Sunday, May 8, 2011

Laws don't always stop people

It is forbidden under the Peruvian law to kill and eat cetaceans, but a large number of dolphins are illegally killed by fishermen each year. The exact number isn't known, but the organization, Mundo Azul (meaning blue world), states that it is at least a thousand, maybe being as much as 3,000. To do the bloody task, fishermen drive the dolphins together and encircle them in nets. They then harpoon them, drag them into boats, and club to death the ones that are still alive. Many species are killed, including dusky and bottlenose dolphins. Just because a law is made, doesn't mean that everybody will follow it. Especially when it comes to murder, of people and animals.

Go to this address for more information:

http://mundoazul.org/habitats-species/whales-and-dolphins/stop-dolphin-slaughter-in-peru/dolphin-killing-in-peru/

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Don't do a swim unless you know

As you've learned in my other posts, dolphins are slaughtered just to get a few into captivity. The few dolphins whose lives are spared are sold to dolphin interaction programs everywhere, including the Caribbean. Thus, when you swim with dolphins, you never know if they came from Japan. If you do a swim with dolphins from Japan, you might encourage the killers to continue the brutality. It might sound confusing how that doing a swim encourages them, but take a minute to think about it. For every dolphin sold at an outlandish price (150 thousand dollars) to captivity programs, dozens are killed for meat. Now, I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad  for swimming with dolphins because most people don't know anything about Japan's slaughter. However, if you do know, think about the dolphins before you do a swim. It was hard for me to give up my decision to swim with dolphins on a Mexican Cruise. I really wanted to be able to interact with my favorite marine creature, but I decided that the dolphins were more important than my enjoyment. I didn't know how they acquired their dolphins, but I didn't want to risk it. I personally wouldn't do a swim unless the dolphins were rescued, but that's just my opinion. I'm not trying to make you not do something you've dreamed about. I just want people to think about the innocent dolphins that are murdered as a result of capturing a few "lucky" ones for captivity programs.

My decision to not give my money to a captivity program will NOT make a difference. But, if many of us decide not to give our money to captivity programs, we can stop the money machine that drives the killings.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Strange when you think about it

When you think about it, the way that they handle their dolphins in Japan is strange. Even at it's small size, dolphin hunting is most popular in Japan, huge numbers being killed in Taiji every year (although several Pilot whales, Dall's Porpoises, and False Killer whales are caught too). Again at it's small size, Japan has more dolphinariums than anywhere else in the world (the United States has almost as many, but it is much, much larger). Most of these dolphins in these dolphinariums throughout Japan probably come from Taiji. In Taiji, they have a Whale Museum and cute little dolphin statues everywhere, but don't be fooled. Also in Taiji, the town sells whale and dolphin meat under the name of different fish species. Also, many vending machines have what they call 'fish' in them. The team from the The Cove bought some of it and tested (not taste test) it. It wasn't fish at all, but dolphin. All of it. Also, you can find frozen whale bacon in almost every shop. When Tokyo residents first heard about Taiji's secret, they didn't like it. Unfortunately, most of Japan has never heard about this slaughter, and are not anything like the Taiji fishermen. They enjoy to watch dolphins, and do not believe in killing them. But in Taiji, you can eat a dolphin while you watch a dolphin show. If they love dolphins enough to build several dolphinariums around the country and make them home to so many dolphins, then why slaughter them? Why not release the ones that are not chosen for captivity? The meat is extremely harmful to humans, and can even cause children to be born with birth defects and brain problems (due to the mercury).When you swim with dolphins, do you know where they came from? No, you don't. Since 1993, no U.S Marine park has been allowed to import marine mammals from drive fisheries, but I have heard from many sources that they do. I'm not for sure if they own dolphins from Taiji or if they support the trade industry. Many sources are very sure that they do and others are very sure that they don't. Some sources say that even SeaWorld and Discovery Cove get some of their dolphins from Taiji. SeaWorld has breeding programs, but some say that they also have dolphins from Taiji. Dolphin Interaction Programs all over the Caribbean get their dolphins from Taiji. Thus, if you swim with them on a vacation in the Caribbean, you never know if you're playing with a dolphin captured in a Taiji hunt. On a cruise once, two of my friends were doing a dolphin swim in Tortola. I wanted to do it to, but my parents wouldn't let me. I was extremely upset, but that day was still a blast doing what we did. A few months ago, I went on a Mexican cruise and I was going to book a dolphin swim on one of the port stops, Puerto Vallarta. After watching The Cove, my decision changed. How did I know that the dolphins weren't from a Taiji hunt? Just to be safe, I didn't to the interaction. As much I wanted to be able to interact with dolphins, the more people that do those swims, the more it encourages Taiji to kill more and more. Think about it. The whole reason of the killings is to get dolphins in captivity. I did swim with Sealions in Vallarta instead, but they don't slaughter those to get just a few in captivity. I am glad my parents didn't let me do the swim in Tortola, because I didn't know the truth then.