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The Japanese Dolphin Hunts: In Quest Of International Legal Protection For Small Cetaceans, Rachelle Adam

Animal Law Review

This article sets out to explore the international legal status of those dolphins targeted by the Japanese drive hunts. It is estimated that over two thousand five hundred small cetaceans—dolphins, porpoises and small whales—will be killed as a result, out of a total of over twenty thousand killed annually in Japan by direct catch. It is argued that since we have literally pushed them to the brink of extinction, we have an ethical duty towards dolphins, to stop the cruelty perpetrated against them by man and to ensure the survival of their species. And our ethical duty towards them should …