Japan’s dolphin roundup biggest in 4 years

TOKYO: An activist group says Japanese fishermen have finished killing some of the 250 dolphins trapped recently in the biggest roundup it has witnessed in the last four years.

A video released Tuesday by the environmental group Sea Shepherd shows dozens of fishermen and divers surveying the dolphins after they were confined to a cove with nets.

Sea Shepherd says the fishermen selected 52 dolphins to keep alive for sale to aquariums and other customers.

Of the rest, about 40 were killed and the others released.

The annual hunt in the village of Taiji received high-profile criticism when US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy tweeted about it last weekend.

The fishermen say the hunt is part of their tradition and call foreign critics who eat other kinds of meat hypocritical. (AP)