** Warning: What follows is a little graphic in its details as to how dolphins are being slaughtered in Japan. ** Excerpt from the Humane Society webpage: What Is a Drive Fishery?
Fishermen take out several small motorized boats to locate a pod of bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphins, or false killer whales (and possibly such other species as pilot whales). Once the fishermen locate a pod, they begin herding the animals toward shore, using the noise of the boats' engines and the banging of pipes underwater. There are some reports that they also use underwater explosives.
The fishermen will then either drive the animals right onto the shore or trap them in a bay. Either way, shallow water is necessary, because fishermen slaughter the dolphins by getting into the water and moving through the pod, stabbing animals to death. The fishermen may set some live animals aside for marine parks and remove them from the water using slings or stretchers. Animals destined for slaughter may be hauled out onto land with cranes, often still alive. The cruelty is enormous.
Want to help? Speak out?
The Japanese media have covered this issue poorly or not at all. Contact media outlets in Japan and politely ask them to print stories about the controversy surrounding these hunts, or consider writing and submitting an op-ed to some of the primary Japanese newspapers including:
The Sankei
(opinion@sankei-net.co.jp)
(webmaster@nikkei.co.jp)
(info@hokkaido-np.co.jp)
(webmaster@jiji.com)
(feedback@kyodo.co.jp)
These "drives" by Japanese fishermen have been going on for years. Global pressure on Japan continues but Japan continues, for the most part, to defy these protests. If this culling of dolphins and whales continues, these beautiful mammals that are vital to our marine ecosystem could become more endangered and even extinct.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, a world without all that which personifies nature and is a reflection on each of us, is a world devoid of soul.
Mahalo,
Dolphin
No comments:
Post a Comment