Protesters aim for world's biggest animal rights demonstration against dolphin slaughter
PROTESTERS want to hold the world's biggest animal rights demonstration in opposition to the "barbaric" slaughter of dolphins in Japan.
Campaigners claim that up to 20,000 dolphins, whales and porpoises are killed each year in an annual tradition at the Taiji Cove.
The hunts are conducted between September and March and this year the Japanese government allegedly authorised 16,000 sea creatures to be killed.
Demonstrators will be gathering on November 7 outside the Japanese embassy in London to protest the "atrocious" tradition.
Some 20 000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales are slaughtered each year
The organisers said: "Some 20 000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales are slaughtered each year which occurs in Japan every year between September and March.
"The Japanese government maintain that Taiji is part of a cultural tradition, and yet the evidence is clear that this is a commercially driven endeavour, with the animals ending up in captivity, on the food market, or simply left injured in the oceans to die.
"This tradition has been going for as little as forty years.
"Unlike whales, dolphins do not have an international organisation to offer them protection, so it really is down to us - the people of the international community to care enough to take action for these animals which scientists are increasingly discovering to be highly intelligent, emotional and social beings."
Protesters want dolphins to be afforded the same protection that whales receive across the globe.
Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 but a number of countries, including Japan, have campaigned for this to be lifted.
The demonstration, which will begin at midday, is hoped to attract around 1,000 protesters.
Among them will be activist Richard O'Barry, who starred in the award winning documentary The Cove.
The movie, filmed across five years, looked at the hunting of dolphins in Japan's Taiji Cove.
• For more information on the protest CLICK HERE