Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project presents the 2019 Tread For Taiji Virtual Race!
Dolphin Project is proud to sponsor our annual Japan Dolphins Day event to mark the start of the hunting season in Taiji, Japan, as made known by the Academy Award-winning documentary ‘The Cove’. Activists around the world will be joining in peaceful demonstrations to educate the public, as well as to voice international opposition to the hunts.
We hope you and/or your organization will join us in celebrating Japan Dolphins Day between August 30 - September 1, 2019. Click on our interactive map to participate in an event in your city or create your own. We unite to show Japan, as well as the rest of the world, that the massacre of dolphins in Taiji is a crime against nature and must end immediately. Together, we can make our voices heard and inform others about this tragedy.
Have you registered for the fourth annual Virtual Race to raise awareness about dolphin captivity and the Taiji slaughters? If you’ve missed the deadline to meet the fundraising threshold of $50, no worries – we’ve ordered extra medals, so there’s still time to qualify for the prize packet!
It’s fast and simple to join. Run, walk, bike, or swim to show your appreciation for dolphins and spread the word that they deserve to live wild and free in the sea.
Click on our Virtual Race page to register, and start raising funds to support our upcoming Taiji campaign while helping to educate about the slaughter that takes place each year. Join as an individual, or create a team for mutual encouragement and some friendly competition!
The official race will take place on August 17; you can also do the race anytime in the week before, or spread out your mileage across several days! The best part is anyone can participate no matter where you live!
The second hearing in our legal action against the Taiji dolphin hunts took place in Wakayama District Court in Japan last week.
The Governor’s office submitted their response. They are doing everything they can to avoid defending the cruel hunts by trying to get the case thrown out on standing.
They are so keen to stop a judge seeing our evidence showing the hunts are cruel and unsustainable, the Governor’s lawyers are suggesting nobody has the right to challenge the dolphin hunts in court.
But as our lawyer, Takashi Takano, told media recently: “If these people can’t contest the permit, then who can?”
Our plaintiffs are the director of an experienced animal welfare charity who has campaigned against the hunts, and a local resident of Taiji. There’s nobody better suited to act as plaintiffs in this crucial case.
Addressing media after the first court hearing.
We have a strong legal argument prepared, and if our team get the chance to present it we feel very optimistic about our chances of stopping the hunts.
It’s going to be a tense few months waiting to hear if the judge will grant us standing in the case.
We’ll know more after the next hearing, which is scheduled to take place in mid October. But until then we need to sit tight and prepare for whatever the outcome might be
We truly believe these hunts should not be above the law. And we’re going to fight like hell to prove it.
Dolphins are chased to the point of exhaustion during Futo’s brutal hunts. They collide into rock walls and die from heart attacks.
There hasn’t been a hunt there since 2004 - but that’s about to change.
After a 15 year break officials have announced plans to start capturing dolphins again in October.
The Futo Fisheries Agency think they will be ‘less criticised’ than the hunts in nearby Taiji because they plan to capture and sell dolphins to aquariums, rather than slaughter them.
But it’s hard to imagine anything cruller than capturing wild dolphins and shoving them in tiny, concrete tanks.
If the captures go ahead, terrified dolphins will be chased for hours and herded into nets. They’ll cut themselves on rocks and propeller blades, and drown in a desperate panic to escape.
After the last hunt took place in 2004, witnesses reported dolphins washing up dead on the shore for days afterwards.
The capture process is so cruel, not all dolphins survive.
Japanese officials are telling media that people don’t really care about the captures. But your signature can prove them wrong.
Thousands of Dolphins Killed by Industrial Fishing
Thousands of dead dolphins have been washing up on the shores of the UK and France's west coast. Sadly, human activities are most likely responsible due to the intensive industrial fishing industry that has been increasingly dominating the area. Click here to read more.
Extinction emergency! Hector's and Māui dolphins are facing extinction. You can help save them. The New Zealand government is holding a public consultation to ask what you think they need to do to protect these amazing little dolphins. Have your say. Closes 10 am 19 August 2019. https://whales.org/savenzdolsletter.
This Vet Explains Everything That’s Still Wrong with SeaWorld
Dr. Heather Rally is the supervising veterinarian for Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation, and she explains why SeaWorld is still hell for animals held captive there. SeaWorld continues to breed bottlenose and Pacific white-sided dolphins even after halting their orca breeding program, and there are around 140 dolphins imprisoned there – all of them placed into just SEVEN concrete tanks. As if that weren’t enough, trainers continue to step on dolphins’ faces and ride them as if they were surfboards — the list goes on and on. You can help by never visiting parks that use live animals for entertainment.
