Sep. 2 06:24 am JST 44 CommentsSHINGU, Wakayama
This year’s dolphin-hunting season began Monday in the western Japan whaling town of Taiji, using the traditional “drive-hunting” method that has been labeled as cruel by animal-rights groups at home and abroad.
During the hunt, fishing boats belonging to a local whaling cooperative herd dolphins and small whales into a cove in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, where they are either captured or killed.
On Monday, a pod of Risso’s dolphins were spotted some 9 kilometers off the coast and 10 were driven to the cove.
Each dolphin was about 3 meters long, and they will be consumed as food.
“It was lucky of us to catch 10 on the first hunting day,” said Masaki Tsuchiyama, 54, the head of the local cooperative.
More than 10 people, watched over by the police, protested the hunt by raising banners when the boats left the port.
The hunt will continue through next spring.
Exposing the Big Game 