http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/357023

Taiji – With little more than a week to the start of the Taiji dolphin drive season, dolphin advocate Ric O’Barry will return to the Cove backed by more than 100 individual events around the globe.
As he does every year on Sept. 1, the star of The Cove movie will be heading to Japan with volunteer Cove Monitors and international supporters from six continents. Once there, they will join-up with Japanese activists in Tokyo and Taiji, and will be on the Cove beach Sept. 1, calling for an end to the dolphin drive hunts and slaughters.

 

Accompanying the dolphin advocate and his team this year, will be drummer and singer Matt Sorum, from the rock group Guns N Roses and the supergroup: Kings of Chaos. Backing them from afar will be more than 100 global events hosted by a consortium of dolphin lovers as part of an annual event called Japan Dolphins Day (JDD).

Boasting 102 listed events at its new website: Japan Dolphins Day.net, none is perhaps more poignant than the protest being planned in Tokyo. It is being organized and hosted by Japanese activist group: Action for Marine Mammals.

Taiji’s dolphin drives

Japan’s dolphin crisis inevitably centers on the small coastal whaling village of Taiji in the Wakayama Prefecture of Japan. Every year between Sept. 1 and March 31, dolphins across several species are driven into a tiny cove by fishermen and either slaughtered for their meat or sold (at great profit), to the captive marine industry.

Last season, according to Ceta Base.com, “1,486 dolphins from six species,” were driven into the cove. “Of this total,” the database said, “899 were killed, 340 were released and 247 were live-captures.”

O’Barry, who is the campaign manager for both Save Japan Dolphins and the Dolphin Project, documented and questioned Japan’s dolphin hunting culture in the Academy Award-winning documentary, The Cove.

Directed by Louie Psihoyos, the 2009 film is still inspiring activists today after it took the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Planned events

The Save Japan Dolphins Campaign which operates under the umbrella of the Earth Island Institute, has once again partnered with the social media campaign Save Misty the Dolphin, to facilitate and coordinate events.

Japan Dolphins Day (JDD) has attracted more events this year than any other. The majority of events begin towards the end next week with many timed to coincide with O’Barry’s visit to Taiji on Sept. 1. The dolphin advocate is also planning to report live from the Cove via live-stream.

Further details on all scheduled events are available through the Save Japan Dolphins Facebook page and Japan Dolphins Day.net.

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