Japan's Dolphin Holocaust The Independent reports on the annual Japanese dolphin slaughter, in which an estimated 26,000 of the animals are killed. In the small coastal town of Taiji, about six hours by car from Tokyo, fishermen kill about 2,000 dolphins.

The hunts are notoriously brutal, and blue tarpaulin sheets block the main viewing spots overlooking the cove where the killings take place, to prevent photographs being taken. Beyond the cove, small boats surround a pod of migrating dolphins, lower metal poles into the sea and bang them to frighten the animals and disrupt their sonar. Once the panicking, thrashing dolphins are herded into the narrow cove, the fishermen attack them with knives, turning the sea red before dragging them to a harbourside warehouse for slaughter.

....Restaurants and shops offer dolphin and whale sashimi and humpback bacon, along with tuna and shark fin soup.

If you're as appalled by this as I am, drop the Japanese consulate a note, at [email protected].  ¶ 8:51 AM