Pain: Blood spews from the mouth of a stranded dolphin that has cut itself on the rocks as a fisherman clambers through the water to catch it
“We will pass the history of our ancestors to the next generation, preserve it. We have a strong sense of pride about this, so we are not going to change our plans based on the criticim of foreigners”
The source is the Daily Mail and the words came from Taiji Mayor, Kazutaka Sangen. He told the Associated Press that his community take great pride in the hunt. This was uploaded by Ric Barry on 8th Feb 2011. The latter is an American initially famous in the 1960s for capturing and training the five dolphins that were used in the well-known TV series Flipper. However a key event made O’Barry switch paths from training dolphins in captivity to combating the captivity industry. Kathy, one of the Flipper dolphins, died in his arms. O’Barry believes that Kathy committed suicide
After the Oscar winning documentary, The Cove, in which O’Barry was featured, exposed the cetacean killings in 2009, Japanese officials insisted that they were slaughtered humanely as a source of meat. They argued that their method of driving a spike into the dolphins’ spinal cord killed them immediately and painlessly.
However, a secret video was shot opposite the cove by the US group “Save Japan Dolphins” and it revealed that the fishermen try to conceal the barbaric killings underneath a blue and green tarpaulin cover. I call this the appalling tarpaulin. Underneath these tarapulins a horror story scenario unfolds with dolphins/whales thrashing around in a panic stricken frenzy as they are pushed towards cliffs. Hunters plunge a spike into the dolphin’s back and then jam a wooden plug into the animal in an attempt to stop the blood flowing into the sea to turn it red. The cetaceans do not die instantly otherwise the next step would be unnecessary. They tie the fins and push the dolphin under the water to drown it. The victims are then entangled in nets and dragged towards a boat.
Does this sound like a humane method of killing? If it is, why are they covering it up with the appalling tarpaulins?
What would happen to the Taiji economy if drive hunting stopped?
“Tourism For Taiji” is a site that was founded to demonstrate interest in eco-tourism at Taiji as a viable replacement to the dolphin and whale slaughter as a means to drive the local economy. They can be found on Twitter @tourism4taiji. This is what they had to say earlier today :
“When we were in Taiji in October, Dolphin Base (one of the swim with dolphin facilities and primary dolphin training group in Taiji) were recruiting for new trainers. Minibuses of eager teenagers were turning up at Dolphin Base and going through some kind of selection process. We now realise that they were preparing to ramp-up their training activities because they were planning to take more dolphins into captivity than they had ever before. They just had to wait for the hunters to come across a large pod and drive them into The Cove, which is what happened this week.A dolphin sold for meat is worth $700, a dolphin trained up is worth at least $30,000 and up to $150,000 (and even $250,000 if it is a rare species, and pretty “specimen”).This is a huge difference in price and why it is really the aquarium industry that is supporting the dolphin economy in Taiji.
Once the hunters have gone to the effort of driving in a pod, they may as well kill the “rejected” dolphins and get their $700 per dolphin. However, the $700 per dolphin would not support the large scale investment required to maintain the dolphin hunting fleet, fuel, labour, etc at the size it currently is.
Therefore, the most significant thing you can do to help dolphins in Taiji is to educate people not to go to aquariums and not support the industry that is making it financially viable to hunt dolphins in Taiji.
Please do everything you can to spread this message.”
For an excellent examination of the issue, copy and paste this link “Driven by Demand: Dolphin drive hunts in Japan and the involvement of the aquarium industry.” which will direct you to an article on a report complied by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. April 2006. (July 29, 2010) (go to PDF under header “Blue Voice”)
The conclusion is that the demand for live animals to supply an increasing number of marine parks and aquaria emerged as a primary motivating factor for the drive hunts to continue in Japan.
The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) are in turn members of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). This is an umbrella organization whose mission is: “to guide, encourage and support the zoos, aquariums, and like-minded organisations of the world in animal care and welfare, environmental education and global conservation.”
It is quite apparent that the sourcing of dolphins from Taiji drive hunts is a violation of the WAZA “Code of Ethics” that recognizes respect for the animals in its care, opposes “cruel and nonselective methods of taking animals from the wild”
It states that “Members must be confident that such acquisitions will not have a deleterious effect upon the wild population.” In October 2005, seemingly in response to increasing pressure from environmental organizations and concerned scientists, the WAZA issued a statement to its members, reminding them to “ensure that they do not accept animals obtained by the use of methods which are inherently cruel”, and noting that: “the catching of dolphins by the use of a method known as ‘drive fishing’ is considered an example of such a non acceptable capture method.” It was hoped that this statement could be used to impose sanctions against any WAZA members that knowingly procure dolphins from the drive hunts
It states that “Members must be confident that such acquisitions will not have a deleterious effect upon the wild population.” In October 2005, seemingly in response to increasing pressure from environmental organizations and concerned scientists, the WAZA issued a statement to its members, reminding them to “ensure that they do not accept animals obtained by the use of methods which are inherently cruel”, and noting that: “the catching of dolphins by the use of a method known as ‘drive fishing’ is considered an example of such a non acceptable capture method.” It was hoped that this statement could be used to impose sanctions against any WAZA members that knowingly procure dolphins from the drive hunts
It is known that a growing number of aquaria from Japan and several other countries have sourced live dolphins from Japan’s drive hunts. The huge payments for these animals represent a key financial incentive to continue an industry that might otherwise be non viable. The sale of captive cetaceans are propping up the drive hunts. Therefore there is a direct correlation between the purchase of live cetaceans by aquaria, the threatened survival of discrete populations of small cetaceans and crucially, barbaric suffering that is inflicted on individual animals.
You can take action. The following provides the contact addresses and an email that you can copy and paste if you wish to speak for the voiceless. This was prepared by “Save Misty The Dolphin”. I acknowledge them for their great work. It does say “to The Mist Community” but I know that they want as many people as possible to help with this cause as it is about the cetaceans’ welfare.
To the Misty Community, here is an sample email that can be sent to WAZA (and modified for transmission to IMATA), with the specific demand that WAZA choose which side it is on. It can be against the slaughters of the drive hunt and NOT accept any dolphins where individual dolphins are killed during the hunt OR it can accept dolphins if it ensures that no dolphins were killed during the hunt. Please feel free to use as is, or modify and use as your own.
Contact Information:
WAZA: The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
WAZA Executive Office
IUCN Conservation Centre
Rue Mauverney 28CH-1196 Gland
Switzerland
Phone +41 (0)22 999 07 90
Fax +41 (0)22 999 07 91
Email: secretariat@waza.org
IMATA: The International Marine Mammal Trainers’ Association
1200 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60605-2490
United States of America
Phone: 312-692-3193
Fax: 312-939-2216
E-mail: info@imata.org
“FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION:
DO NOT PURCHASE, CONTRACT FOR, OR ACCEPT ANY DOLPHINS FROM ANY HUNT IN WHICH ANY DOLPHINS HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY KILLED.
As you may be aware, on December 12, 2012, in Taiji, Japan, a very large pod of bottlenose dolphins were hunted and trapped in The Cove. It is expected that on December 13, 2012, trainers will make their selections for those dolphins that they believe will perform well in the aquarium or marine park industry. The remainder of the pod could be slaughtered for sale per pound as so much “meat on the hoof.”
If WAZA stands behind its claims to be committed to the conservation and appreciation of dolphins, it cannot at the same time accept dolphins from any hunt in which dolphins were slaughtered. If it does, this would then require a retraction of any statement that WAZA was committed to the welfare of dolphins. WAZA cannot have it both ways. WAZA can either:
1. Stop purchasing, contracting for or accepting any live dolphin from the Taiji Drive “Fishery” so long as any dolphins are killed instead of being released in and into the same pods in which they were hunted within 24-36 hours after the first netting off into the initial enclosure; OR
2. Continue purchasing, contracting for and accepting dolphins from the Taiji Drive “Fishery” when any dolphins are killed AND formally retract any statement that it is committed to the conservation and welfare of dolphins, AND release the following statement: “WAZA withdraws its previous mission to be a catalyst for the joint conservation action of the worldwide community of zoos and aquariums, and is hereby revising its Mission to read, ‘WAZA is the voice of a worldwide community of zoos and aquariums and a major contributor to the inhumane Taiji Drive “Fishery” where dolphins are hunted, trapped, killed and captured for profit.'”
But WAZA cannot continue to accept dolphins caught in the Taiji Drive “Fishery” and expect the public to believe that WAZA is concerned for the welfare of dolphins. Please contact me at this email address and the Administration team at Save Misty the Dolphin – https://www.facebook.com/Savemistythedolphin – at once with a response, so that we will know how to advise the public regarding any decisions WAZA makes about the large pod of dolphins now held in The Cove, Taiji, Japan. Further, waste no time in making this decision and contacting us, because at this moment the lives of the members of this large pod are at stake and any delay by WAZA may result in the preventable deaths of these sentient, self-aware beings.
Sincerely,
[your name]”
You can of course use it as a guideline and and create your own email. Thank you for helping the cetaceans.
RoseDixon.net 