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| Cove cover-up ... tarpaulins hide the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan |
FISHERMEN use tarpaulins in a bid to cover up the slaughter of dolphins - as secret filming exposes their horrific killing methods.
Officials had claimed the mammals were destroyed humanely after 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove told how 2,000 were killed every year in Taiji, Japan.
Video: Dolphin killers' secret (Sun Exclusive)
Fishermen said that piercing the animals' spinal cord with a sharp spike killed them instantly.
But video shot using cameras hidden on cliffs overlooking the waters show what really happens.
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| Cruel ... filming shows spike rammed into animal |
Hunters are seen driving a spike into dolphins' flesh before ramming a wooden plug in the wound to stop the blood turning the sea RED.
They then DROWN the animals by tying their fins and pushing them underwater.
Ric O'Barry, 71, who trained TV dolphin Flipper and made The Cove, last night said: "The dolphins thrash in agony for minutes. It is beyond cruel. We knew it was a lie, but couldn't prove it until now."
Activist Dieter Hagmann, who revealed the video for German conservationists Atlantic Blue, said: "The video confirms our worst fears.
"The fisherman work in shielded secrecy and supposedly use a bloodless humane method of killing. The footage exposed the cruel truth."
The Japanese government defends the killings for meat as traditional.
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| An undated handout photograph released by Sea Shepherd Conservation showing Japanese fishermen slaughtering dolphins in blood-soaked water in Taiji, Japan. Though Dophins were herded into the cove made famous by an Oscar-winning documentary, none were killed this year. (EPA/Sea Shepherd Conservation) |
