The horror story of the dolphins being slaughtered in Taiji (and at other towns along Japan’s coast) is well documented in an Oscar-winning documentary called The Cove. Since that film came out, a tremendous amount of attention has come to the small Japanese town with the big ugly secret. The entertainment industry (Blackstone, SeaWorld, Six Flags, and others all over the planet) purchase live dolphins, taking these majestic, sentient and sapient beings into captivity. Selling dolphins into slavery is a large part of the town’s profit, as they go for several tens of thousands of dollars each. In contrast, dead dolphin flesh is sold for a few hundred dollars (a sum supplemented by the Japanese government to help the “fishermen”.) So without the enslaving, dolphin slaughters, like the Grind in the Faroe Islands, would become much harder to justify. Dolphin flesh is very high in dangerous mercury, and shouldn’t be sold in Japan, but is sometimes misleadingly labeled as “whale”. Cetacean activists from all over the world have stood opposed to these dolphin hunters and their vulgar practices. Historically, that has put them at odds with the Japanese “fishermen” and the Japanese government. But now light is falling on these barbaric practices, and respected individuals within Japan are beginning to speak up against the slaughters. We couldn’t be more pleased.
Here is a video, in Japanese (sorry, no subtitles at this time). The video doesn’t necessarily need translation. Be warned, it’s rather graphic.
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