The Korean Ministry of Environment and Namgu Ulsan Metropolitan City/Jangsaengpo Special Whale Culture Zone just announced that the country will be importing two young bottlenose dolphins from Taiji, Japan this year.

Since the opening of the Jangsaengpo Special Whale Culture Zone in 2008, five dolphins have died, and though the details on some of these incidents haven’t been disclosed to the public, here’s what we do know from Sea Shepherd Korea: “When it first opened, four dolphins were imported from Japan, and after two months, one died. In March 2012, two additional dolphins were imported and on September of the same year, one died of infectious disease. In March 2014, one of the female dolphins gave birth to a calf, who died 3 days after birth. Then the same female gave birth to another calf in June 2016, who also died 6 days after birth. On the same year a male dolphin died of septicemia after a fight with another male dolphin.”

Worse than that is the scene where this originates, the Taiji dolphin drives. During these brutal drives, dolphins are taken captive in what is known as the “killing cove.” While some of the dolphins who are rounded up are sold into the captivity industry, countless others are slaughtered on the spot to become dolphin meat. This is not a pretty process. The victims grasp for freedom and struggle to escape and protect their loved ones as a metal rod is rammed into their spinal cords.

Those selected and bound for captivity endure extreme stress as they bear witness to such horrors, then they are treated like lifeless commodities, prepped, and transported to a heartbreaking life that will be spent in a small tank.

Sea Shepherd and its Cove Guardian crew have been battling this barbarity for years, and they need our help to end this. In addition to supporting their efforts, we must relentlessly speak out, inform everyone we can of the heinousness that is taking place, and become fierce advocates against this brutality. Start by sharing this post, following and supporting Sea Shepherd, and calling on the following Koran authorities to spare these dolphins such a miserable fate:

• Korean Ministry of Environment on Twitter and Facebook.
• Namgu Ulsan Metropolitan City on Twitter.
• Jangsaengpo Special Whale Culture Zone on Facebook.

Tweet and leave comments telling these authorities not to import new dolphins captured in the horrific Taiji drives. It is up to us to speak for those who cannot. Share this post and encourage others to do the same.

Image source: Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock