Former GUNS N' ROSES Drummer In Japan To Protest Dolphin Hunt

According to The Pulse Of Radio, VELVET REVOLVER and ex-GUNS N' ROSES drummer Matt Sorum was in a remote fishing village in Japan on Monday (September 2),where he was protesting the town's annual dolphin hunt. Sorum is the latest artist to join a growing international campaign to stop the yearly dolphin kill in the small central Japan village of Taiji, which was first brought to global attention by the 2009 documentary "The Cove", in which the filmmakers secretly shot footage of the atrocity.

The movie depicted how dolphins are herded into a cove and speared by fishermen for their meat.

The fishermen say the hunt is part of their village's tradition and call Western critics who eat other kinds of meat hypocritical.

Sorum arrived in Japan on Sunday (September 1),the day the hunt begins, along with dozens of conservationists from both Japan and the West.

The drummer said in a phone interview as he watched the hunt, "Like a bad nightmare, I'm watching it almost like a twilight zone, surreal, looking into my eyes in complete disbelief — what's going on in front of me."

Sorum, who currently leads his own band called KINGS OF CHAOS, said he hopes to organize a rock concert in Tokyo to bring more attention to the kill.

"The Cove" features Ric O'Barry, who trained dolphins for the 1960s TV series "Flipper" but has devoted the latter part of his life to protecting dolphins and keeping them in nature.

Dolphin and whale meat is considered an eccentric delicacy in Japan, though not all Japanese eat it and not all Japanese know about the hunts.

Some Japanese nationalist groups have accused O'Barry and other Westerners of using the controversy over the the hunt to interfere with Japanese culture.