WARNING: possible disturbing image
Drones have captured horrific video of dolphins being stabbed to death by hunters in Japan.
In activist group Dolphin Project’s most confronting video yet, men in motorboats have herded the pod into a place known as The Cove.
Dolphins jump out of the water, but a patch of the blue ocean has already turned red with dolphin blood. Men on the boats direct the hunters in the water who duck-dive in search of their prey. They grab a striped dolphin with their gloved hands. Blood erupts from the dolphin’s face. The well-practised hunters appear to grab the animal’s dorsal fin and ride it out of shot.
For over a decade, activists have travelled to Taiji, 420km southwest of Tokyo, to film the annual dolphin hunt. Hunters combatted their efforts to publicise the slaughter by erecting large tarpaulins to hide the event from the cameras.
Dolphin Project’s Lincoln O’Barry told Yahoo News Australia that until now, activists had been live streaming from a great distance using their phones.
“We’ve been seeing it now for 12 years basically from the same couple of angles, he said, "It’s very limited and the hunters do that on purpose.
Mr O’Barry said the drone captured an entire dolphin drive from beginning to end.
“It’s heartbreaking to see this and it’s happening six months out of the year, every day,” he said, “We’re seeing it from the dolphin’s point of view for the first time. You really feel what the dolphins are feeling - it’s a much more emotional experience to watch it.”
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