Dolphin slaughter

[Kim]

I doubt if the Japanese will stop killing whales any time soon. Dolphins are another matter. It seems to be a dying practice and there is good reason to expect it to completely disappear quite soon.

 

[scubashooter]

Then we have to start working on their cetacean capture for aquariums thing

 

[Charlie99]

Is this move real or fake?

http://www.seashepherd.org/video/futo_slaughter.wmv

Probably real. In addition to Futo, this sort of dolphin roundup is also done at Taiji.

I don't know about Futo, but dophin and whale hunting is deeply imbedded in the local culture in Taiji, just as it is in some other cultures, such as Eskimo/Inuit.

Charlie

 

[archman]

Dolphins are another matter. It seems to be a dying practice and there is good reason to expect it to completely disappear quite soon.

Yeah, I remember hearing the same thing... fifteen years ago. Maybe "quite soon" in this case is in relation to the geologic time scale.

 

[Kim]

Yeah, I remember hearing the same thing... fifteen years ago. Maybe "quite soon" in this case is in relation to the geologic time scale.

LOL. Well lets hope not!
In Japan - this recent video notwithstanding - it's very small now compared to even 10 years ago. The fishermen are finding it increasingly hard to maintain their boats based on the money they can make. Maybe the dolphins are getting wiser, they are definitely getting harder to catch. Many of their children are also not very interested in following Dad into the old family business. Couple that with the increasingly harsh publicity that they get, and the general anti-dolphin hunting attitude of the majority of the Japanese themselves and there is a definite trend developing. As scubashooter said - if the aquariums didn't take them it would fold very fast. A dead dolphin fetches about USD 3000 - a live one fetches about USD 35,000 (figures from a BBC documentary). It's easy to see what's keeping them in business.

 

[Otter]

Akio,

Thanks for posting this. I would hope that people would learn that other cultures do things that our culture does not necessarily agree with, but we have no right to impose our values on them, just as they have no right to impose their values on us.

We (those who have the ability to do so) have both the moral and ethical responsibility to impose certain values upon other cultures (extreme cases include women/child abuse, genocide [Think Republic of Congo, Bosnia]), but clearly dictating one's diet is not one of those. The question of how one imposes its values is open -- direct force is not the only answer and there are plenty of other examples that have been effective.

In my mind, there are at least two significant differences here. First, the resources that they are harvesting are not Japanese resources, but WORLD resources. These world resources are dwindling with the potential consequences that will be devasting to the entire world, not just the countries that are over-harvesting.

Secondly, the resources that they are harvesting are highly evolved, extremely intelligent, and very social creatures. I am not talking about relatively stupid: pigs, dogs, cats, lizards, cows, sheep, frogs, birds, crabs, fish, and the like. As the animal's intelligence and self-awareness increases, the cruelty factor increases.


It will be interesting to note in a few decades whether the world will feel it has the right to impose their values on countries to stop the deforestation of the Amazon, the elimination of various toxins/pollutants that go into our air and water, or any other of a number of activities that countries do in the name of 'national interest' but that have global impact. We may be arguing the fact with out last gasp of air.

BTW. I am not a 'tree hugger', not involved in 'environmental activism' or the like. I am just one of many who have stopped, looked up from their desk, put two and two together, and realized that in we don't change something pretty soon, its gonna get real ugly.

 

[AmyJ]

I have to agree... these dolphins are not "theirs" to do with as they will. It hurts us all. I suppose it would be different if they had dolphin farms where they raised them to eat only. Then it would be their problem ( and I would hate it as much as I hate our farming practices here in the US), but the arguement would be a different one and I suspect we would have no rights as it would be an "in house" affair, as is our slaughtering methods(gross, gross, gross). But again, these dophins and whales are not theirs, but belong to the world community, and we should have a voice in their protection.

 

[archman]

Secondly, the resources that they are harvesting are highly evolved, extremely intelligent, and very social creatures. I am not talking about relatively stupid: pigs, dogs, cats, lizards, cows, sheep, frogs, birds, crabs, fish, and the like. As the animal's intelligence and self-awareness increases, the cruelty factor increases.

Incidentally, pigs are one of the brightest critters known. They rate in the top 20, somewhere in the middle I believe. Other domesticated animals don't make the cut.

 

[Kim]

I have to agree... these dolphins are not "theirs" to do with as they will. It hurts us all. I suppose it would be different if they had dolphin farms where they raised them to eat only.

Actually they do. Because it's getting harder to catch them from the wild there is dolphin farming in at least one of the two places.

 

[Otter]

Actually they do. Because it's getting harder to catch them from the wild there is dolphin farming in at least one of the two places.

Gee I wonder why its harder?

Yes, pigs are smart, but scientists have postulated that dolphins appear to be self-aware....I don't think the same is true about pigs....except maybe Arnold Ziffel.

Farming dolphins? I guess I am not surprised.