempted to enter the Taiji whale museum in 2014 but was turned away and shown a cardboard sign saying “anti-whalers” were not welcome.

Lucas had intended to check on the welfare of a baby albino bottlenose that had been kept at the museum since being separated from its pod and captured earlier in the year. The museum reportedly paid $500,0000 (£354,000) for the animal.

Lucas said the rare dolphin, called Angel, was being kept in a tiny crowded tank full of chlorine, and was being bullied by other dolphins.

“The legal battle to save Angel is much bigger than a rescue mission to save one albino dolphin calf,” Lucas said after the verdict.

“This win proves the Taiji whale museum, the institution at the heart of the dolphin hunting trade, behaved illegally. It also shows the Taiji dolphin hunts are not above the law, which means the Japanese legal system can be used to end the cruel dolphin hunts for good.”

Tetsuo Kirihata, deputy chief of the Taiji museum, said he was satisfied with the verdict because the initial demand for damages had been for about 3m yen.

“We feel much of our case was taken into account by the court,” he told Associated Press. Kirihata said the dolphin was eating well and getting along with other dolphins, with regular blood tests showing it was healthy. What to some might look like bullying was, in fact, “part of regular activity in nature,” he added.

The museum is owned by the town government in Taiji, the setting for the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove, which showed fishermen driving pods of dolphins into shallow water before killing them with knives.

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This Map Shows Where Dolphins Captured at the Cove in 2013 Were Sold

As the annual dolphin-killing season beginsat the cove at Taiji, Japan, the focus will be on the slaughter. Far less attention will be paid, however, to the fate of dolphins captured and sold to marine-mammal entertainment parks worldwide.

But some activists are bringing their fight to facilities that fuel demand for live dolphins.

Live dolphins are far more lucrative than dead ones. Taiji fishermen can earn $150,000 or more from selling a single live animal, while one butchered for meat fetches only $500 to $600, an economic reality that keeps the drives in business, opponents say.

It is impossible to know the final fate of all dolphins captured in Taiji. The Japanese government does not keep figures, nor does the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). Most information comes from newspapers, activists on the ground, or people in countries where dolphins are destined to perform for or swim with tourists.

One website, Ceta-Base, tracks captive cetaceans and documents about where some, but not all, Taiji dolphins go. There were about 300 live captures in Taiji in 2013, according to the site, but information only exists on about half of those animals. Here’s the count: 92 dolphins were transferred to Japan, 36 went to China, 20 to Ukraine, 11 to Russia, six to South Korea, and five to Vietnam.

Worldwide, 105 facilities in about 20 countries import or display dolphins obtained from Taiji, according to Ceta-Base.

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Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians set for a fifth season at notorious Taiji killing cove

As the 2014 – 2015 drive hunt season (lasting from September to March) begins again in Taiji, Japan, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have reported that its Cove Guardian team is on site for the start of the fifth consecutive season of its dolphin and whale defence campaign, ‘Operation Infinite Patience’.

Each year a quota is set by the Taiji Fisherman’s Union, dictating which species of cetacean can be targeted for slaughter and captivity, and how many of each can be taken. The 2014 – 2015 quota has been set to a total of 1,398 cetaceans to be killed or captured. This includes seven species; 114 short-finned pilot whales, 450 striped dolphins, 509 bottlenose dolphins, 261 Risso’s dolphins, 400 Pantropical spotted dolphins, 70 false killer whales, and 134 Pacific white-sided dolphins.

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Dolphin burgers for park visitors

WHEN it comes to walking both sides of a macabre street, it's hard to imagine a more audacious example than that of the Japanese town of Taiji.

Already infamous for the annual slaughter of dolphins that was brought to light in the documentary The Cove, Taiji has now announced plans for a marine mammal park.

Visitors can see dolphins and whales in a fenced-off section of a local bay.

They can kayak and even swim with them and then snack on a dolphin burger from those slaughtered nearby.

In a project that has won the backing of figures from Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research - the overseer of the country's Antarctic whaling program - Taiji wants to partition more than 28ha of the local Moriura Bay for the park.

"The planned site faces the state road, and I think it will give a great visual effect if the tourists can see the whales swimming in the bay," Taiji town official Masaki Wada told The Australian.

He said black whales and bottlenose dolphins captured off Taiji - some of which are sold to aquariums each year - would be released into the area, creating a whale amusement park.

But Mr Wada made it clear that the controversial and bloody dolphin slaughter in nearby Hatakejiri Bay - carried out by stabbing the mammals with sharp stakes - would continue as usual.

"Both of the concepts can coexist," he said.

"The town of Taiji is close to the Pacific Ocean and we can harvest various types of fruits of the sea including whales. We would like to display our cuisine culture.

"Now we have Kujira Katsu Burger (whale cutlet burger) sold at our swimming beach and it sells well.

"Of course there are some people who do not eat it, but it's about individual freedom.

"Our town will proceed with the concept that there is food culture, as well as tourism, when it comes to whales.

"We are not doing anything wrong, and we do not aim to cease our legitimate business because of criticism from outside."

The Cove, released in 2009, brought Taiji, 500km southwest of Tokyo, to worldwide attention, winning an Oscar the following year, after graphically showing the killing of the dolphins, thanks in part to hidden underwater cameras.

Activists continue to visit the town to protest the hunt and have already signalled they will oppose the marine park plan.

Taiji fishermen, and many Japanese across the country, are surprised by the strength of foreign criticism of whaling, arguing there is no distinction between the practice and that of killing and eating other species.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/dolphin-burgers-for-park-visitors/story-e6frg6so-1226734325953