TOKYO: Campaigners on Friday urged a court in Japan to halt so-killed"drive hunting" of dolphins in the country as part of an unprecedented lawsuit that argues the practice violates Japanese law.
The town was thrust into the international spotlight by the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, which filmed the process of"drive hunting," whereby fisherman herd dolphins into a cove by beating on boats to disorient them. Other dolphins are killed when fisherman thrust a long metal rod repeatedly into the body to damage the spinal cord, a practice activists consider excessively cruel.Many in Japan felt the film unfairly targeted the town's fishing community, but others were horrified by the disturbing footage.The lawsuit is the first-ever legal challenge to the hunt in the town of Taiji.