Feature: Japan gets boot from global zoo community for barbaric methods of capturing dolphins

Japan's biannual bloody massacre of hundreds of helpless dolphins in ferocious drive hunts in the town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, has severely damaged Japan's reputation with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), who has suspended the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( JAZA) following a unanimous vote by its council recently.

The decision was made to temporarily boot Japan out of the organization as a court action was launched against the Switzerland-based WAZA by animal rights activists, conservationists and other concerned parties, accusing it of tacitly approving the biannual slaughter of the dolphins in Taiji and the displaying of those deemed good looking enough to live out their lives behind glass in Japan's aquariums.

"The court finally heard the truth about the barbaric drive hunts that happen each fall and winter at the notorious Cove in Taiji, made famous through the heart-rendering 2009 Oscar-winning documentary of the same name that shook and enraged the international community," Rae Hillman-Noda, a Japanese citizen based between the United States and Japan, and activist associated with the Sea Shepherd, told Xinhua by phone.

"They heard how the annual cull involves more than 200 migrating Bottlenose dolphins being corralled into the cove in Taiji, where the helpless mammals are surrounded by local fishermen in boats banging polls in the sea to scare and confuse the animals by throwing off their echo location abilities," Rae said, adding that the fisherman in the shallow waters of the cove then set about feverishly attacking the dolphins with knives and spears, as the water in the cove turns from pure crystal blue to a deep, thick blood red.

She said it's a horrific scene to view in person and doesn't get easier with each year, and despite the efforts of the animal rights groups she's associated with, the fisherman have carte blanche to continue their barbaric ways, claiming the cull as part of their traditional culture, as supported by local government in the area, and contending that the dolphins that aren't sold to aquariums are cut up and sold as meat.

The governor of Wakayama Prefecture, Yoshinobu Nisaka, has said that the hunting of dolphins in Taiji is part of the village's traditional culture and only the minimum number of whales and dolphins are hunted, in accordance with global regulations on the species involved.

In addition Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's top spokesperson has also defended the culling of dolphins as being "lawful" amid an international outcry over the practice, in particular, opposition from the United States.

Suga has said the hunt is a form of traditional fishing here and that Japan will seek to explain its position to the United States.

But the United States has made its position plainly clear through U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy who commented on Twitter with reference to the mass culling that she was "deeply concerned" by the annual practice, which she described as being " inhumane." The U.S. diplomat added that her government was " opposed" to drive hunt fishing, such as those that occur in Taiji.

Kennedy made her remarks online in both English and Japanese and her comments were met with praise from conservationists like the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), activists like Rae and animal/mammal lovers the world over.

It's due to conservationists like the SSCS and independent activists like Rae, who continue to fight the battle the dolphins themselves cannot, by closely monitoring the annual cull, and concluding scientifically that the hunt is unnecessarily brutal and that rare albino dolphins, for example, as well as baby dolphins, are among the hundreds of Bottlenoses being slaughtered, that WAZA had no choice but to sit up and take notice of the court action.

"Even as an entity that is all about the captivity industry, today WAZA has taken an important step to distance itself from the slaughter that turns the waters of Taiji red with blood -- blood that WAZA does not want on its hands," the Sea Shepherd said in a recent statement.

"The tide is turning. One day, the cove will be a permanent and peaceful blue and profiting from the suffering of these familial and intelligent beings will be a practice driven into the past," the activist group said.

WAZA is a highly-influential body in the world of zoos and aquariums, with more than 20 associate members, including JAZA and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, as well as 300 individual zoo members, including London Zoo, the Zoological Society of San Diego, Toronto Zoo, Bronx Zoo and Melbourne Zoo.

On handing down its verdict to JAZA, WAZA said in its statement that it: "Requires all members to adhere to policies that prohibit participating in cruel and non-selective methods of taking animals from the wild," adding that despite several years of talks, WAZA and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums "could not reach agreement" on the Taiji issue.

Now the world's leading zoo organization has suspended Japan for its involvement in the barbaric dolphin hunts in Taiji, the world will be watching Japan and its dolphin and whaling hunts with more scrutiny, according to Rae, who said that JAZA was offered a chance to make good by initially following a two year moratorium on the hunt offered by the global zoo association, but rejected this.

"This is now a huge embarrassment for Japan and it has lost face in the eyes of the international community for condoning what is globally regarded as a savage practice on intelligent, harmless mammals. The dolphin trade will now be severely disrupted as 40 percent of demand for Taiji trained dolphins comes from WAZA aquariums," Rae highlighted. Endi