The town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, exported four bottlenose dolphins each to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in August, a Taiji official said Friday.
"Dolphins in Taiji are popular around the world because they are smart and I personally think they have cute faces," Hiromitsu Nambu, who arranges exports of live dolphins from Taiji, told The Japan Times.
Dolphins are also caught alive in the Black Sea and near Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, but "probably none of those places secure as stable a supply of live dolphins as Taiji," Nambu said.
Activists criticize capturing dolphins, saying the mammals undergo enormous stress. The Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," in addition to showing the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, has footage of dolphins reputedly being fed medicine for stomach ulcers.
Taiji also sells dolphins to China and other countries, Nambu said. According to export statistics compiled by the Customs Bureau, 57 live animals under the category of whales, dolphins, dugongs and manatees were exported from January to August this year, of which 22 went to China, 16 to Ukraine and 11 to Thailand.
The total monetary value of the animals was ¥172 million, customs declarations show.
All of these animals were probably dolphins caught in Taiji, either from the town directly or from aquariums in Japan that bought the dolphins from Taiji in the past.
Whales and dugongs are not caught alive anywhere in Japan, and manatees are not found here, according to Yoshiko Machida, a spokeswoman for World Wide Fund for Nature Japan.
Taiji, the only place in Japan where live dolphins are caught, took 93 alive in 2008, the Fisheries Agency said.
The town also slaughtered some 1,700 dolphins that year, agency figures show.
Four bottlenose dolphins from Taiji were delivered about two months ago to the popular Egyptian eco-tourism resort of Hurghada on the Red Sea, Amr Ali, a spokesman for the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association, said Oct. 1. After changing hands for a reputed $300,000 (¥24.71 million) each in retail, the two males and two females were flown to Egypt on Aug. 15, Ali said.
Story Continues here: Dolphins from Taiji Sold to Egypt
Staff writer
and BOYD HARNELL
Special to The Japan Times
We must get the message out that the sale of live dolphins is a multi-million dollar industry in Japan and that when we support Aquariums and Swim with Dolphin Programs we are supporting the misery shown above as well as the annual slaughter of 22,000 Dolphins in Japan, with the most brutal slaughter being carried out at #TheCove...take away the financial gains and the slaughter will cease..there is not enough money in the killing of dolphins for the food industry...next time you want to take your children to Swim Program or to an Aquarium I hope that you will keep this in mind.
Thank you for sharing my space here
Jackie Bigford
I Agree with MINORU MATSUTANI and BOYD HARNELL in the article above. The message must get out. Captured and Caged Dolphins are Slaves to Human Entertainment. It is Part of the Horror Story in Taiji Japan, and elsewhere. We must educate the public to what is happening, and to take action against this practice or we become part of the picture.
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