" Synchromysticism:

- Jake Kotze

February 3, 2012

Fight to End Japan's Dolphin Slaughter Ritual

"While there has been much attention on Japan's renewed hunt for whales in the Antarctic, another hunt for marine mammals is in full swing along Japan's own shores.
The biggest hunt is in Taiji - a town in western Japan which was the subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove several years ago.
Two men - one a former US federal agent, the other a Taiji town councillor - are using very different approaches to try to end this so-called tradition.
When dawn breaks over Taiji at this time of year, the banger boats head out for the hunt.
They are called banger boats because the fishermen bang poles against their hulls to create an underwater wall of sound, which drives panicked dolphins towards the cove, and to slaughter.
Every morning before dawn Mr West leads his team to the cove.
"Right now we're headed into the harbour to go and let the dolphin killers know they're being watched and to make their happy morning less happy," he said.
But the dolphin hunters are not the only ones being watched. Every morning when the activists arrive in Taiji harbour they are greeted by the police.
Troy Coyle, a Sea Shepherd volunteer from Wollongong, laughs off the police surveillance.
"It doesn't really bother me, but I find it really strange. I mean we probably have about five policemen per individual and everywhere you go they turn up," she said.
Locals are also fed up with the activists, but Mr West is vowing not to budge until the killing stops.
It is not just foreign activists who would like the slaughter stopped.
While the pro-hunting mayor and the fishermen refused to speak to PM, town councillor Hisato Ryono did agree to be interviewed.
He is against the hunt, not because it is cruel, but because he believes dolphin meat is poisonous.
Mr West says it is another reason to end the slaughter.
"They're poisoning themselves, they're poisoning their children - it's insane," he said.
Locals, like Mr Ryono, believe the days of the hunt are numbered.
"It will end soon," he said. "The fishermen are not making profits anymore because the meat is not selling. No-one wants to eat it."
Mr West says Sea Shepherd will stay in the town until the hunt stops.
"We're confident that this is going to be successful, that there will be an end to this hunt and it's going to come about through infinite patience, which is the name of this campaign."
But in Japan, even infinite patience, while seen as a virtue, can go unrewarded."

1 comment:

Mike Perry said...

This sort of event makes me feel quite sick. It's beyond me how anyone can do this to any form of life (It's why I'm vegetarian). There's also the likes of seals in Canada that get clubbed to death. With the Japanese I'm sure it is a long held tradition but even traditions have to change at times if they cause suffering.