Stop the Dolphin Slaughter!
Every year through
the months of September to March thousands of dolphins are slaughtered
off the coast of Japan. This unfortunate event has gone on for
centuries, unrecognized by the public, until last year when the award
winning documentary "The Cove" circulated the globe. This documentary
has opened the eyes of millions of people, including myself.
In
Taiji, dolphin hunters use a series of boats to heard dolphins towards
the shore using long poles which they hit on the top with hammers.
Dolphins are highly sensitive to sound, and the barrier of sound causes
them to panic and head for the shore. The Dolphin hunters gradually take
them closer and closer to the land until they are close enough to rope
off an area that they cannot escape.
Generally, they are left
here overnight, not knowing that they must face a horrible fate in the
morning to come. Some dolphins die simply due to the stress of being
contained with no where to go for extended periods of time. The rest are
examined in the morning by professional dolphin trainers from around
the globe. These dolphin trainers are looking for the most attractive
dolphins, typically Bottlenose dolphins, to take for their own
aquariums. The remaining population of dolphins are brutally
slaughtered, often times for their meat.
The reason the
Japanese fishermen slaughter all these dolphins puzzles me, considering
how much mercury dolphin meat contains. A very limited amount of people
actually consume dolphin meat in Japan. If my statistics are correct, I
believe it is in and around 1% of Japan. Does 1% of a nation really eat
so much dolphin meat that 23,000 must be killed each year? And as for
that one per cent, are they aware of the risk of consuming dolphin meat?
It has been proven that some of the expensive whale meat labeled in
stores throughout Japan are in fact falsely labeled as they are actually
dolphin meat from Taiji.
This issue doesn't just revolve
around the dolphins, but the people. This dolphin meat was given to
schools where children ate dolphin meat everyday, intoxicating them with
incredibly high levels of mercury. Fortunately, this has been stopped
due to the direct action of two members of the municipality of Taiji.
Regardless, it is still being sold in stores and for the dolphins' and
people's sake this needs to stop.
Please help us keep dolphins smiling for years to come! Sign the petition!
get your t-shirt here: http://teespring.com/savejapandolphins2
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