Roundup: Japan aquarium association to expel members acquiring dolphins through cruel drive hunts

The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) has said that its members could be expelled from the association if they were to acquire their dolphins through the highly-controversial fishing and trapping technique known as drive hunts.

The association will, henceforth, expel members from its powerful and internationally-recognized body, with the hope that the threat of such punitive measures will force members to not violate its recent ban of capturing dolphins through drive hunts, which are considered cruel and barbaric by the international community.

In order to keep track of the origins of dolphins, particularly how and where they were caught, JAZA will require its members to now produce documentation fully identifying the details of any particular dolphin, particularly where it was caught, officials said Friday, in a bid to ensure the mammals aren't being caught in the violent drives.

The notorious drive hunts off the town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, had been deemed to be so cruel by other zoo associations, independent nature authorities as well as activists long-campaigning against the biannual cull at the infamous Cove in Taiji, that JAZA's own membership was suspended by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, for allowing the drive hunts to continue and in doing so giving a tacit nod to the hunts.

The move followed a decision made by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) in late April to suspend JAZA from the body after a unanimous vote by its council, based on the cruel way in which hundreds of dolphins are brutally massacred in Taiji's biannual drive hunts.

Losing membership from WAZA meant theoretically that Japan would have no access to zoo animals like giraffes, big cats, elephants, primates, and other aquatic life from overseas, with officials here stating that they felt "bullied" by the decision from overseas.

But such is the feeling of abhorrence towards the Taiji hunt that observers here have said that the initial pressure from WAZA and now JAZA may increase pressure on Taiji's biannual hunt to be outlawed as international pressure and activists groups become ever more vociferous about the event, which first reached the international community by way of "The Cove" documentary film which captured the hunt and the slaughters to Academy Award winning acclaim in 2009.

Members of the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums, including its head, Kazutoshi Arai, said it would stop buying dolphins from Taiji deemed attractive enough to sell on for hefty profits to aquariums, although intimated that this decision had been "made under considerable duress."

JAZA's suspension from WAZA was initially triggered by a court action following evidence presented by animal rights activists groups, conservationists and other concerned parties of JAZA tacitly approving the biannual slaughter of the dolphins in Taiji and the displaying of those mammals deemed good looking enough to live out their lives behind glass in Japan's many aquariums.

"The court finally heard the truth about the barbaric drive hunts that happen each fall and winter at the notorious Cove in Taiji, that has shocked and enraged the international community," one activist associated with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) told Xinhua.

The latest decision by JAZA also follows increasing pressure from the United States, who has made its position on the issue 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 biannual 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 met with praise from conservationists like the SSCS, other activists, and animal and mammal lovers the world over.

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 initial suspension 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.

But it would seem that JAZA has finally succumbed to the mounting pressure from overseas and, as stated Friday, will punish its own members for violating the ban on drive fishing, that it once turned a blind eye to.

As for the biannual cull itself, it typically 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.

The fishermen 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, with eyewitness accounts stating that: "It's a horrific scene to view in person and doesn't get easier with each year. It' s like a nightmare that you can't un-watch. And despite the efforts of the animal rights groups, the fisherman have, up until now, carte blanche to continue their barbaric ways, claiming the cull as part of their traditional culture, as supported by the local government in the area, and contending that the dolphins that aren't sold to aquariums, but are cut up and sold as meat."

To this end 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.

But the latest move Friday by JAZA was to explain to WAZA the new paradigm for its regulatory practices and investigation into how members acquire dolphins, with the punishment system for violating the ban, likely to be agreed upon at a director's meeting in November, prior to full finalization next May at WAZA's general meeting.

The move will almost certainly impact the financial implications of the drive hunt, as fisherman will now be hard- pushed to find aquariums for the captured dolphins, with profits from dolphin meat now negligible in modern Japan. Endi