OSAKA — Members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and other animal rights activists met Tuesday morning for the first time with the mayor and other officials of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, in a carefully stage-managed discussion of the port's contentious annual dolphin hunts.
The annual slaughter was spotlighted by the Academy Award-winning documentary film "The Cove."
In a meeting Japanese media described as tense, Japanese and foreign opponents of the dolphin kills called on Taiji and the central government to halt the practice and turn the town into a marine life protection zone.