Trafficking in live dolphins is on the upsurge worldwide, as dolphins are captured from the wild and put in popular "swim-with-dolphins" tanks in hotels and in aquariums. Many of these dolphins are taken in horrific drive fisheries (in such places as Taiji, Japan, and the Solomon Islands), where dolphin pods are driven ashore and butchered for meat. Only a few "show dolphins" are spared, but these dolphins will bring the hunters thousands of dollars more than the butchered dolphin meat, subsidizing the inhumane hunts.

Dolphins and other cetaceans often die early in captivity due to the stress of capture and the failure of small tanks to meet the biological and psychological needs of these intelligent animals. And many local dolphin populations are depleted by the captures, resulting in decline and even extinction of dolphin populations.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international treaty designed to protect dolphins and other wildlife from extinction due to over-exploitation and international trade. Thanks to the efforts of animal advocates, in recent months the CITES staff have received thousands of e-mails and letters urging them to take action to halt the trafficking in wild live dolphins. But the staff claims that nations like Japan and the Solomon Islands are responsible for their own studies of local dolphin populations. 

Yet the fact remains that neither Japan nor the Solomon Islands have undertaken systematic studies of dolphin populations. In fact, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has criticized the Japan dolphin hunt for years because of inadequate data. Meanwhile, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cetacean Specialist Group, which acts as an informal scientific advisor for CITES, has expressed concerns for the status of dolphins around the Solomon Islands, and that the country has not adequately studied these marine mammals.

And even if they did conduct the appropriate "scientific studies" in conjunction with the hunts, that would in no way justify the barbarity of these hunts.

Please Take Action to urge CITES to help halt the trafficking of live dolphins.