The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums is welcoming the decision of its Japanese affiliates to ban the purchase of dolphins captured off of the town of Taiji.  The annual Taiji dolphin hunt is a bloody spectacle that’s been condemned around the world and is the subject of the movie “The Cove”.

The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) announced that it is forbidding its members from obtaining dolphins from Taiji.  This comes after the world’s leading Zoological organization, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), suspended the Japanese in April over its affiliation with the Taiji hunt.  Reinstatement could come as early as next week.

Conservationists and animal rights activists have long opposed the savagery of the Taiji dolphin hunt, a so-called “drive hunt” in which dolphins are trapped in a shallow cove and then speared and stabbed to death by fishers.  But the Japanese aren’t really big consumers of dolphin meat, and the true money-maker for those Taiji fishers are live animals, caught and sold to aquariums – for as much as $100,000 per dolphin.

“JAZA aquariums provide up to 40 percent of total demand for live dolphins from Taiji,” said Sarah Lucas, the chief executive of Australia for Dolphins.  “The market for Taiji dolphins could be nearly cut in half.  Without demand, the hunts won’t continue.  It is the first major step towards ending the Taiji dolphin hunts once and for all.”