This makes me absolutely SICK and ENRAGED...
Bad News at The Cove - Taiji Dolphin Hunt Begins
Richard O'Barry was waiting for this, knowing that the halt on this year's dolphin hunt was too good to be true, or last very long. Eight days later than usual, but still arriving, this year's seasonal dolphin killing has begun at Taiji with about 50 pilot whales and 100 bottlenose dolphins being driven into the cove this morning.
Japan Probe informs us that the slaying began around 5:30 this morning in Japan as weather conditions improved.
Taiji's fisherman plan to catch about 2,400 dolphins during this season, as well as pilot whales, neither of which are protected by the International Whaling Commission's ban on whaling. Upwards of 22,000 dolphins, porpoises, pilot whales and false killer whales are taken each hunting season.
Despite how heartbreaking it is to see dolphins killed like this, the kicker of this whole situation is that the meat is sold to a population of people who are for the most part completely unaware that it is laden with mercury (the dolphin meat served in Japan has as much as 5000 times more mercury than allowed by Japanese laws), and mostly unaware that it is dolphin in the first place since the dolphin meat is often labeled simply as "whale meat" in order to fetch a higher price. So not only are the fishermen killing thousands of intelligent animals in a horrific manner, they're also slowly killing people. A sad situation all around.
Luckily, awareness is growing. A significant reason why the hunt is late to start is because of the mass of media on site opening day. With all eyes watching, fishermen were hesitant to get the hunt started.
Richard O'Barry was waiting for this, knowing that the halt on this year's dolphin hunt was too good to be true, or last very long. Eight days later than usual, but still arriving, this year's seasonal dolphin killing has begun at Taiji with about 50 pilot whales and 100 bottlenose dolphins being driven into the cove this morning.
Japan Probe informs us that the slaying began around 5:30 this morning in Japan as weather conditions improved.
Taiji's fisherman plan to catch about 2,400 dolphins during this season, as well as pilot whales, neither of which are protected by the International Whaling Commission's ban on whaling. Upwards of 22,000 dolphins, porpoises, pilot whales and false killer whales are taken each hunting season.
Despite how heartbreaking it is to see dolphins killed like this, the kicker of this whole situation is that the meat is sold to a population of people who are for the most part completely unaware that it is laden with mercury (the dolphin meat served in Japan has as much as 5000 times more mercury than allowed by Japanese laws), and mostly unaware that it is dolphin in the first place since the dolphin meat is often labeled simply as "whale meat" in order to fetch a higher price. So not only are the fishermen killing thousands of intelligent animals in a horrific manner, they're also slowly killing people. A sad situation all around.
Luckily, awareness is growing. A significant reason why the hunt is late to start is because of the mass of media on site opening day. With all eyes watching, fishermen were hesitant to get the hunt started.