national

Season's first dolphins slaughtered at Taiji

43 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2014 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

43 Comments
Login to comment

Sickening.

10 ( +19 / -9 )

Well...It is the hunting season in the sea!

-9 ( +8 / -17 )

Wonder if the debate on this will be mature this time or if it will degrade into the usual sophomoric attacks?

1 ( +6 / -5 )

More poison for your kids. Well done! It amazes me that these foolish people ignore the warnings from the WHO. They deemed dolphin meat unfit for human consumption due to the high amounts of mercury and other heavy metals in the meat. Of course the barbarism of the hunt is disturbing, but I find it more disturbing they ignore the health warnings for eating it.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

Japan's going full out of the last couple of days. They're going whaling again despite promising to abide by the ban and despite the fact they've admitted their 'science' is not real science. Now it's back to the slaughter for more mett that no one wants, and with ten times the acceptable mercury levels. So, they'll force feed it to keeps. Neither unt is economically viable, and both should be stopped. The whaling is absolutely unnecessary, and the money given in subsidies to the Taiji hunters can be used to help them set up something else.

11 ( +19 / -8 )

Yeah!! Idiots!!

4 ( +12 / -8 )

I've said it numerous times, dolphin hunting is not Japanese tradition. It is a tradition practiced only in a certain part of Japan (Taiji).

21 ( +24 / -4 )

You have to be absolutely insane to eat blubber and meat of dolphins that is contaminated with dangerous high levels of toxic organic mercury or methyl-mercury which is the second most toxic poison in the world. Mercury attacks the brain, nervous system and penetrates the body very well. It can also deregulate your entire system. Neurologically it can take you into depression, or take you into anxiety. It can make you hyperactive or give you chronic fatigue. All children and pregnant women should not eat the meat at all. Mercury kills.

10 ( +16 / -6 )

There are so many places I would like to visit in WAKAYAMA but as long as this goes on I refuse to spend one single yen, knowingly that is, in that prefecture.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

Gross

2 ( +10 / -8 )

Stop it.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

The horrendous Taiji dolphin slaughter is a barbaric stain on he honor of all the Japanese people. It needs to be stopped immediately and the Japanese people are the only ones who can stop it. I am personally boycotting anything made in Japan and will never set foot in the country for this reason.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

despicable ignorant trash!

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

It often seems like Japan does this stuff to deliberatley annoy. the value to this small town of killing and catching dolphins against the opprobrium of many other countries????/

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Cruelly killing animals for meat which any decent person wouldn't serve to his or her worst enemy. Some humans should crawl back into the sea. Then again, dolphins don't deserve to have the tone of their place lowered.

-2 ( +4 / -7 )

Japan does this stuff to deliberatley annoy

Kaerimashita, Why would Japan do that? Isn't it you people that are annoying Japan? Do you think your country people would stop your means of living if Japan said STOP?

-7 ( +6 / -14 )

This really turns me off.... one "tradition" that I don't agree with.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

roughneck wrote; "Well...It is the hunting season in the sea!"

As a culture Japan fails to understand what higher mammalian life forms are.

Tribal African's are still hunting primates calling it 'bushfood', they have an excuse as their culture is not as evolved as Japan.

There is no excuse for this behaviour as Japanese are highly educated. However unfortunately wilfully blind to the slaughter of sentient mammals.

This unevolved slaughter started in the belief Dolphins reduced the local fish stock.

Today biologist understand it is humans removal of the large fish who were breeding stock that has brought fish species to the brink of extinction or worse.

Dolphins do not predate large fish breeders.^

The Taiji belief is just mythology. The projection of blame onto the sentient Dolphins living in harmony and integrating with their ecosystem as we should.

That by any measure is far more uninvolved behaviour than tribal Africans killing primates to eat.

^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin#Feeding

0 ( +4 / -4 )

For me, whaling and dolphin fishing in Japan isn't really about the killing or consumption of animals; it's just another "pork barrel" scheme, designed to keep aging, failing economies in rural/coastal areas "afloat" (pardon the pun) in industries artificially created and/or maintained by government support and subsidies. Hardly anyone in Japan eats whale or dolphin meat, so this is just poor governorship. The government should really be looking into sustainable, profitable and relevant schemes to revitalise these areas, such as eco-tourism, genuine whaling research and other related schemes.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

They'd make more money from dolphin-watching, and earn some respect for the town, rather than it being a byword for slaughter.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

While I personally consider small cetaceans like dolphins to be far more intelligent than large baileen whales which are nothing more than cows of the sea, there isn't much I can say about this limited practice, The Pilot Whales which are harvested in he Faroes Islands "grind" are also large porpoises, basically dolphins despite the misnomer, If the practice is legal there who am I to complain. If the mercury content is high well that's THEIR problem, for their health departments and appropriate authorities to address. If you think Japan is not sensitive to such issues look up "Minamata". As for getting bent out of shape over dolphins I find there are other issues of this vein that hit much closer to home and should be addressed by the world. http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/22/world/asia/china-yulin-dog-meat-festival/

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Novenachama

You have to be absolutely insane to eat blubber and meat of dolphins that is contaminated with dangerous high levels of toxic organic mercury or methyl-mercury which is the second most toxic poison in the world. Mercury attacks the brain

Too late ! Their brains have been attacked beyond "repair"... that's why they keep on keeping on...

0 ( +5 / -5 )

They'd make more money from dolphin-watching

How do you know that for a fact?

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

sometimes i wonder about the origin of the writing here- and giving credence to sea shepherd

read the article in Wikipedia - it disputes much of the misinformation put forth here including high mercury levels, early deaths etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_dolphin_drive_hunt

the photos with lots of blood are the old culling method- but it came from the film and so makes great press, shame that everyone continues to think they still use that technique.

the current method is probably better.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

What ? " The local fishermen’s association said they could not immediately confirm the report." ?? When Cove Guardians and Dolphin Project are there live streaming and photographing every moment of this very sad and tragic time, sorry but the world has it's sad confirmation. We are allowing the raping of our oceans, some say slowly we are killing it, no, it is happening quickly and it is a slow death of which there will be no return if something is not done to stop it ! With every one dolphin taken from it's home thousands are being denied life - you kill the future generations of the next born. This goes not just for the dolphins, but the whales too. Why don't people there look at the bigger picture, look towards the future ?! And in doing so they allow the poisoning of their people by the consumption of this toxic meat ! No this is not an attack against the Japanese people, it is a campaign against the act of slaughter, the taking of these animals to be sold into a lifetime of captivity ! These are NOT Japanese dolphins, they do not belong to them - they are dolphins on their natural migration route which just sadly for them happens to take them past Taiji. Such a pity that these fishermen are so blinded by greed that they cannot see the amazing family bonds these animals have - that they fight so hard for their lives and the lives of their family members - a bond that keeps them together even when faced with the barbaric treatment they are subjected to - and ultimate death for most and the kidnapping of the few 'pretty' ones to be sold. Hummm, the human animal. We alone are to blame for the cruel destruction of this planet and those who live on her !

0 ( +5 / -5 )

@Mary Alice Petch-Pollard

When Cove Guardians and Dolphin Project are there live streaming and photographing every moment of this very sad and tragic time, sorry but the world has it's sad confirmation. We are allowing the raping of our oceans

Just not to be one-sided, here are short clips of your Cove Guardians and whatnot in Taiji being interviewed and videotaped while fully expressing Western ethnocentrism and cheerfully admitting that bulling Taiji fishermen is 'fun.'

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BxOb0xeytgs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj4j1-rJcVM

How would justify their action in Taiji? Having faith and act upon it is one thing. But there should be a proper way to let the world do what you want them to do. Your Cove heroes are acting pure low class and you are blinded by your faith if you can't see that.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

People eating dolphins also eat cat, digs and rats. Welcome to the Japanese food world.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

praak... there was footage from last year's hunt that showed the divers in bloody water killing the dolphins with brutal weapons. That was last year... 2013. Not the 'old method'.

As for the dolphin watching... people from outside Japan would not go to Taiji because of this slaughter. The only money they make will be from the killed dolphins. Now tourism... that would benefit the boat owners, hotels, shops and the surrounding area.

What's better? A town with a bloody reputation for killing dolphins, or a dolphin-watching tourist spot? Hardly rocket science is it?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Yes, Thunerbird2, Don't go there. That's the attitude!

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

3 Thunderbird2SEP. 16, 2014 - 08:18PM JST They'd make more money from dolphin-watching, and earn some respect for the town, rather than it being a byword for slaughter.

I actually think there's something to this. You could make more money swimming with the dolphins. It would be a park but unlike aquariums you charge ¥5000 for 30 minutes to swim in the cove. They would still have to make a racket to drive the dolphins into the cove but only they wouldn't kill them. For those who don't want to get in the water, you can defend the dolphins fish from a boat ¥1500 for a 10 minute ride. You can still catch them and sell them to aquariums. Park would share profit with fishermen.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

charge ¥5000 for 30 minutes to swim in the cove. They would still have to make a racket to drive the dolphins into the cove but only they wouldn't kill them.

That's pretty steep, isn't it? It's a while back now, but in Ogasawara I remember we paid maybe that much for a 'dolphin swim day tour' - a whole day spent visiting a number (three, if I remember correctly) of particularly pretty parts of the marine national park, snorkelling and going up on a tiny shingle beach for lunch, and at one point in the afternoon we hit a pod of wild dolphins and jumped in to swim with them. Absolutely magical. I wouldn't want to swim in a cove (recently awash with blood?) filled with frightened dolphins that had been coerced in by a 'racket'.

Forget the cove, go and see the dolphins out in the open sea. I'd pay to do that again.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Again, this has nothing to do with the barbarism of the slaughter. The meat is poisonous and should not be eaten!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Cleo, that is something I've got to do, a dolphin swim tour. It must be a lifetime ambition/bucket list. I have no idea what the prices are. ¥3000 is probably more like it. I know they charge ¥1500 for 15 minutes for you to put your feet in a pool full of little fish that feed off the dead skin and calluses of your feet.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@Disllusioned

People choose what they eat with their own will. Everyone knows junk food is bad. Have Americans fixed their children's obesity problem? Anything is moderation is fine. Nobody is consuming dolphines and whales everyday.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Wakayama is a lovely place, but some of the beaches are FULL OF GARBAGE, well that is not only a Wakayama problema. That said, DOLPHINS are very intelligent creatures, and they can COMMMUNICATE, but we must give these dolphins the DARWIN award! If they are squeaking and chirping, hey mate, me mum just got stabbed in the head by some crazy bow legged Little old men, then the SMART ones will swim away for their lives BUT the dummies?? Yes, they end up and BUSHMEAT for these old, bowlegged Japanese dudes.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

I'm aware it's their, ahem, 'tradition', but like all traditions they become outdated or no longer deemed acceptable to a newer society.

Hacking up dolphins is one such thing.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Most Japanese don't eat this stuff and probably aren't too crazy about the hunt either. In fact I'm sure there are people in Japan who are firmly against it. What foreign activists should do is try to support local activists rather than play the part of the self-righteous ethnocentric gaijin. They'll probably get more done that way.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@ Elbuda Mexicano at Sep. 17, 2014 - 12:37AM JST Wakayama is a lovely place, but some of the beaches are FULL OF GARBAGE, well that is not only a Wakayama problema. That said, DOLPHINS are very intelligent creatures, and they can COMMMUNICATE, but we must give these dolphins the DARWIN award! If they are squeaking and chirping, hey mate, me mum just got stabbed in the head by some crazy bow legged Little old men, then the SMART ones will swim away for their lives BUT the dummies?? Yes, they end up and BUSHMEAT for these old, bowlegged Japanese dudes.

Wow I didn't know that you understand dolphin language what would not make you think that the squeaking, chirping and squealing was not a call for HELP. I think any logical person would think that was the case of why they continue to come help the members of their PoD!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Dolphins belong to whale species and for the people of Taiji they were the same. Dolphins may be eaten only in the district of Taiji as a local tradition. I have never eaten it. In the past, whale meat was sold at fish shops in Japan. For long Japanese people believed whales were a kind of fish since they live in the sea and ate without any sense of guilt. The time has changed. We have to give up an old idea.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Totally disgusting and one of the things I hate that the Japanese do. It sucks that they probably won't stop any time soon. All I can do is hope that the next generation (the hunters' grandkids, maybe) will see that what they are doing is cruel and put a stop to this nonsense.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

"First pod of 2014-2015 being driven into cove now," the activists from Sea Shepherd, who call themselves "Cove Guardians", tweeted.....

It appears that the eco-terrorist Cove Guardians are making another failed attempt to force the Japanese to do their eco-terrorist bidding.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

@Paul Laimal-Convoy

it's just another "pork barrel" scheme, designed to keep aging, failing economies in rural/coastal areas "afloat"

Very true. I think Taiji is thinking of opening some kind of dolphin/water park to stimulate tourism and the local economy. I would be perfectly happy if they did this, but ONLY if they stopped the senseless slaughtering of the dolphins.

it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered

Cannibalism was also a "tradition" in some cultures, and humans aren't "endangered". So by the same logic, we should trapped people into corners, club them to a bloody pulp, and eat their flesh #DumbLogic!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Now tourism... that would benefit the boat owners, hotels, shops and the surrounding area.

And how much tourism would there be? Would it bring in as much money as the dolphin capture and hunt? Would it employ all the people currently employed in the capture and hunt?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites