Dolphin killers in a sea of blood

[BagOfCrisps 24]

A big 2/3 page article in the Daily Mail (ahem, someone told me, honest) about Japan killing dolpins in a place called Taiji - an "orgy of violence" with fishermen plunging their spears into on dolpin after another.... some sold to aquariums, but the rest used for food.

 

Now this is the Daily Mail, so a big pinch of salt is necessary but ---- is this true?

[Weegeoff 0]

YES I saw it on TV. They had hooks and just dug them into the dolphins anywhere to pull them out.The favourite place were the eyes All were alive at the time.

It made me sick

[Yuki's Passion 1]

see, its only the cute animals people care about

 

If I could choose to be an any animal/mammal itd be a dolphin

[Oyuki kigan 0]

They do it every year. The bang on metal poles stuck in the water to confuse the dolphins sonar, and then toss them out. Those that don`t die from injuries or the butchering slowly die on concrete.

If you want to kill dolphins, whatever. Intelligent life is intelligent life. But it is ****ing sickening how cruelly they do it.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

>But it is ****ing sickening how cruelly they do it.

 

what about cows, pigs, and chickens? You think the food that is delivered to us at restaurants and supermarkets was done humanely? Pretty sure you dont eat meat (from a few convos we had in Hakuba) but I dont think slaughter houses are any better no matter how you look at it.

 

JFTR, I find it disgusting that people could do that

[tsondaboy 0]

In ancient Greece killing a dolphin was treated the same as manslaughter.

If you were found guilty you would probably loose your head.

 

Aaaaa... good old days!

[js 0]

No doubt the official J-response will be:

 

'It a tradition, like sailing down to the Antarctic and killing whales, or waging war on mainland Asia.'

 

Seems it's all okay as long as they can fill their bellies ... so advanced in some things, yet so pre-neanderthal in others.

[Mantas 3]

Here it is.

WARNING it's not pretty.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjqZi46P8Gs&mode=related&search=

 

I agree with Creek Boy. You could make a similar video with a lot of other animals.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by tsondaboy:
In ancient Greece killing a dolphin was treated the same as manslaughter.
If you were found guilty you would probably loose your head.

Aaaaa... good old days!

an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.
目には目を,歯には歯を
Babaylonian law sounds good to me. Kill somebody, be killed. Rape someone, become a unix. Steal, lose your hand. Im all for it.

[Oyuki kigan 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Creek Boy:
>But it is ****ing sickening how cruelly they do it.

what about cows, pigs, and chickens? You think the food that is delivered to us at restaurants and supermarkets was done humanely? Pretty sure you dont eat meat (from a few convos we had in Hakuba) but I dont think slaughter houses are any better no matter how you look at it.

JFTR, I find it disgusting that people could do that

No, i am somewht aware of how factory farms and slaughterhouses operate, and that is one of the reasons i stopped eating meat.
If i can't condone the way dolphins are treated, why should i condone it with pigs or chickens?

If anyone is interested in seeing the Taiji dolphin 'cull' as well as how humans treat the rest of non-human animal life, there is an excellent documentary called 'Earthlings'.

But be warned, if you can't handle the footage of the dolphin slaughter, don't watch the movie. I cried like a baby both times i watched it.

[tsondaboy 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Creek Boy:
Babaylonian law sounds good to me.

Thats the mosaic law actually.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

maybe but scroll down to punishment:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_law

[tsondaboy 0]

Great read, had forgotten about the Hammurabi code.

 

Check also the Tribal influences section.

[soubriquet 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Creek Boy:
what about cows, pigs, and chickens? You think the food that is delivered to us at restaurants and supermarkets was done humanely?

I don't know how its done here, but when I worked in a slaughterhouse in the UK the killing was done humanely. Cattle were stunned with a captive bolt gun that used a .22 blank to fire a bolt into their brain before they were killed. Sheep and pigs were stunned by electrocution using a device like a giant pair of tongs over their eyes. I never saw any sign of abuse, and the boss would have never allowed it. They were all decent people even if some of them weren't too bright.

[farquah 0]

It is great that this forum brings up such topics as this.

 

The culling of dolphins and small whales (pilot whales mainly here)is not a new thing in Japan however international lobbying and outrage from foreign press has meant that a lot of areas in Japan have shut down this practice, for example at Iki. More recent demand for the live export of trained dolphins has meant that some areas are thinking of taking up there spears again to take calves from mothers.

 

The brutality shown in the vids is hardcore but it is great that there is a media we can use now to open peoples eyes to this kind of thing, so that ignorant denial can become a thing of the past.

 

If you are interested then there is a great site at www.bluevoice.org that has some vids, and articles about the Taiji killings.

 

 

It is a shame that fishermen can`t see the long reaching benefits of more conservation friendly activities such as dolphin watching in the wild. Where money may not be as quick in the pocket straight away there wil be a more constant and sustainable demand for this and the economic benefits longer reaching in the future.

 

THere is an argument that the fishermen of this area depend on such catches for their livlihood and what right does a bunch of "eco Warriors" have to starve them of a living? When money comes in now from the sale of dolphins, whales, turtles whatever why should we forgoe that money for smaller profits now?

 

The answer is that you need a robust, sustainable marine environment in good condition in order to be able to attract the tourists. The challenge, having said that, is getting that message through to fishing communities, and making them understand that welfare and conservation = a booming tourist economy.

 

Bit off topic but exactly the same is true in the Indonesian rainforests. Logging (legal and illegal) makes money for locals - so they think "let's cut down all the trees". So what we have to help them understand is that biodiversity

can also make money for them, through ecological tourism. And it's more sustainable in the long term - if you carry on with logging, where do

you go for your money once you've cut down all the trees, and there's no

wildlife left?

 

Anyway food for thought!

[Mantas 3]

 Quote:

Originally posted by farquah:
The answer is that you need a robust, sustainable marine environment in good condition in order to be able to attract the tourists. The challenge, having said that, is getting that message through to fishing communities, and making them understand that welfare and conservation = a booming tourist economy.


Anyway food for thought!

Exactly Faquah. My town practically survives on it. Coach loads of Japanese tourist visit daily. (some irony there somewhere)

[Oyuki kigan 0]

The fishermen at Taiji could just ignore the dolphins and use their rods to hook tourists through their orifices and drag them in.

[rach 1]

That made me almost cry, heartbreaking.

 

(And yes I am totally against the treatment that some ugly mugs such as normal pigs get too). I don't know how people can get up in a morning to do work like like that.

 

Anyone been to this Taiji place?

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Thanks folks.

 

That video is quite numbing.

 

Do Japanese people generally know that this kind of thing is happening?

[Ezorisu 0]

Just an observation, but the kanji for "iruka" (dolphin) is "umi" (ocean) "buta" (pig). I don't think traditionally dolphins are viewed in Japan with the same sense of endearment they have come to garner in the West in contemporary times...

[rach 1]

 Quote:

Do Japanese people generally know that this kind of thing is happening?

I would guess the answer to that is "no".

Perhaps it would be interesting if we all showed that vid to some of our Japanese colleagues to get a reaction and see if they knew about this. I'll do that early next week and see what they say.

[muikabochi 208]

Showed that vid to a few people at work and friends. They were all predictably shocked at seeing it and claimed to not know such things were happening. One of them yesterday got on the web immediately and started trying to find out more which was pleasing to see.

[js 0]

Firstly, I'm not trolling for an argument or confrontation here, but it seems that a high degree of ignorance is de rigueur in Japan.

 

E.g. people seem quite up on the latest technologies but totally ignorant of world politics or their county's (almost) total lack of acceptable enviro/race ethics.

 

For a country that likes to attach itself to traditions linked with the natural world, its an annoying paradox.

 

What's that all about, then?

[muikabochi 208]

I agree with you SubZero, it can be very frustrating.

 

The colleague I mentioned above has actually done a lot of reading about it and says that he actually plans to write something about it in the local newspaper, it will be interesting to see how far he goes with that.

[69 5]

Just saw this, very saddening.