Animal rights activists in Tokyo, Japan and in Faroe Islands, Sandoy are continuing their battle against the slaughter of dolphins and pilot whales as the traditional and controversial dolphin hunts begin.
Protests against the annual dolphin hunting tradition have taken place worldwide. Animal rights campaigners protested and demanded an end to the controversial practice. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Japanese Consulate in Florida while fourteen activists were detained on Saturday on Denmark's Faroe Islands while trying to save a pod of 33 pilot whales. Pilot whales are members of the dolphin family which were being driven towards the shore to be slaughtered, Sea Shepherd France's president Lamya Essemlali said. Sea Shepherd is an environmental group that protested the act of slaughter.
Large numbers of pilot whales are slaughtered each year on the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within Denmark's kingdom. While over 1,500 dolphins could be killed as the controversial hunting season begins in Japan in the next six months. The Japanese fishermen in the town of Taiji butcher dolphins in an isolated bay.
Thirty people reportedly marched through Tokyo to protest against the dolphin hunt, which the activists say is destroying Japan's reputation globally. While fourteen animal rights campaigners were detained in Faroe Islands, Denmark.
While many locals defended including the Japanese government saying that the dolphin hunt as a cultural right and pointed out that the animals targeted are not endangered, animal rights activists have condemned it as a brutal and archaic mass slaughter.
Among those who were arrested in Faroe Islands were eight French citizens, two South Africans, two Spaniards, one Italian and one Australian per the environmental organization, Sea Shepherd. After the arrest, the dolphin hunt continued and all 33 pilot whales were killed.
In Japan, the demand for dolphin meat has fallen in recent years. But even though the issue was raised in an Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove, the meat hasn't been banned in the country.
The new dolphin hunting season started as fourteen activists were detained in the Faroe Islands trying to sojourn another dolphin slaughter from taking place. One of Sea Shepherd's celebrity supporters, Charlie Sheen stated that the Faroese whalers brutally slaughtered an entire pilot whales' pod of 33, several generations were taken from the sea. The actor also added that he was proud his vessel had taken part in trying to sojourn the brutality and that Denmark is complicit in the killing.
Animal rights activists have brought tension to the Faroe Islands and in the town of Taiji in Japan as they continue its crusade to protect ocean wildlife and sojourn the ruthless slaughter of dolphins and whales on the traditional and controversial dolphin hunts.
We hope that these merciless brutalities will soon stop.
