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
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...
Fin whale

Icelandic government lifts suspension on cruel hunts

The Icelandic government is to allow fin whales to be hunted again after lifting a...

Hundreds of dolphins captured in Taiji

A ‘superpod’ of around 300 dolphins has been captured by hunters in the cove near the infamous town of Taiji, Japan. Since their capture, the dolphins are being subject to a selection process by divers who will decide which dolphins should be sold to marine parks and those that will be slaughtered. The dolphins can fetch over £20,000 when sold to the captivity industry.

Footage of the capture, and subsequent abuse, has been live streamed by welfare groups working in Taiji in the hope that something might be done to prevent this annual slaughter.

The drive hunt season in Taiji, Japan runs from 1 September through to April or beyond. Curtains are pulled across the shoreline to hide the killing process from the public. Dolphins suffer extreme pain and stress and many dolphins selected for transportation to marine theme parks die of shock before they are taken away.

We are calling on airlines to stop carrying live dolphins, and especially those captured in the cruel Japanese hunts.  As the demand from countries such as China increases, we need to break the chain by stopping the transport of these dolphins.

WDC works on many different levels to end dolphins hunts. Read more about our approach in this feature from our supporters’ magazine, Whale & Dolphin