2008 Woodie Awards
Help the dolphins
Kristin Menas/Online Reporter
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Arts and Entertainment
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Every year between the months of September and April, Japanese fishermen hunt and kill thousands upon thousands of dolphins. Over 23,000 dolphins and small whales are slaughtered each year - the largest kill of dolphins anywhere in the world.
According to those participating in the killing they are simply fish and sell the meat of the slaughtered dolphins. Some dolphins are also captured and sold illegally in the market as marine animal attractions.
Taiji is the location of this horrific yearly event, where fishermen drive the dolphins into the bay and close it off using nets. They force the dolphins into the bay using long metal poles they stick into the water. At the end of each pole is a disc, which helps carry the sounds of the dolphins as they panic in their net entrapment. This makes the dolphins nervous and easier to capture.
The following day the dolphins are slaughtered using long metal poles with jagged edges. The sharp end of the pole is poked into the neck of each dolphin, and within seconds they are dead.
This is the method, which fisherman claim to use; however, it is difficult to say that all the fishermen use this tactic. Until recently the dolphins throats were slit, but Japanese authorities have banned that method.
It sometimes can take minutes for the dolphin to suffer an agonizing death. There is no effective way, however, for the authorities to observe all the killings and therefore many fishermen ignore this rule.
I bring this topic up today because there has been some media coverage lately due to TV star Hayden Panettiere. She recently became involved in the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, along with a number of other activists. She visited Japan and took part in a peaceful ceremony called a "paddle out" to honor the dying creatures.
According to those participating in the killing they are simply fish and sell the meat of the slaughtered dolphins. Some dolphins are also captured and sold illegally in the market as marine animal attractions.
Taiji is the location of this horrific yearly event, where fishermen drive the dolphins into the bay and close it off using nets. They force the dolphins into the bay using long metal poles they stick into the water. At the end of each pole is a disc, which helps carry the sounds of the dolphins as they panic in their net entrapment. This makes the dolphins nervous and easier to capture.
The following day the dolphins are slaughtered using long metal poles with jagged edges. The sharp end of the pole is poked into the neck of each dolphin, and within seconds they are dead.
This is the method, which fisherman claim to use; however, it is difficult to say that all the fishermen use this tactic. Until recently the dolphins throats were slit, but Japanese authorities have banned that method.
It sometimes can take minutes for the dolphin to suffer an agonizing death. There is no effective way, however, for the authorities to observe all the killings and therefore many fishermen ignore this rule.
I bring this topic up today because there has been some media coverage lately due to TV star Hayden Panettiere. She recently became involved in the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, along with a number of other activists. She visited Japan and took part in a peaceful ceremony called a "paddle out" to honor the dying creatures.
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Kristin Menas
posted 11/08/07 @ 9:46 PM CST
Correction: Hayden was also there in support of Save the Whales Again, an organization also founded to help stop the killings.
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