It’s a cruel sight for anyone who is a lover of animals. It’s also an active display of manipulation on Japan’s population, still widely naïve of the Taiji annual slaughter.
Between September and May, over 20,000 dolphins are slaughtered in the Taiji lagoon, in Japan. Fishermen use a sound barrier to herd and round up the frantic pods from their normal migration waters to become prisoners in select lagoons, namely Taiji. From there, the disorientated mammals await their gruesome deaths, as the Bottlenose dolphins are plucked out from the rest.
The Bottlenose dolphins are selected purely to be sold to marine parks for tourism. They can fetch as much as $200,000 per dolphin. The rest are left for slaughter and sale of their mercury-ridden flesh.
The people of Japan are, for the most part, ignorant of how deadly the meat is to the human population, but it still goes on sale at markets where the meat is not labeled as poisonous. Each dolphin slaughtered can fetch up to $600 dollars, representing a somewhat massive industry of approximately $8.4 billion dollars.
The IWC (International Whaling Committee) offers no hope in finding a resolution either, only offering protection to 9 of the 80 affected species caught and slaughtered and the government offers no protection to those who consume the meat containing the deadly mercury. It’s a disgrace to nature and humanity alike, that no one can afford. [1]
What YOU can do:
There are several ways to tackle this issue and only you can decide the best one for you. First and foremost is to spread the word.
You can also follow any of the options posted here to help.
You can also sign this petition in action here.
You can also contact SeaWorld to show your support for the dolphins and other marine life. Contact info follows:
“SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (abbreviated SeaWorld) is a family entertainment company owned by The Blackstone Group. SeaWorld is responsible for the operation and maintenance of eleven theme parks located throughout the United States.” (Oceanic Preservation Society) Headquarters:
Sea World Corporate Office | Headquarters | 7007 Sea World Dr Orlando, FL 32821 (800)327-2424
[1] (2015). Dolphin slaughter in Taiji. [Oceanic Preservation Society]. Retrieved from http://www.opsociety.org/issues/dolphin-slaughter-in-taiji
Disgusting! Watched the cove and saw this in action immediately signed the petition.
Petitions are pointless, the Polititions don’t care about the environmet or the people they are supposed to be helping. All they ever care about is money. Money, money money it is all they care about. Then nelly why for things to change is for someone, anyone, to say “WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH AD WE WILL NOT TAKE ANYMORE” and actually fight for this.
Human nature is violent, greedy and stuborn. We won’t listen to reason even if we are show indisputable evidence that we are wrong, we push it away and only change when it’s far too late. The only thing that history has proven is that changes human nature is when one fights back against the evil, and makes a srand.
HUMANS need to change
You are spot on, Jericho. When the focus moves from money to what really makes people happy (which is not money), only then will change come about. People ten to be good to each other when there isn’t a carrot being placed in front of them. We’ve heard phrases about the corrupting influence of money. And it is all true. In order to live a life based on acquiring money, a person needs to enter an unnatural, psychotic state. The wealthy are admired for acquiring money. Yet we all have in us the understanding of what makes us happy. If we could all live life, making ourselves (and by extension, others) happy and at peace, then those in power would no longer be relevant. They would no longer matter.
Thank you for spreading awareness about this terrible crime.
Sad story but I got a serious laugh at the part where it says what YOU can do – list of non-options and a sign a useless petition. At some point, these treehuggers have to figure out that what they can do is far more than some symbolic gesture. When you’re soft, you can’t make hard decisions. Good luck with that.
Guys, please sign this petition at change.org to stop this dolphin slaughter, please help, the more petition we have the stronger we are to stop this. please help, here is the link https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-dolphin-slaughter-in-japan
Guys please help sign this petition at change.org to stop this,thanks, here is the link https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-annual-slaughter-of-dolphins
Lets just slaughter the slaughterers.
anyone who kills a dolphin deserves to die.
simple.
now lets hunt.
We could jump in the water with them.Then they would have to murder us too. Do you think they would?We are told not to waste our lives. Should we waste our deaths?
The only problem with Mercury in the meat, is that it doesn’t kill who eats it faster
Using Mercury as a reason doesn’t carry water because tuna has it too.It’s like telling a cigarette smoker they will die of lung cancer.
We must continue to be their VOICE.