For many years, international observers were physically present onsite to document Taiji’s dolphin drive-hunts, and to report them to the world in real time.  Unfortunately, Japanese authorities have now made this exceedingly difficult to do.  Backed by the force of law, they’ve largely denied access to groups like Dolphin Project, who were once able to watch proceedings at the cove throughout the six month hunting season.  This means that we’ve come to rely on local activists to do the heavy lifting for us. 

Enter Ren Yabuki and the Life Investigation Agency (LIA) he founded, without whom the hunts could go on in near secrecy.  With a team of more than 40 activists (all Japanese), they ensure that light continues to shine on the killings and horrific live captures that take place.  Only because of this do we still have a chance to one day bring the drive-hunts to an end.  Openness and honest reporting are the best weapons we’ve got if we’re to keep up this fight.  Without people like Ren there on the ground, it’s hard to imagine how we could have these. 

The single most important component, the one that drives any possibility for changes in legislation or in public sentiment, is that we keep the eyes of the world on what is happening.  The challenges faced by activists like Ren are daunting, and we can be sure it will take many more years of perseverance and effort.  But we can be equally certain that without such people, the process would take much, much longer.  

Like so many of us, Ren first learned about the Taiji hunts by seeing the documentary, The Cove, released in 2009.  Even to those living in the area, there has never been much to learn about the hunts from local news sources.  Ren believes that to this day Japanese media outlets neglect to provide accurate coverage, and are part of a broader systemic cover-up of how poorly the dolphins are treated.  At best, he sees them as very biased, never telling the Japanese people the full truth.

Documenting and reporting on what happens here is disturbing, and there is a price to be paid for any activist.  What psychologists have termed ‘vicarious trauma’.  Ren believes that witnessing the hunts first-hand has tremendously affected his peace of mind, with the cruelty and injustice on display driving him to feel both anger and sadness in equal measure.

“What I can say is I felt sadness, despair, anger and helplessness as I was unable to stop or do anything but watch at my horror as the events unfolded in front of me. At the end of the day, I was completely exhausted and drained from what I saw at the dolphin hunt.”

Because of the pervasive lack of information, it’s difficult to say whether the residents of Taiji support these hunts.  Most don’t seem to concern themselves with it very much, but that could be because they don’t know much about it.  Same goes for the captivity industry.  Ren’s view is that when Japanese go to a marine park, they don’t think much about where that dolphin came from, or the conditions that existed in it’s journey to the park.  Nor does the question of what life is like – the unbearable hell that captivity represents for a dolphin – really enter into it often.

This shouldn’t surprise us too much, as the same view prevailed here in the West for many years, before better knowledge of the facts drove a heightened public awareness.  Ren maintains that, as with people everywhere, if the Japanese knew how the dolphins were forcibly removed from their homes, often after having seen family members killed, support for captivity would evaporate.  

“If the general public was informed on the subject matter, I believe the majority of citizens would be against the hunt and captivity.”

Every morning during the hunting season, Ren wakes at 3 A.M., the same as the hunters who will head out at first light to look for dolphins.  (They refer to themselves as fishermen, which seems odd for someone hunting a sophisticated, highly intelligent mammal, but in fact these activities are regulated by the Japanese Fisheries Ministry.)  Armed with a camera and tripod, he is committed to recording every action, every day, until the season ends on March 1st.   

But this quest to “let the Japanese people know what’s going on here” is frequently met with vocal and angry opposition.  Police will often question him and sometimes even prevent him from recording.  Then there’s the 200 or so Taiji residents who earn their living from whaling and the dolphin industry, who are not hesitant to condemn his criticism.  Their threatening behavior towards activists has frequently been recorded, usually with police standing by but refusing to intervene.

It takes a great deal of courage to do what he does.  And even worse than the threats to his own safety is the personal cost to his wellbeing from routinely witnessing the capture and slaughter of dolphins, often including babies at their mothers’ sides.  Add to that having to deal with the sheer hypocrisy of officials who ought to know better.  People like Town Councilor Hisato Ryono,  who stated to VICE World News “I respect the culture and don’t think it should be dismissed outright… I don’t get why people accept slaughtering cows but not dolphins”.

He would know, or at least should know, that the method employed to kill dolphins would not be legal if applied to cows in any of Japan’s slaughterhouses under the country’s animal welfare legislation.  That’s even if the two were comparable, which they are clearly not.  But then again, how can we expect an official to recognize the distinction between a cow and a dolphin, when legally the Japanese government can’t distinguish between a dolphin and a fish.

In the face of these extraordinary, one could even say crazy!, circumstances, Ren is determined that his work won’t be done until the killings have come to a complete stop.  

 “The only thing we can do is decide to not eat whale or dolphin meat anymore, and not to buy tickets for dolphin shows anymore. If we all boycott aquariums, then they can’t sustain the dolphin export business here in Taiji. If the demand stops, the killings and captures will too.”

We couldn’t agree more.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Chris, Canadian Cetacean Alliance