Taiji Ends It Brutal Slaughter for the Year

Greetings once again everyone. So I'm not going to lie, I kind of missed the boat a bit on this one due to life events, but the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter came to an end at the start of this month. While hunting permits remain in effect until the end of March, it seems like Taiji has called it quits for the season. So with that being said, the following, according to Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project are the statistics for the 2015-2016 drive hunt...

Killed: 652

Striped Dolphins: 290
Risso's Dolphins: 245
Bottlenose Dolphins: 66
Pilot Whales: 51

Released: 121

Bottlenose Dolphins: 80
Pilot Whales: 22
Risso's Dolphins: 19

The next numbers are the number of dolphins that were captured for aquariums and marine parks. Keep in mind as always. The main reason this slaughter continues is because marine parks continue to purchase dolphins from Taiji. One live dolphin sold into captivity can go for well over $500,000 dollars. If that doesn't spell profit, I don't know what does. More on that in a minute. First though, the numbers...

Captivity: 111

Bottlenose Dolphins: 98
Risso's Dolphins: 8
Pacific White Sided Dolphins: 4
Pilot Whales: 1

As you can see the vast majority of the dolphins brought into captivity are these guys, the famous bottlenose dolphin.

Strangely enough, the bottlenose dolphin is also the most popular species of dolphin in marine parks. So until September 1st, the killing has stopped. The dolphins of Japan can feel a bit safer swimming by until then. 

Some things to remember about this slaughter is just how barbaric it is. The best way to do that is by seeing it, so I warn you that the following images are going to be quite graphic. Before that though I can't help but wonder what the future of this slaughter is going to be. The number of dolphins that are released every year seems to be on the rise as the kill numbers drop. On top of that I need to wonder what if anything Sea World will do. They've come out and pledged to help put an end to commercial whaling and dolphins are in fact small cetaceans. So we will see what comes of that. Thanks for reading this quick little blog! I apologize for not posting this sooner! From now until September, there will probably not be too much in the way of dolphin related blogs unless of course something were to happen that is noteworthy. Stay tuned though as I have started working on a blog that will introduce a new topic to this blog, Iceland's Whaling Program. For now though, I leave you now with a very real reminder of the horror that is the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter.