Murder-Free Spree: No Taiji Dolphins Killed for 9 Days...and Counting
After beginning the 2012-2013 dolphin drive-hunting season with a bang—or a slice, to be more precise—fishermen in Taiji, Japan, have gone nine days without successfully spearing to death a cove dolphin.
"Only pilot whales have been captured and killed" in the infamous cove, says Mark Palmer, the Associate Director of Earth Island Institute’s International Marine Mammal Project. "A few bottlenose dolphins have been captured, with some taken for captivity, but the rest released." To date, at least 63 pilot whales have been killed this season, which began on September 1.
Saturday, October 6 was a day off for the fishermen, as the town of Taiji held a dolphin festival—to celebrate whale and dolphin as a food source, not as a species.
As depicted in the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, Taiji fishermen lure thousands of dolphins into the shallows of the cove and separate out the ones deemed worthy of selling to an aquarium. The rest are harpooned and slaughtered for their mercury-poisoned meat, which is sold to supermarkets. Local officials and fishermen vehemently defend the 50-year-old drive hunt. The dolphins killed in the cove each year are part of the country’s 20,000-dolphin quota.
If you firmly believe that Japan should outlaw the killing of dolphins, make the case in our comment section below.
Related Stories on TakePart:
• Taiji Dolphin Drive Hunt 2012: Follow the Tragedy on Twitter
• Taiji: The Captive Connection
• Mercury Poisoning From Dolphin Meat Remains a Major Concern for 'Cove' Activists
An Angelino by way of Wilkes-Barre, PA, Sal holds a Political Science degree from George Washington University. Though he began his career in sports, he's written about all things environment since 2007. @SalCardoni | Email Sal | TakePart.com
