Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent bycatch
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Science
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
This dead right whale calf had injuries consistent with a vessel strike, including fresh propeller cuts on its back and head, broken ribs, and bruising. Photo: FWC/Tucker Joenz, NOAA Fisheries permit #18786

Emergency Right Whale Petition Seeks Overdue Protections From Vessel Strikes

This dead right whale calf had injuries consistent with a vessel strike, including fresh propeller...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
Commerson's dolphin

New Important Marine Mammal Areas added to global ocean conservation list

Commerson's dolphin Experts from a number of countries have mapped out a new set of...
Fin whale shot with two harpoons

Whalers kill just days after Iceland’s hunt suspension is lifted

Whalers in Iceland have claimed their first victims since the lifting (just a few days...

World zoo organisation accused of links to brutal Japanese dolphin hunts

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the organisation behind the world’s leading zoos, is being taken to court in Switzerland by conservation groups over claims that it is directly linked to the infamous dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan.

Waza stands accused of helping secure captured dolphins for one of its members, despite publicly condemning the hunts. The organisation is alleged to have allowed a deal between the fishermen in Taiji (who herd and slaughter the dolphins) and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA), which is an associate WAZA member.

During the hunts, dolphins are herded and forced into coves by boats where they then cruelly slaughtered with knives.  Those not killed are specially selected for capture and are sold to buyers from aquariums where they then live out the rest of their lives performing ticks for so-called ‘entertainment’. WDC has previously exposed the brutal methods used to kill the dolphins, which failed to meet the most basic of slaughterhouse regulations.

WAZA’s own code of ethics describes the hunts as “inherently cruel”. Despite claims that the dolphin hunts were part of a Japanese cultural tradition stretching back hundreds of years, records in Taiji itself show that the first large-scale hunts started in 1969 and are mainly driven by the financial rewards gained from capturing dolphins for theme parks rather than the small amount of money that can be earned from selling the meat.