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
20230202_132407

Whale and Dolphin Conservation partners with local artist for art auction

PLYMOUTH, MA - Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) has partnered with local artist Erik Simmons...
dolphin FB Fundraiser

e.l.f. Cosmetics announces new “porpoise-ful” initiative to benefit Whale and Dolphin Conservation

For Immediate Release, March 16, 2023 OAKLAND, CA - On the fins of its first...

Kiska the ‘world’s loneliest whale’ dies at Canadian theme park

Kiska, dubbed the loneliest whale in the world, has died at Marineland, a zoo and...
Grey seal is released from the kennel on the ocean side of Duxbury Beach

Why did the seal cross the road? WDC responds to a grey seal near Gurnet Point in Plymouth, MA

Grey seal is released from the kennel on the ocean side of Duxbury Beach For...

Two aquaria in Japan ignore dolphin hunt ban

The controversial sale of dolphins caught in the cruel Taiji Cove drive hunts in Japan has led two aquariums to cancel their memberships with the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA).

In 2015, the Association decided to forbid members from taking dolphins captured alive in the brutal hunt. As a result, the two aquariums (Enoshima Aquarium in Fujisawa and Shimonoseki Marine Science Museum in Kaikyokan) have cancelled their JAZA membership.

JAZA banned members from acquiring Taiji dolphins following advice from the wider, global body – World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which threatened JAZA with expulsion following growing international criticism surrounding the hunts.

The decision left the 89 zoos and 63 aquariums in JAZA no choice but to stop buying dolphins from Taiji.

The hunts begin each year in September and involve the herding of dolphins at sea and driving and corralling them into the confines of the cove in Taiji. Here they are slaughtered for meat or kept alive for sale to marine parks and aquaria across the globe. Thousands of dolphins and whales are killed or taken alive each year and include species such as bottlenose dolphins, false killer whales and short-finned pilot whales.

Enoshima Aquarium said it withdrew to maintain ties with the local fishermen’s union in Taiji, whilst the Shimonoseki marine museum said it could not accept JAZA’s ban because it believes drive hunts are a legitimate practice.