A rare albino dolphin has been captured by Japanese fishermen and could be sold for up to £300,000 to be displayed in captivity.
The fishermen killed 11 other dolphins in a shallow cove in Taiji, Wakayama, central Japan, according to members of the Sea Shepherd conservationist group.
They then transferred the albino into a small holding pen where it is being trained to eat dead fish and adapt to human interaction.
Campaigners are trying to stop the controversial annual hunt of the dolphins in the town, as well as the sale of the mammals to aquariums.
‘It is horribly sad to see another albino dolphin taken by the killers here in Taiji,’ said Karen Hagen, a leader of campaign group ‘Cove Guardians’.
It was the subject of Oscar-winning documentary The Cove which thrust the small town into the global spotlight in 2010.
‘This brutal hunt is carnage carried out in the name of profit, not culture,’ said Melissa Sehgal, a Sea Shepherd campaign coordinator.
‘These dolphins do not belong to Japan; they belong to the ocean.’
The group says that 15 pods of dolphins have been slaughtered in the cove since this year’s hunting season began, with more than 170 dolphins killed.
Over four days in mid-January, Taiji fishermen selected 52 dolphins for sale into captivity, slaughtered 41 for meat, and then drove the surviving pod members back out to sea, according to Sea Shepherd.
Despite the use of tarps and other screening strategies, Sea Shepherd and some news organisations obtained photographs and video of the hunt, which helped fuel global response.
Local people defend the hunt which is a long-held tradition, saying it is no different from slaughtering any other animal for meat.
Full story: Mail Online