Stop Dolphin Slaughter by Japan

Every year from October 1st Through March 30th, The village of taiji and futo begin their annual dolphin hunt.

Encouraged by local dolphinariums, Who select show quality dolphins for aquariums, over 1,000 dolphins are slaughtered every year. The way they carry out this barbaric "Ritual" is to drive dolphins into shallow waters in the vicinity of a cove, and to trap them there using 2 50 feet nets.

Some dolphins are extracted from the water using cranes and placed on a flatbed truck to the fishery, only to be sliced up with machetes, still alive and struggling while their guts are ripped out. On average, it takes between 3 to 6 minutes for the dolphins to die as they are being butchered alive.

Another method is to simply stab the dolphins to death with spears, and let them bleed to death. The local officials claim that there is nothing wrong with this hunt, and that they are following a tradition that dates back centuries, so they have nothing to be ashamed of. However, for the time period of the hunt, they severely restrict tourism anywhere near the fishery, and engage in blatant deception and police-state tactics reminiscent of a Stalinist regime, more so than a free and open society.

They use local police to stop any pictures or videos from being taken, restrict access to any high vantage point where the slaughter could be viewed, and cover the cove area with a blue tarp so that it cannot be viewed by helicopter. They lace barb wire around the trees to discourage people from taking picture from trees, and put up signs saying "Danger, mud slides!" and "Falling rocks!" in areas where the danger doesn't seem to exist except between October 1st through March 30th.

If they have no reason to be ashamed following this tradition, Then the only reason for all the attempts to hide this is to avoid the huge international outcry that has and continued to pressure the Japanese government to end this cruel practice.

So far, nothing has been done by the Japanese government, because we have not made it clear as American citizens that we find this inhumane practice abhorrent and downright intolerable.

Sign this petition, and let our elected officials know that we want the United States government to condemn these acts, and to consider punitive economic actions against the Japanese government, and the Japanese people, until they outlaw this practice, and follow international law banning dolphin hunting, in which they are in violation of.