Russian animal rights group protests Japanese dolphin slaughter

We know so much about them now, including their incredible intelligence. No one can argue to me that their desire for the taste of dolphin flesh out weighs the suffering and environmental issues involved. The same goes to making them captive for the "entertainment" of humans.

Russian animal rights group protests Japanese dolphin slaughter

MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) - The Russian animal rights protection center Vita has urged the Japanese government to impose a ban on the catching and slaughtering of dolphins.

In connection with Japan Dolphin Day, internationally observed on October 8, Vita sent an appeal to Japanese Ambassador in Russia Issei Nomura, calling on Japan "to stop one of the major dolphin slaughtering campaigns in the world, conducted annually near the Japanese coast."

The dolphin hunt near the Japanese coast is "carried out in the cruelest way," the appeal says.

Japanese fishermen approach the migration routes of dolphins and other whales on small boats, Vita said in the document. "Once dolphins find themselves near the boats, fishermen surround them, put metal pipes underwater and start banging. Dolphins, hypersensitive to sound, lose their orientation, panic and try to escape the noise. They are so directed into a shallow bay. Then fishermen wound several dolphins with a knife or a spear, knowing that dolphins never abandon their wounded fellows. After that, the entire shoal is locked in the bay with nets, and they are killed with spears and knives the next morning," the document says.

"The dead and dying dolphins are thrown into the boats and later cut into pieces for sale at Japanese supermarkets and restaurants, often under the guise of meat of larger whales, which is more expensive. A number of dolphins are left alive for sale to dolphinariums in different parts of the world," the appeal reads.