Dolphins are one of the most unusual mammals on the planet, but yet their population is declining. It’s shocking to think that these magnificent creatures were still being hunted today in 2008. Several organizations will not stop this murderous business. These companies are mainly Japanese but also practices that occur in Peru, the Solomon, and Faeroe Islands. These people mostly employ the hunting method of dolphin drive hunting. This is the dolphins rounded up into bays, nooks, and beaches were their escape route is blocked off so they can’t escape.
The dolphins are then slaughtered for their meat [fat], which is sold to the Japanese Chinese and Taiwan’s food industry. The fat and flesh of the dolphins caught have been found to have dangerous levels of mercury, and cadmium. Science has revealed that the standards are high enough to pose a health risk for those commonly eating the meat, and scientists warn that children and pregnant women shouldn’t eat the meat at all.
Not all the dolphins are killed. A few of the more lucky ones are sold to delphiniums, mainly in Japan. This means that the industry is still a very profitable business. The dolphins have been known to fetch up to $150.000 each when sold to delphiniums.
Thousands of protests have been held in an attempt to kill the industry. Some extremists have been known to risk their lives by swimming out to cut the nets were the dolphins are being detained in large numbers. One of the rescue attempts was conducted by American actress Hayden Patentee war she was involved in a confrontation with Japanese fishers as she tried to ruin the hunt. She paddled out on a surfboard, with five other surfers from the United States, in an attempt to reach a pod of dolphins that had been captured. The following protest lasted more than 10 minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach.
While the primitive method of slitting the dolphin’s neck to slaughter them has know been banned in Japan, the animals still suffer extreme distress when in captivity, shown by studies by society such as the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
Bottle-nose and Dusky Dolphins are the main species targeted, but the Striped, Spotted, and Risso’s dolphins are also caught often. The upsetting thing is that a lot of these dolphin hunters are planning to increase the number of boats and depots around the coast of Japan, notably in the town of taiga on the Kiwi peninsula.
Hundreds of organizations are continually trying to get this practice stopped such as the Elsa Nature Conservancy, Sea Shepherd, and World Society for the Protection of Animals and even the International Whaling Commission due to the killing of pilot whales. Dolphin hunting is an ongoing issue that will continue to be stamped out by millions of us, especially Europe and the U.S.A let’s hope all we can make a difference. Thank you for reading
