In March 2015, AFD launched a global campaign calling the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums ('WAZA') to account.
Our groundbreaking legal action in Switzerland argued that WAZA should stop endorsing members involved in dolphin hunting and other animal cruelty.
AFD’s global petition mobilised tens of thousands of people, calling on WAZA to take action against its fee-paying members that bought dolphins captured in the bloody Taiji dolphin hunts. Our passionate supporters took to social media en masse, demanding that WAZA do its job and put animal welfare before profit.
These actions had an enormous impact.
Within a month, WAZA’s Japanese member was suspended.
A few weeks later, in a momentous breakthrough, Japanese aquariums in the WAZA network agreed to stop purchasing dolphins from the Taiji hunts.
Our legal campaign against WAZA had never been attempted before, and it certainly paid off. As dolphins captured for the aquarium trade provide the economic incentive for the hunts, this amazing victory will save the lives of countless dolphins.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reported, “A small Australian group has done what years of vigils, arrests, and even the plea of a Kennedy could not: knock the wind out of Japan's dolphin hunt.”
AFD is a tiny team and it is only with the help of our supporters that we can bring organisations like WAZA to account. Please help us continue this campaign and other effective legal actions for dolphins by joining us as a Dolphin Defender.
