Drive hunts targeting dolphins in Japan and the Faroe Islands raise acute welfare concerns, involving mass capture, prolonged stress, injury, and slaughter of social cetaceans.
Drive hunts cause extreme welfare suffering. Dolphins are chased by boats using underwater noise to herd entire family groups into bays. The process causes severe stress, exhaustion, and physical injury from crowding. Separation of family groups during live capture causes distress. Slaughter methods - including spinal lance techniques - can take minutes to cause death, prolonging suffering. Highly social species suffer additionally from witnessing the killing of conspecifics. Veterinary and welfare scientists broadly agree these hunts cause unacceptable suffering.