London Against the Dolphin Massacre – Taiji, Japan – Event Page – March from Cavendish Square, 12:00 hours, 16 January 2016
Protests continue outside the Japanese Embassy, London (pictures below).
Dolphins are still being captured and killed in Japan’s, Taiji cove – whole pods/families of dolphins are herded and netted in the cove. Some dolphins are shocked with electrodes to subdue them (some die from the shock), so the dolphins can be hauled into boats and transported into a captive life; to forever to be held in aquariums around the world catering for human ‘entertainment.’
Those dolphins that are ‘damaged’ in the process might also be killed, or the slightly more fortunate end up at a later stage in a dolphin rehabilitation centre. The numbers killed in Taiji’s annual onslaught are horrendous, with fourteen dolphins killed for every one dolphin taken into captivity. The final death toll per ‘season’ can be well over one thousand dolphin.
The rest of the dolphin pod herded into the cove and not taken for captivity are slaughtered (with a slow, tortured death of 15 minutes plus) to supply the demand for dolphin meat – this ‘meat’ has been declared too toxic for human consumption, but still the slaughter continues…….
Ric O’ Barry’s Dolphin Project has highlighted the plight of the Taiji dolphin in the award winning movie, The Cove, 2009 and is the leading campaigner for the slaughter and captivity to end.
Compare this treatment of dolphins in Taiji to mankind’s interaction with dolphins off Laguna, in southern Brazil (“Cooperative Dolphins Help Fishermen Catch Fish“) – where dolphins help the fisherman by driving mullet towards the fisherman (and some returning mullet are thus caught by the dolphins). The fishermen wait for ‘the signal’ (a distinctive dive) from the leading dolphins before the fishermen throw their nets. The dolphins are in charge in this co-operation, showing the fisherman when to act. The fishermen’s experience and knowledge is passed onto younger generations – so it must be with the dolphins, the older, experienced dolphins teaching the younger dolphins the skills necessary for this ‘co-operation’ with mankind to continue.
How can dolphins on different sides of the planet be treated and respected so differently? When will Japan stop the slaughter for profit in Taiji of these magnificent, intelligent family orientated creatures, the dolphin? When will mankind respect such creatures and stop subjecting them to a lonely, tortured life in captivity for man’s ‘entertainment?’
“Enough is Enough”
Plus, the Red Cove Action Team that protest outside the London, Japanese Embassy every time a dolphin’s life is taken in Taiji cove……..
Link to previous IWB related articles
Pictures from 18 December, Japanese Embassy, London
