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Japanese Government is Protecting the Cruel Dolphin HuntThe "Act for Dolphins" is trying to put an end to this barbaric practice |
By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor
26th of September 2006, 13:19 GMT
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The Japanese practice of dolphin hunt is the target of a campaign run by scientists and zoo and aquarium professionals with the goal of stopping it. The campaign will be made through public awareness and by appealing to the government of Japan.
The "Act for Dolphins" campaign includes members from The New York Aquarium, Emory University, and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
They say that the hunts, in which thousands of dolphins are slaughtered every year, are inhumane by any ethical standard and should be stopped immediately. The dolphin hunts occur every year from September to April and are regulated by the Japanese government.
Groups of fishermen herd the dolphins and other small cetaceans into shallow bays by making noise with partially submerged rods that create a sonic barrier to these ultrasound emitting mammals. The dolphins get
trapped into nets and killed in a brutally: speared, hooked, lifted into the air by their tails, and finally eviscerated alive.
The death is long and painful for these intelligent creatures. The Japanese government sustains the unsupported claim that the dolphins compete with local fishermen for low supplies of fish and the hunt is a pest control campaign.
The government is actually encouraging the public to consume more dolphin meat in spite of the fact that the hunting of dolphins and use of their meat has dropped in popularity. Dolphin meat is also used as pet food and fertilizer.
During the drive hunts many live dolphins are captured for aquariums and interactive swim programs in Japan and China, in direct violation of the Code of Ethics maintained by WAZA. "The Japanese dolphin drive hunts are an abominable violation of any standard of animal welfare, and these hunts inflict measurable pain and suffering on animals that are intelligent, sentient, and socially complex," said Dr. Diana Reiss, Senior Research Scientist and Director of the New York Aquarium's Marine Mammal Research Program.
Scientific data indicates that dolphins have the mental and emotional capacities for pain and suffering similar to apes and humans, an issue that supports the ethical argument to stop the hunt. Studies of dolphins revealed they have social traditions and cultures, complex interdependent relationships, and strong family ties - all of which are susceptible to perturbation or even disappearance in the drives.
"The scientific evidence is abundantly clear--the Japanese dolphin hunts are an assault on intelligent, sentient, and emotional beings with brains that should make us all stop and think" said Dr. Lori Marino, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University.
Besides bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which make up the bulk of the annual slaughter, the hunts also include striped dolphins (Stenella caeuleoalba), spotted dolphins (Stenella atenuata), Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus), false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), and short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). Many of these species, like pilot whale, are included on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species.
Growing criticism has risen from relevant organizations on both conservation and welfare grounds, including the International Whaling Commission (IWC), the treaty organization that regulates the hunting of the great whale species.
Photo credit: Hardy Jones/ELSA Nature Conservancy
In photo: one bottlenose dolphin and two false killer whales killed in Futo village
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Fair (2.7/5) |
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User opinions: |
| Comment #1 by: Mackenzie Shultis on 24 Jan 2008, 14:24 GMT |  reply to this comment | Why are they protecting dolphin hunts, we may never know. It could just be for Japan's own entertainment, but what we should be protecting is the dolphins. What have they done to deserve this? I don't know how any one could sleep at night without knowing the truth, so we need to hlp the dolphins. How will they do any thing, thier hopless. All the dolphins can do is wait to be killed, but we can do some thing. I hope the prim minister of Japan discovers what he's doing isn't just wrong, but it's tortorus too. What if these were people, then would we put in an effort to help? |
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