It is happening again. Fishermen are killing dolphins in thousands off the coast of Japan. It is hard to imagine people would kill these highly intelligent animals in such a high number merely for a high profit. There are numerous cases of dolphins saving the lives of people around the world, and dolphins are by far one of the most peaceful living creatures that mankind could ever interact with. However, the people in the small rural fishing town of Taiji, Japan think otherwise.
Fishermen in Taiji uses a method of dolphin drive hunting every year to force thousands of dolphins to the shore where animal trainers would first pick out dolphins that are sold to theme parks and aquariums. One might expect the unselected dolphins to be returned to the sea, but unfortunately the $150,000 price tag for each of these selected dolphins is not enough for the greedy fishermen. Every year, over 23,000 of the unselected dolphins are hopelessly slaughtered for food as they cry for help before dying in a sea of their own blood after being stab numerous times by the fisherman’s harpoons.
Ivy and I did not know of such vicious act of violence until tonight when we watched the documentary, “The Cove”, at a local theater. This heartbreaking documentary left us leaving in tears. If anyone out there who cares about the loving dolphins that endlessly entertain us with their amazing back flips and bouncing of beach balloons, please visit the link (http://www.takepart.com/thecove/) to learn more about this issue and help spread the word out so the faith of these baby dolphins can be changed before the next hunting season which will be starting in September of this year.
