Victory for Whales, Not So Much for the Dolphins

"The Labor Party of Australia has won the election and they have won by a landslide and this could be wonderful news for the whales of Antarctica."

More to this on Sea Shepherd

Have you ever been to Sea World and seen the dolphins? I haven't and always refused to go when friends would ask. Why? Because I have a problem with dolphins being in captivity. This is a very controversial issue in the marine wildlife world.

People love dolphins, but they often suffer a failure of empathy and imagination. They do not make the connection that to bring a dolphin into these preposterously unnatural circumstances requires that dolphins be ripped from their natural environment, kidnapped from their families and pod mates, held in nets, carried in trucks, hoisted into planes and flown to distant locations. Many die in the process. Those that survive are condemned to a life in a cement tank, listening to the interminable hum of the filtration system and the screams of the audience.

If you'd like to see more on this issue, please check out Dolphins in Captivity - The Harsh Truth

In Osaka, Japan:

As you enter the circular confines of this grotesque arcade you see a circular tank 5-foot deep circling a kind of stage area. It's a bit like a race course only smaller. Closer still you find there are two dolphins in this hallucinatory situation. They press close to the glass, desperate for something - contact? food? entertainment? I stand eye-to-eye with one of them. I cannot penetrate its mind and perhaps that is a good thing. The situation is conducive to madness.

Where did these dolphins come from and what was left behind?

The two dolphins at World Ranch were taken from Taiji. Most of their pod mates were butchered and left to bleed to death on the beach. The rest were shipped to aquaria and swim-with programs around the world.

Also check out: Aquarium Industry Spurs Dolphin Slaughters

Following is the link on a video expose Blue Voice did in Japan on this matter. Please be aware that parts of it are very graphic, documenting the slaughters and how these dolphins are captured, tortured, and killed.

Link to Video Expose

It makes me literally ill to my stomach that these people lack such compassion and support these actions. Even if someone is against dolphin slaughters, how can they then support these aquariums, knowing full well how these dolphins got and what they are being deprived of now.

Greed is the motivating factor obviously.

How would these people feel if they were herded in this manner, randomly selected for torture and slaughter, or picked to live in a small holding pool and be expected to "perform" for an audience?

Seriously. Round up these fishermen, keep 'em flopping about in the water struggling to either breathe or to be free. Hang 'em up in the air with threats to gut 'em open like they do the dolphins. Throw a couple of 'em into a small pool and throw them a fish now and then to eat. Then expect them to leap in and out of the water for a paying audience.

(Note that I am not advocating violence against these fishermen. I'm merely making a point that perhaps they need to be given a slight taste of their own medicine.)

Just sayin',

Dolphin