Dolphin hunt goes on in Japan town despite protests

TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Fishermen at the Japanese town made famous by the controversial Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove" shrugged off protests by animal rights activists on Tuesday to carry out their grisly annual dolphin hunt.

Japanese broadcaster TBS said the first hunt of the season in the town of Taiji took place on Tuesday, without mentioning how many dolphins were involved.

But Sea Shepherd, one of several animal rights groups that have been monitoring fishermen in Taiji since the season began in September, said in a report dated October 11 on its website that they witnessed the second killing of dolphins this season on Tuesday.

They said 14 dolphins were killed, while another six -- mothers and calves -- were spared, at least temporarily.

"Mama dolphin, baby dolphin. No," chanted several Western activists shown by TBS standing near the ocean.

TBS also showed one activist, identified on the Sea Shepherd website as Steve Thompson of the Taiji Dolphin Action Group, raising his voice to fishermen about to leave for the hunt at 5 in the morning.

"Today. No fishing. There is baby dolphin, pregnant dolphin. If you take them, that is wrong," said Thompson in broken Japanese before being led away by police, who TBS said were there to prevent the protests from turning violent.

Taiji shot to global infamy after the release of The Cove, which was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos and follows eco-activists who struggle with Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to the secluded cove where the hunt takes place.

The movie has met with fierce opposition in Japan from groups who say it is "anti-Japanese" and an affront to traditional culture. Its Japanese opening in July was greeted with shouting protests from flag-waving demonstrators and a scuffle.

Japan has long maintained that killing and eating whale is a cherished culinary tradition, and conducts annual hunts under the name of research whaling.

It says that killing dolphins is not banned under any international treaty and that the animals are not endangered, adding that dolphins need to be culled to protect fishing grounds.

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Steve Addison)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101012...DeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2RvbHBoaW5odW50Zw--

Japanese village kills dolphins but frees young
By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press Writer Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 3 mins ago

TOKYO – The Japanese village notorious for the dolphin hunt documented in the film "The Cove" has slaughtered a pod of dolphins but spared the youngest animals, activists said Tuesday.

Most of the dolphins caught by residents of the seaside village of Taiji on Monday were butchered Tuesday, except for two that will be sold to aquariums and six young animals that were released into the ocean, said Scott West, a member of the Sea Shepherd conservation group who is in Taiji as part of a campaign to protect the marine mammals.

Leilani Munter, an environmental activist visiting Taiji from Charlotte, North Carolina, also witnessed the hunt and saw the dolphins being cut up in the slaugherhouse.

"There is nothing to prepare you for seeing it in person. I saw these beautiful dolphins being driven into the cove, and they came out dead bodies," she told The Associated Press.

For years, Taiji has held an annual dolphin hunt which begins in September and continues through March. It has traditionally sold the best-looking ones to aquariums and killed the rest.

But the Oscar-winning documentary — which showed how herded dolphins were stabbed in a cove that turned red with blood — has intensified international opposition to the slaughter.

Activists are organizing a protest Thursday at Japanese embassies around the world against the killings.

Unlike previous years, Taiji has been setting some of the captured dolphins free, probably because of the growing pressure, West said.

The village also has not killed any bottlenose dolphins, the same species as "Flipper" in the 1960s U.S. TV show. Instead, 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.

No bottlenose dolphins were caught Monday, he said.

Last month, Taiji fishermen captured about a dozen bottlenose dolphins, which are still swimming in a netted area in a harbor separate from the cove.

A European conservationist group, Black Fish, said it cut nets in that harbor last month but the dolphins did not escape.

The young dolphins released Tuesday appeared confused, perhaps looking for their parents, and it was unclear how well they will survive, West said.

The Taiji fishing spokesman was not available for comment.

Town officials have repeatedly defended the slaughter as a way to make a living in an area where the rocky landscape makes farming and livestock-raising difficult.

The town has also been trying to draw tourists to see its aquariums, where visitors can play with captive dolphins.

The Japanese government allows about 20,000 dolphins to be caught each year, and defends the hunts as traditional and argues that killing dolphins and whales is no different from raising cows or pigs for slaughter.

Most Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat and would find the idea unappetizing.

In addition to opposing the Taiji hunt, Sea Shepherd has also harassed Japanese whaling ships.

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

___

Online:

http://www.thecovemovie.com/


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012...DeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2phcGFuZXNldmlsbA--

How does dolphin taste? I wonder if it tastes like whale? I bet it tastes like chicken. Everything tastes like chicken.

Love the Fatman

It must taste good and metallic with all the mercury in it. THAT is what freaks me out most.

ShenziSixaxis said:

It must taste good and metallic with all the mercury in it. THAT is what freaks me out most.

Click to expand...

Not all dolphin has mercury, that's a misconception. It depends on where it is from.

That being said, like the fat man, I too would like to try both dolphin and whale. I guess its a red meat?

While I don't agree that killing off the parent dolphins and letting the baby's go free is a great idea. I see where the argument would stand about culling to try to keep the fish population up. Just as long as they do not go overboard and the young dolphins are old enough to fend for themselves and have learned what they need to survive.

I also would be up to trying Dolphin or whale. I would also try seal if I had the chance. Bear is another animal I would like to try at least once.

I like watching Whale Wars because they have taught me how to butcher a whale. I have no idea how I am going to get a ship big enough to go whale hunting. I can only hope my investments pay off big time.

I guess it would be cheaper to just go to Japan and order it in a restaurant.

Love the Fatman

I heard that whale taste like tender beef.

If whale tastes like tender beef then I am going to have to start working harder because one whale would feed me and my family for the rest of our lives.

Aww heck, I will just become a politician and steal the money from you guys. So please start working harder so I will not have too.

Love the Fatman

I'm been following this for awhile and think it would be fine, if they didn't do it the way they do. Similar to how I don't like the general meat industry.

What about regulation like any other wild game? Like limited numbers of tags off seasons no hunting in certin places? I mean look how it let the Whitetail and Turkey population boom?

theorem said:

I'm been following this for awhile and think it would be fine, if they didn't do it the way they do. Similar to how I don't like the general meat industry.

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Hey theorem,

You lost me in the "if they didn't do it the way they do. Similar to how I don't like the general meat industry."

Sorry, Just do not understand - Cow gives birth to calf in grass field and grows up to be a cow. Cow goes to feed lot puts on meat and fat so cow taste good and then cow goes to butcher plant. Cow gets butchered into nice big fat juicy steak. I grill nice big fat juicy cow steak and I am HAPPY.

Sorry, when you said "general meat industry" I should have know you meant the fish "meat industry". I hate them nets too. Give me a nice rod and reel and the Sea Bass and Reds better look out because here comes the Fatman. I did catch a dolphin once, I did not know you could eat them at the time so I fed it my dog and some stray cats at the beach. Live and learn.

Love the Fatman

Fatman608 said:

Hey theorem,

You lost me in the "if they didn't do it the way they do. Similar to how I don't like the general meat industry."

Sorry, Just do not understand - Cow gives birth to calf in grass field and grows up to be a cow. Cow goes to feed lot puts on meat and fat so cow taste good and then cow goes to butcher plant. Cow gets butchered into nice big fat juicy steak. I grill nice big fat juicy cow steak and I am HAPPY.

Sorry, when you said "general meat industry" I should have know you meant the fish "meat industry". I hate them nets too. Give me a nice rod and reel and the Sea Bass and Reds better look out because here comes the Fatman. I did catch a dolphin once, I did not know you could eat them at the time so I fed it my dog and some stray cats at the beach. Live and learn.

Love the Fatman

Click to expand...

Oops, should have worded that better. Have you seen the movie food inc, by chance? It explains a lot of what makes me up set in the whole food industry really. People don't realize where there food is coming from and when cows are taken to the feed lots they fed a corn based diet which is not what they are designed to eat, eating that corn based diet is what causes E.Coli (the bad E.Coli) to grow in their guts and then translates to humans getting sick. If we were to grow them up on simply grass and rotate pastures it would be better for the animals and for us. The way they slaughter is also not okay with me, it could be a lot less cruel, a fair amount of times cows drain on there own blood same as in the horse slaughter industry. I feel personally that there are a lot more better ways to do this instead of the way we do, same with the dolphins.

The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham


Have you seen the cove?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRD8e20fBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k62kc07m1Dc&feature=channel

I guess the point I'm trying to make is there are better ways of doing it and the dolphins they are slaughtering on the Taiji have high levels of mercury which is hurting people, it was being used in school lunches. It simplify isn't okay.

I hope that makes sense.

If we were to grow them up on simply grass and rotate pastures it would be better for the animals and for us.

Click to expand...

Just as a note, I've studied the domestication of cattle and they're not evolved to eat grass and hay. Their digestive systems are "designed" for poor quality scrub grazing on bushes and low branches, which is why they give off so much gas these days - their diet is too rich.

We feed them grass, hay and other substitutes to maximise their milk and meat yields. Let's not slide into thinking that if we roll back intensive feeding methods, we're going to get a happier cow. They'd still go through their lives with chronic gas. We can no longer provide their natural diet because that would involve the foraging range-style farming for which this crowded planet no longer has room.

Any domesticated animal has been adapted by us, for our benefit and sometimes at the animal's expense.

P.S. Just for the record, I'm a keen consumer of steak when funds allow!

I've seriously been considering becoming a vegetarian... and I would never eat whale or dolphin, that's just too far outside my scope of what's edible. To me it'd be like eating a cow pie. No thanks, I shall pass. And I have that thinking for other types of "food" too, like clams (most seafood actually), bleh!

Meat anymore just grosses me out and I don't like that an animal has to die so I can eat it. :shrugs:

Hey theorem,

No, I have not seen the movie "Food Inc"

However, I do realize were my food is coming from and I will agree some or most Americans have no idea were there food is coming from or how it is produced.

Feed lots serve a purpose to put meat and fat on the cow. The feed lot makes more money if the cow has more meat and fat and I get a better tasting steak for a cheap price. Now I could go to the rancher and buy my own special type of cow that does taste good only range fed with a very short grain fed time. However, those cows cost a allot more than me going to the local market and getting a nice taste cheap steak. Plus, countries like the United Kingdom do not have the land mass that the U.S. does so they pretty much have to use a feed lot.

As for "(the bad E.Coli)" if you cook your meat properly you will kill all the E.Coli.

As for the slaughter, the slaughter plant does the best they can. What you need to look into is the way kosher beef is slaughtered. Now I may have a misconception about their slaughter practices but I think I am right. For the record I like kosher beef.

As for horse slaughter, it is just another meat source for people to eat. I had horse meat when I was a kid in public school. We did not know it at the time and the scandal got the purchaser arrested.

As for the dolphins, that is a Japan thing and that is their problem and the person who fed the dolphin meat to the school kids got in trouble with the Japanize law.

I have not seen the movie "The Cove" however I did see a documentary about the guy who made the movie I believe it was on Animal Planet . I think he has the right to say what he likes as well as you do. I only wish the meat was good to eat because I do not believe in wasting food.

Love the Fatman

Hey Em Wright,

I got a nephew and a niece, who are Vegans I think it is called. They do not eat any meat, eggs, or dairy. I love it when they come to the family parties because the wives make special food for them and I get to eat some good veggies dishes with my meat.

Plus I think more people should be Vegans so there will be more meat for me. The only bad side I see is there will be less veggies for me and I like my veggies.

Love the Fatman

For the most part, I'm agreeing with Fatman.



However, I've watched a few episodes of Whale Wars (recent season) and seen the Cove. I watched both to laugh. Both have annoying animal rights activists doing stupid things. That is the way I see it. Sneaking into private land or onto a ship is stupid and illegal, here and Japan. And the reason does not justify the means/tactics.

All I know is that if I was out fishing and some goofball tried attacking my boat to scare me into not fishing anymore... Well, the next time I would have a pistol on my boat for my protection, if they try to take it to violence I am ready... Though I would like a pump and one of those water cannons on a bass boat... that would just be fun...lol

Hey ShenziSixaxis,

I agree with you on that I love to watch Whale Wars. Whale Wars is the best comical show on TV. The Sea Shepard captain and its crew are some of the most stupidest hilarious animal rights activists I have ever seen.


Hey Outcast,

Forget the pistol, I will loan you a AK-47 or a AR-15. I would go with one of my deer rifles because my .308 is good to 800 yards. I would not want those nut jobs any closer than that. The only reason why I would not loan you the deer rifle is because I have two AKs and ARs. It is tough to be a Texas Redneck.