Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, is using her diplomatic stage to pressure that country to stop an annual hunt she finds deplorable: killing dolphins.
Each year, fishermen from Taiji drive hundreds of dolphins into an enclosed bay area and choose several to go to Japan’s marine parks, NBC reported. The rest are either sent back into the ocean — or killed for food.
“Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing,” Ms. Kennedy said in a tweet. “US [government] opposes drive hunt fisheries.”
More than 250 bottlenose dolphins have already been taken for marine parks or killed for food in the past year, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society officials told NBC.
The hunt rose to international prominent in 2009, after “The Cove” — a film from a former National Geographic photographer — won Oscar nods. The documentary portrayed eco-activists as they fought with Japan’s police and fishermen to gain access to the hunt’s location.
The documentary received much criticism from Japanese groups and was deemed “anti-Japanese” and an attack on the nation’s culture, NBC reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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