We protect dolphins and small whales through high impact advocacy and strategic litigation. 

From September through to March every year, fishermen herd terrified pods of dolphins into a narrow cove in Taiji, Japan - killing and capturing thousands of innocent dolphins. 

The first week of the latest season took the lives of 9 Risso’s dolphins and trapped a family of 30 pilot whales in the cove. The pilot whale pod, which included several calves, spent the night confused, distressed and exhausted. The next morning, they spent their final moments together before the cove turned red with blood. Tragically, 9 pilot whales were slaughtered and 1 baby died from stress. Those released from the tarps included juveniles and calves whose chance of survival without their mother is now extremely low.

We are fighting to end these dolphin hunts for good.

In 2015 we launched ground-breaking legal action that stopped Japanese aquariums in the World Aquarium and Zoo Association network from purchasing dolphins caught during the gruesome Taiji hunts. 

Since then, we have used multiple strategic advocacy steps to interrupt the industry. We have shed light on how dolphin and whale meat contains almost 25 times the regulated mercury levels considered safe for human consumption and challenged the hunting permit issued by the Governor of Wakayama Prefecture - arguing that dolphins are wrongly classified as fish and should be protected as mammals under Japanese law. 

With your support, we are pressuring global companies to stop selling Taiji processed whale and dolphin meat using high impact advocacy and the legal system - and we are already making progress with a global airline that sells whale meat on their website. We will also publicly expose aquariums that buy dolphins from Taiji and pressure them to stop doing so.

If we are successful, we could save thousands of dolphins from cruel slaughter and improve the marine ecosystem off the coast of Japan, by giving these dolphins a chance to live wild and free.