Annual Dolphin Slaughter
Re: Annual Dolphin Slaughter
The hunting of dolphins makes me sick 
and if I comment more on this I will get banned for bad language 
and if I comment more on this I will get banned for bad language -
Sprocky
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Fishermen kill 30 more dolphins in Taiji
2014-01-23 09:00
Tokyo - Fishermen in the small Japanese town of Taiji killed more than two dozen striped dolphins on Thursday, campaigners said, as global outrage over the slaughter grows.
Activists from the militant environmentalist group Sea Shepherd said the hunters were herding the animals into a screened-off area because they wanted to hide what they were doing.
"They continue to use tarps to cover the slaughter, and physically drive the pod under the tarps... to avoid cameras," Melissa Sehgal said by telephone from Taiji.
"You can hear the dolphins splashing below," she said, as the fishermen stab a metal spike into their spinal cords.
"It was approximately 30 dolphins - striped dolphins - that were all slaughtered this morning."
Boats search the open ocean off Japan's Pacific coast for pods of dolphins. When a group is located the fishermen drive them toward the cove by banging on submerged metal poles attached to their boat.
Dolphin sale
This creates a sonar wall from which they flee. By positioning several boats in an arc, the hunters can funnel the creatures into a small bay. Once there, nets are strung across the mouth of the cove to prevent the dolphins' escape.
Activists say the pod can be kept there for several days while some of the more attractive dolphins are selected for sale to aquariums and dolphinariums, who are prepared to pay handsomely for a prime specimen.
Many of the rest are killed for their meat, which features in the diets of a small number of coastal communities in rural Japan. It is not widely consumed and the Japanese government recommends limiting intake because of the high levels of mercury it contains.
"Over 1 200 dolphins have been driven into the cove since 1 September, when the season began," Sehgal said. "Of those 1 200, over 600 dolphins have been slaughtered, not including today, and 149 have been taken captive."
The hunting season in Taiji is to go on until the end of February, according to an official of the local fishermen's association.
Local defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered. They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
They also insist the methods they use are humane and say they screen off the killing area for the same reasons that abattoirs do not advertise the slaughter of mammals.
- AFP
Tokyo - Fishermen in the small Japanese town of Taiji killed more than two dozen striped dolphins on Thursday, campaigners said, as global outrage over the slaughter grows.
Activists from the militant environmentalist group Sea Shepherd said the hunters were herding the animals into a screened-off area because they wanted to hide what they were doing.
"They continue to use tarps to cover the slaughter, and physically drive the pod under the tarps... to avoid cameras," Melissa Sehgal said by telephone from Taiji.
"You can hear the dolphins splashing below," she said, as the fishermen stab a metal spike into their spinal cords.
"It was approximately 30 dolphins - striped dolphins - that were all slaughtered this morning."
Boats search the open ocean off Japan's Pacific coast for pods of dolphins. When a group is located the fishermen drive them toward the cove by banging on submerged metal poles attached to their boat.
Dolphin sale
This creates a sonar wall from which they flee. By positioning several boats in an arc, the hunters can funnel the creatures into a small bay. Once there, nets are strung across the mouth of the cove to prevent the dolphins' escape.
Activists say the pod can be kept there for several days while some of the more attractive dolphins are selected for sale to aquariums and dolphinariums, who are prepared to pay handsomely for a prime specimen.
Many of the rest are killed for their meat, which features in the diets of a small number of coastal communities in rural Japan. It is not widely consumed and the Japanese government recommends limiting intake because of the high levels of mercury it contains.
"Over 1 200 dolphins have been driven into the cove since 1 September, when the season began," Sehgal said. "Of those 1 200, over 600 dolphins have been slaughtered, not including today, and 149 have been taken captive."
The hunting season in Taiji is to go on until the end of February, according to an official of the local fishermen's association.
Local defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered. They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
They also insist the methods they use are humane and say they screen off the killing area for the same reasons that abattoirs do not advertise the slaughter of mammals.
- AFP
Sometimes it’s not until you don’t see what you want to see, that you truly open your eyes.
Re: Fishermen kill 30 more dolphins in Taiji
This is the argument that I find totally idiotic!Sprocky wrote:2014-01-23 09:00
They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
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Lisbeth
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Re: Annual Dolphin Slaughter
I saw it on TV and it was horrible 
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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mouseinthehouse
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Re: Fishermen kill 30 more dolphins in Taiji
Dzombo wrote:This is the argument that I find totally idiotic!Sprocky wrote:2014-01-23 09:00
They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
Why? Because dolphins are less numerous than domestic stock? Or because they seemingly have some sort of higher value?
BILLIONS of domestic animals are brought into being purely to be exploited and then slaughtered. In the US alone some 10 billion land animals are killed each year and some 20 billion sea animals were killed for domestic and export consumption. Battery hens, sow stalls, feedlots, male dairy calves slaughtered as wastage, billions of day old male chicks ground up alive as wastage, tails docked, teeth cut, branding, (without pain relief) 'rape' restraint stalls for breeding dairy cows, open canulas in cows, live export in which the latest outrage was 4000 sheep baked to death in one day on a ship to the middle east. Yesterday I watched a sheep transport truck pass me by CRAMMED with sheep with legs sticking out, jammed in, unable to move in 35C heat. They may be on the truck for several hours. No one bats an eyelid. I could go on. Watch 'Earthlings' http://earthlings.com/ without looking away or or even just the first two minutes of 'Samsara' The hypocrisy we rationalise to ourselves on a daily basis is staggering.
Re: Annual Dolphin Slaughter
I get your point Mith, but dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, they possess and audible language, they socialize with each other, recognize each other and they even have casual sex for fun. Dolphins, like for instance whales, elephants, the great apes are "self aware" creatures. This means that when they are herded and slaughtered every individual in the group knows what’s happening. Killing a creature like that in the way that it is done is nothing short of murder.
Besides, it’s not sustainable from a conservation perspective in the long run, unless they start "farming" these intelligent creatures
Besides, it’s not sustainable from a conservation perspective in the long run, unless they start "farming" these intelligent creatures
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Sprocky
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Japan PM defends dolphin hunt
2014-01-25 14:06
Tokyo - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has defended Japan's dolphin hunting and asked the world to understand that the controversial tradition is part of its culture and financially supports fishing communities.
The annual catch, in which residents of Taiji village corral hundreds of dolphins into a secluded bay and kill them, sparked renewed global criticism after US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy tweeted her concern earlier this month at the "inhumaneness" of the hunt.
But Abe defended the traditional catch.
"The dolphin fishing that takes place in Taiji town is an ancient fishing practice rooted in their culture... and supports their livelihoods," he told CNN in an interview uploaded onto the broadcaster's Japanese website late on Friday.
"We hope you will understand this," he added, noting that he was aware of criticism of the hunt.
"In every country and region, there are practices and ways of living and culture that have been handed down from ancestors," the premier added. "Naturally, I feel that these should be respected."
Activists from the international militant environmental group Sea Shepherd have streamed live footage of the dolphin capture in Taiji, which caught the worldwide spotlight in 2010 when it became the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove.
Defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered, a position echoed by the Japanese government.
They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
- AFP
Tokyo - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has defended Japan's dolphin hunting and asked the world to understand that the controversial tradition is part of its culture and financially supports fishing communities.
The annual catch, in which residents of Taiji village corral hundreds of dolphins into a secluded bay and kill them, sparked renewed global criticism after US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy tweeted her concern earlier this month at the "inhumaneness" of the hunt.
But Abe defended the traditional catch.
"The dolphin fishing that takes place in Taiji town is an ancient fishing practice rooted in their culture... and supports their livelihoods," he told CNN in an interview uploaded onto the broadcaster's Japanese website late on Friday.
"We hope you will understand this," he added, noting that he was aware of criticism of the hunt.
"In every country and region, there are practices and ways of living and culture that have been handed down from ancestors," the premier added. "Naturally, I feel that these should be respected."
Activists from the international militant environmental group Sea Shepherd have streamed live footage of the dolphin capture in Taiji, which caught the worldwide spotlight in 2010 when it became the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove.
Defenders of the hunt say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered, a position echoed by the Japanese government.
They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
- AFP
Sometimes it’s not until you don’t see what you want to see, that you truly open your eyes.