A CITY campaigner has appealed to people in Worcester to join a fight against the slaughtering of thousands of dolphins.
About 50 people attended The Firefly in Lowesmoor last Wednesday (March 26) to hear Mark Muschamp’s plea which comes after his trip to a fishing village in Japan.
The 42-year-old, who is a member of Worcester Vegans & Veggies group, which organised the event, gave a video presentation about the plight of whales and dolphins.
Mr Muschamp also spoke about his experiences in Taiji where he joined members of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to try and reveal the appalling conditions captured dolphins were kept in.
“The aim of the Sea Shepherd mission to Taiji was to film the horrific dolphin slaughter which would help raise its awareness and increase worldwide pressure on Japan to put an end to this annual atrocity,” he said.
“This year 200 dolphins were captured and 1200 killed for their meat. The dolphin killers get about $500 for each dead dolphin, but are paid as much as $500,000 for the ‘finest specimens’ which they capture and sell to marine parks and dolphinaria in various parts of the world.
“In the past, Sea Shepherd volunteers have been able to free some of the captive dolphins, but, sadly, it is impossible to do this now, because of the large presence of Japanese police.
“The police guard the fishermen as they round up the dolphins, but we were still able to get photographs and film footage to send around the world via TV news and social media.”
Mr Muschamp said he hoped more people would raise awareness of the issue and he added: “At the end of my talk I appealed to people not to attend marine parks and dolphinaria when they are on holiday abroad as it is these places that are fuelling what is happening in Taiji.”
