Money Quarrel Leads to 900 Dolphins Being Slaughtered by Villagers

Roughly 900 bottlenose dolphins have recently been killed by a group of villagers who seem to have no issues in admitting that they have only slaughtered these animals because of a money-related quarrel.

The incident has occurred in the Malaita Province, in the Solomon Islands, and has sparked anger amongst conservationists and ordinary folks alike.

Apparently, these villagers' decision to kill the dolphins came as a result of their not receiving some money that the Earth Island Institute promised to give them in exchange for their leaving these animals alone.

Thus, the New Zealand Herald reports that said green-oriented group was supposed to pay these villagers a total of $400,000 (roughly €300,000), yet only provided them with about a third of this sum.

This translated into the hunters having to once again resort to killing dolphins in order to provide for their families, as has been the practice in this part of the world for several decades now.

Rumor has it that, money quarrel aside, this mass slaughter also had something to do with ongoing efforts to sabotage the conservation projects that greenheads were trying to implement in these regions.

“The issue of them going back fishing and killing dolphins was on the understanding that Earth Island has been reluctant to pay the agreed amount that was due to the community,” argued Atkin Fakaia, the chairman of the Fanalei Honiara Association.

“So they just felt disappointed and dissatisfied over the attitude of Earth Island. They went back to hunting dolphin in order to sell the dolphin teeth and meat to earn money,” Atkin Fakaia went on to add.

Despite the fact that these villagers' deeds are understandable to a certain extent, most of the conservationists working with the Earth Island Institute maintain that their actions were “evil.”

“We are very very disappointed. This is a tragedy. It's bad for dolphins. It's bad for the community. It's bad for the Solomon Islands as a nation to have this blot on the record,” stated David Phillips, one of the conservationists in charge of overseeing international dolphin protection efforts for Earth Island.