national

Taiji kills dolphins but frees young

41 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

41 Comments
Login to comment

Orphan dolphins have little chance of surviving. How about letting a couple mature dolphins go free with them?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It is scientifically proven that dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, one of most intelligent species that live with us on this planet. They communicate with each other telepathically and do so intentionally and deliberately. This is something we “superior” humans have yet to achieve. They are incredibly, emotionally evolved with strong family ties and live together in extended families. They take care of each other when they are sick and old. They do not cast out “undesirables” from their pods. They respect each other and all others. They are SELF AWARE, like WE ARE, and do understand they are mistreated and slaughtered mercilessly, and that is the worst of it, the absolute worst of it. They share many similarities and strengths with the Japanese people. They are highly intelligent, extremely family-oriented and renowned for their courage and loyalty. These are all traits that the Japanese people pride themselves in as well. When one of their family members is wounded or captured, the others will not leave them behind but stay, even when they could abandon them for their own safety. They place family above themselves.

When they are driven relentlessly across the sea and into a cove, their terror is unfathomable. When their loved ones are separated from them, the fear and horror is unimaginable. Can you even begin to imagine their pain? Can you for even a single moment, open your heart and your soul, and truly put yourself in their place? Imagine that your family is rounded up. Your beautiful daughters, nieces, granddaughters, sisters, perhaps even your mother, are taken from the group. You know in your heart, that something beyond your worst nightmares is going to happen. Then, the people that have rounded you up and taken you from your homes in the most brutal manner, begin to murder you and every single one of your family that is left. You feel the searing pain of the attacks, feel your blood and you life leave your body and all the while, you hear the screams of your loved ones and see them going through the same thing. You pray that the ones who were separated from you earlier will be spared this, and they will be. They face a different kind of hell. They will spend the rest of their days, enslaved where they will be forced to perform, to entertain upon demand. It is no different than the kidnapping and selling of children into the underground sex trade. Even if you were freed after some of your family was taken, do you think that this is a pain you would ever be able to recover from or is it a pain that you would carry in your bones and your soul, forever? Is their pain different from ours?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

These hunts for dolphins MUST end. The never-ending worship of money must stop. We must respect the Earth and the life within or we will all surely perish. We must ALL learn to live with each other with love and respect. There are more profitable alternatives to the hunts. People do not eat cetacean meat as in the past and dolphinariums are in their twilight days. Dolphinariums are already banned in the UK and the import of wild-caught dolphins is now banned in Egypt. Times are changing and Taiji needs to change with them if it is to not only survive but to thrive! The new generation is much more “green” and environmentally aware. They do not want to see dolphins and such in captivity but in the wild, in their natural state and are more than willing to pay a premium price to experience this. The amount of money to be made and the jobs that could be created to support this eco-tourism is tremendous compared to the money that is currently made. SSCS would endorse such a dolphin/eco-friendly venture and the PR publicity with that is priceless! Taiji would be known as a front-runner in dolphin conservation and education. We all know how beautiful Taiji is. There is no doubt whatsoever that eco-tourism would be anything less than stunningly successful there! At the very least, I beseech you, to please, please, please free the females that are pregnant and or nursing and the babies with their mothers. It is absolutely inexcusable and morally unacceptable for any society that calls itself civilized to kill them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

EmilyP at 06:54 AM JST - 13th October It is scientifically proven that dolphins are highly intelligent >creatures, one of most intelligent species that live with us on this >planet. They communicate with each other telepathically

This is how far I got till I stopped taking your post seriously. No living creature on this planet, including humans, communicate telepathically. Dolphins as well as all cetaceans communicate predominantly acoustically.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am glad that the juvenile dolphins were freed. Even though it is a small step for dolphin preservation it is a huge first step for Taiji's dolphin drive industry. Next step required is gov't legislation for warning labels on this toxic dolphin meat sold for consumption, followed by proper neurological testing on the consumers themselves. That should speed things up !

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If I were so intelligent, you can bet that I wouldn't end up in a cove.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Gurukun > or end up eating toxic waste

0 ( +0 / -0 )

...and telepathically tell my others to stay away...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They should have killed the young dolphins too. It would have saved them from starving to death or being rounded up again and meeting a bloody end. I know the only reason they were spared is so there will be more dolphins to slaughter in the future.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They communicate with each other telepathically .

No they don't!

Which moonbeam did you come down on?

They do not cast out “undesirables” from their pods.

Yes they do. But, what do you class as an “undesirable”?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Gurukun and Whazup..you guys beat me to it...however..we all do feel for them..this just came to me, i can even say a fly is self aware because when Im chasing it around the house trying to kill it I sometimes wish it could just sit still and not be aware of whats coming to it!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

or end up eating toxic waste

Come on, they don't "eat toxic waste". They are at the top of the foodchain and their source of food is contaminated so they end up with chemicals being very concentrated in their bodies. The same thing would happen to you if you lived on a diet of tuna and salmon. The dolphins unfortunately don't have the option of a sandwich or gyudon but I don't think we can blame that on them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Telepathically!!looooooooooooooooooool.That's just made my day.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Glad they let some young ones go. Can't kill everything you see.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If I were so intelligent, you can bet that I wouldn't end up in a cove.

or end up eating toxic waste

...and telepathically tell my others to stay away...

You guys are bad (but funny)...:-D

0 ( +0 / -0 )

JT, please get a better quote system.....I hate to say it, but it's pretty damned clunky.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dolphins are infinitely more evolved & intelligent than humans.

We are in a whole new brave world of trouble when we project onto nature or other species certain human attributes. It ends with people like that guy in the Herzog film who though he could 'communicate' and live with the grizzlies in Alaska, and ended up being mauled to death.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dolphins do not spend their lives doing nothing but having fun and living in harmony with all others, they fight among themselves, protect their harems and chase down, kill and eat their prey. The notion that any cetaceans are any more, much less infinitely, evolved and intelligent than humans is as funny as their communicating telepathically. But I do agree with you that ignorance is curable but stupidity is chronic. The arguments you present do not help the cause of preserving Dolphins as they are erroneous at best and outright silly at worst.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Fishermen cpture fish, but free young" My goldfish are aware.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I have never eaten dolphin. I wonder if it is good to eat.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TimRussert, that guy who got mauled to death by the grizzlies is only proof that Darwinism is working. It works in the dolphin population too. Those too dumb to avoid the cove well meet Darwin.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They communicate with each other telepathically

Projecting onto dolphins attributes and an order of intelligence humans do not possess and cannot verify?

Can I play?

How about this ? - - the dolphins that get caught at Taiji are 'emo' dolphins who go there thinking they are gonna be in the movies.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Patrick Smash.

While dolphins are interesting creatures their "intelligence" rating is being down-graded for some time now. Look at ALL of the Animal kingdom and you will find many attributes given to Doplhins, Primates, etc also present in "lower" creatures.

As far as I can see higher intelligence also results in "pleasure killings", "rape/often gang rape of member of the group", etc. In short they start to act selfish and for their own enjoyment.

As for Taiji they will do what they do and no postings of opinions here will make any difference one way or the other.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They drive an ENTIRE pod into the cove with a wall of sound. Sometimes, the dolphins DO get away but it is rare. It would be nice if you would do some research & educate yourselves before you speak so disparagingly about a species of sentient beings that you are so clearly clueless about.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

EmilyP.

I respect your opinion, but have you ever met/observed a Dolphin in the wild while diving, etc?

I have and I have also seen them trying to have SEX with my Dive-buddy, etc. And I have also seen a Doplhin kill a shark and they would do it just as well do a Human, etc.

There is more to those animals than the nice/clean picture you want to draw here.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"West said Sea Shepherd offered to buy the captured dolphins from Taiji fishermen, raising money through global donations, but that was rejected."

One of the arguments was that Taiji fishermen do it for living.................however, it is a lie if they don't want to sell the captured dolphins. They shot themselves into the foot: they could make money. Now the activists have more money to finance their actions...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"the victims have been risso dolphins and pilot whales, which are also dolphins but don’t have the distinctive pointed noses of bottlenoses, West said."

Wiki tells me these pilot whales are: "amongst the most common and most widely distributed of the marine mammals in the cetacean order." And that the short-finned variety here are the more populous of the two pilot species. Despite centuries of being hunted, at higher cull numbers.

Compared to bottle nose dolphins, they have fewer teeth as they dine on squid. Anyone know the relative mercury content of squid vs salmon & tuna?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'd eat it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

radegastt, I fail to follow the logic in your statement. How did the hunters, who do it for a living, shoot themselves in the foot by refusing to sell their catch to a dubious group, who despises them?

Are they even licensed to sell their catch to just anyone?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Agree with Taj.

They are requested/hired to catch a certain number of life dolphins. As was stated the best looking ones go to the Aquariums, those are usually females as the males tend to fight a lot and are heavily scared.

Same for "Flipper" out of the 6 dolphins used for the show only one was male(tail-walking shots).

Plus, would SSCS have offered a higher price than the aquariums?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Taiji kills dolphins but frees young...

to fatten allow them to fatten up for the juicy kill next year

0 ( +0 / -0 )

radegastt, I fail to follow the logic in your statement. How did the hunters, who do it for a living, shoot themselves in the foot by refusing to sell their catch to a dubious group, who despises them? Are they even licensed to sell their catch to just anyone?

Pride aside. If they keep selling the dolphins to Sea Shepherd, everybody is happy: fishermen make their living easily because there are plenty of dolphins (assumed activists free them) and Sea Sheperd is happy because no dolphins are killed. The public is happy, the image of Japan improves and Earth is happy as well.

Can't see what you don't understand here! .......???

0 ( +0 / -0 )

radegastt, it is naive and illogical to generalize and say that selling the dolphins to Sea Shepherd would make everyone happy. First of all, unless the Sea Shepherds are offering a price higher or at least equal to the original buyers of the dolphins, the fishermen certainly won't be happy. Secondly, whatever the price offered, the original buyers of the dolphins certainly won't be happy. Thirdly, selling the captured dolphins to Sea Shepherd doesn't mean the killings will stop, and until those DO stop, activists (and the Earth, lol) certainly won't be happy. Fourthly, the image of Japan doesn't neccesarily improve if they sell to Sea Shepherd, since it is a notorious group that has been heavily criticised for its irresponsible actions in the past, and is also under scrutiny for a public scandal at the moment. Lastly, related to the last point, if Japan sells the dolphins to the Sea Shepherds, they might send a message that they can be bullied or pressured into other demands made by activist groups, which might not be their intended image.

All of the above are just some of the possible "unhappiness" that might be created by your suggestion. Certainly, some amount of "happiness" might result if the Japanese villagers sold the dolphins to Sea Shepherd, but to assume that it is the absolutely best and only way to do things is both naive and illogical.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Watched on news last night, how a group of people were trying to protest against the killing. One among them was wearing a black Seashepherd tshirt with the skull and all. I was just laughing. If you wanted to genuinely save the dolphins, is that all that you are capable of doing? I hope that atleast they learned from the Taiji people that they never raised their voices, but in a gentle voice asked them to leave. They never acted in a clumsy manner to get rid of the protesters. I am wondering how these folks got their visas?

Instead, the victims have been risso dolphins and pilot whales, which are also dolphins but don’t have the distinctive pointed noses of bottlenoses

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Zenny11: "As for Taiji they will do what they do and no postings of opinions here will make any difference one way or the other."

So why bother posting your opinion? I agree that this charming news site will have little effect, but it seems pretty clear the attention brought to them by The Cove is having some.

As for 'gang rape' and the other things you talk about, why did you bother posting that? Are you trying to make it seem like the people of Taiji are more justified in doing what they do because gang rape exists amongst humans? Very, very bizarre.

Moderator: No further references to rape please.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Jeepers Creepers! How about not killing ANY dolphins at all, ever again? What a terrible thing to let a few helpless youngsters go back into the wild?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I hope they put the dolphin meat on sale online so I can order 50 kilos of it and feed it to my kids and cats then I can cut way down on my electricity bill with the glowing sentient beings in my house. Think I'll scarf down a few slabs myself so I can unplug that night light.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

what was the point in letting the young ones go? they will die without their parents. Dolphin's live in pods for a reason. If they are going to let the young go then they need to let the mothers go as well. In hunting deer you're not supposed to kill a mother. It should be the same in dolphin hunting. letting their babies go isn't going to make things easier for Taiji, they basically sent them to their deaths anyway.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@vinnyfav

I agree that my solution is very simple and sounds naive. But it is very logical and it is solution. Sorry but I don't see any logic in your post and you don't offer any solution only rejecting mine. So you think it is better to do nothing??? Answers to your post: First of all: I didn't mention that the fishermen stop selling dolphins to original buyers. They would continue but instead of killing additional animals they would sell them to activists groups. Secondly: Original buyers would be happy. Nothing changes for them. Thirdly: The point of this solution is that selling the dolphins would be done instead of killing. How many would be saved depends on how much money activists have. Fourthly: The image of Japan would improve. I don't think the protesters at japanese embassies would start to protest like this: "Stop selling dolphins!!! "Start killing them again!" Lastly: Japan is heavily criticized about Taiji problem and they have already sent the message. They are not killing as many dolphins as they used to and they freed young ones......they are pressured! I don't see what unhappiness you are talking about!!! Can you explain me who would be unhappy and why???

And finaly: Don't put your words into somebody's mouth....... I did not say my solution is: "absolutely best and only way to do things" ................. I just offered a solution(there might be many and better ones), while you are just bashing it and whining. .......... instead of offering your solution or helping me to make my solution better.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just so sad. Poor dolphins. And Kyoto wants them for their stupid aquarium/prison. When will this end?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37050396/ns/health-health_care/t/mercury-high-japans-dolphin-hunting-town/ - High levels of mercury found in Taiji dolphins

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites