Hundreds of dolphins getting slaughtered
every year in Taiji, Japan is now at the center of international controversy. While the livelihood and culture of people
in Japan is of great importance, I strongly and firmly believe that it
does not validate the killings of dolphins every year.
Every year, hundreds to thousands of dolphins, which are highly
intelligent and gentle creatures, are getting hunted, captured and
killed by dolphin hunters. The brutal process of captivity instills
great panic, fright and terror among these sea animals. Many have been
wounded and died in the process and young dolphins are forcefully and
painfully separated from their mothers and families. Dolphins are killed
with brute force and skiff motors to be either butchered for meat or be
sent to lifetime captivity in dolphin captive industries, such as
amusement parks, zoos and circuses that claim to be Eco-friendly.
As much as there is an urgent and huge concern for the
welfare of the dolphins, there is underlying danger involved in this
inhumane practice that affects the health and lives of people as well,
which makes dolphins unfit for people's consumption. Dolphins contain
dangerously high levels of mercury that can be lethal to humans when
consumed in certain amounts. Children and pregnant women are especially
at risk to this toxic substance. Symptoms of mercury intoxication vary.
They can range from general symptoms like headache, nausea, vomiting,
irritability, poor concentration and weakness up to far serious symptoms
like muscle atrophy, impaired kidney function, neuromuscular changes,
sudden respiratory failure and death.
Human lives are valuable as much as dolphins and other
living things in our planet. While some of people's livelihood (dolphin
fishermen, amusement parks, zoos, circuses and more) depend on the
existence of dolphins and other animals, it can never be emphasized
enough that there is always a far better process to incorporate them
into our lifestyle. Hundreds to thousands of dolphins held captive,
terrorized and slaughtered is not the best solution and practice. There
is always far better and humane treatment for animals, there has to
be.
With our higher sense of judgment, humans can always do better, can
always choose better. We are caretakers of this planet as much as we are
consumers. I believe we owe it to the world and to ourselves to
peacefully coexist with dolphins and every other living thing in this
world in the best way possible.
It's always never too late to make a change. We can
always achieve progress by negotiating a global ban and limitations on
this terrible practice. The dolphin atrocity in Taiji, Japan has to stop
and we have the power to make this happen.
(CNN) -- Japanese fishermen rounded up more than 250
bottlenose dolphins in a secluded cove to kill for meat or sell into a
lifetime of captivity, U.S. conservationists warned.
The annual hunting of
dolphins at Taiji Cove highlights the rift between conservationists
worldwide who see it as a bloody slaughter and Japanese who defend it as
a local custom.
The Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society first raised the alarm over the plight of the
dolphins Friday, saying five separate pods of bottlenose dolphins had
been "driven into Taiji's infamous killing cove."
The group warned that the
dolphins would "face a violent and stressful captive selection process.
Babies and mothers will be torn from each other's sides as some are
taken for captivity, some are killed, and others are driven back out to
sea to fend for themselves."
By the end of Saturday,
25 dolphins had been removed from their pod and taken "to a lifetime of
imprisonment," the group said. One of them died in the process and will
be butchered, it said.
The dolphins will be kept penned in the cove for another night before the selection process begins again Sunday.
'Panicked, frightened and fatigued'
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society live-streamed video of events in the cove Saturday and posted frequent updates on Twitter.
"Killers continue to ruthlessly wrap bottlenose dolphins into nets and drag them to the shore for selection," one update said.
Another, a few minutes
later, said, "Panicked, frightened, and fatigued, another portion of the
bottlenose pod is driven closer to the shore."
"Killers and trainers tore half of the pod apart today, and will finish tomorrow," was the final post on the day's hunt.
Caroline Kennedy, who was sworn in last year as the U.S. ambassador to Japan,
tweeted her condemnation of the process.
"Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing," she said. The U.S. government "opposes drive hunt fisheries."
CNN was unable to reach
anyone at the town office for Taiji, a community of about 3,000 that
juts into the Pacific Ocean, or the local fishermen's union for comment.
But local officials have
reacted angrily in the past to Western criticism of what they say is a
traditional practice dating back centuries.
Officials say criticism is biased, unfair
A 2009 Oscar-nominated
documentary film, "The Cove," brought the issue of dolphin hunting in
Taiji to the fore with bloody scenes of dolphin slaughter.
The Wakayama Prefecture, where Taiji is,
condemned the film in an online response as distorted, biased and unfair to the fishermen.
"The Taiji dolphin
fishery has been a target of repeated psychological harassment and
interference by aggressive foreign animal protection organizations," it
said.
"Taiji dolphin fishermen
are just conducting a legal fishing activity in their traditional way
in full accordance with regulations and rules under the supervision of
both the national and the prefectural governments. Therefore, we believe
there are no reasons to criticize the Taiji dolphin fishery."
The Japanese practice of whale hunting has also put it in conflict with the views of much of the world.
Japan's fleet carries
out an annual whale hunt despite a worldwide moratorium, taking
advantage of a loophole in the law that permits the killing of the
mammals for scientific research. Whale meat is commonly available for
consumption in Japan.
Environmental activists
warn that dolphin meat, also sold for consumption in Japan, contains
dangerously high levels of mercury and other toxins.
'Stop the cruel slaughter'
Celebrities joined in the condemnation of the latest Taiji dolphin hunt via Twitter.
Former Guns N' Roses drummer
Matt Sorum, who works with the Dolphin Project, posted in support of Kennedy's message, saying he had been to Taiji himself.
"You could be a world hero if you can put pressure to stop the cruel slaughter in Taiji," he said to Kennedy. Actress Kirstie Alley tweeted, "HUNDREDS of DOLPHINS awaiting SLAUGHTER in #THECOVE ... JAPAN, STOP THIS HORROR!!"
CNN first learned about this story through a
CNN iReport posted by Martha Brock,
an environmental attorney and activist in Georgia. "There are activists
around the world that are calling the embassy and the press, but I knew
I couldn't do much, so I wrote this iReport," she said.
Female tourists aiming their cameras at the animals in front of them
at a wildlife center in Zimbabwe had no idea the real "Kodak moment" was
happening directly behind them.
