Renewed dolphin slaughter prompts new campaign
EcoPolis
Renewed dolphin slaughter prompts new campaign
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Group cites scientific and ethical justification for ending hunts
As the annual dolphin drive hunts begin in the Japanese villages of
Taiji and Futo, a consortium of scientists and zoo and aquarium
professionals has launched a campaign to end the practices through
public awareness and by appealing to the government of Japan to put an
end to the hunts. The "Act for Dolphins" campaign--which includes
members from The New York Aquarium, Emory University, and the World
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) --maintains that the hunts,
which result in the deaths of thousands of dolphins every year, are
inhumane by any ethical standard and should be discontinued
immediately.
Occurring annually from September to April, the dolphin hunts are
regulated by the Japanese government and conducted by groups of
fishermen who herd hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dolphins and small
cetaceans into shallow bays by banging on partially submerged rods that
create a sonic barrier. The dolphins are then corralled into nets and
dispatched in a brutal manner: speared, hooked, hoisted into the air by
their tails, and finally eviscerated alive. The methods, say
researchers, result in a long and painful death for these intelligent
marine mammals.
The Japanese government has made the unsupported claim that the animals
compete with local fishermen for limited supplies of fish and that the
drives are in fact a means of pest control. Also, the "Act for
Dolphins" consortium maintains that, in spite of the fact that the
hunting of dolphins and use of their meat has waned in popularity, the
government is actually encouraging the public to consume more dolphin
meat; in addition to human consumption, dolphin meat is also used as
pet food and fertilizer. The drive hunts also result in the capture of
live dolphins for aquariums and interactive swim programs in Japan and
China, in direct violation of the Code of Ethics maintained by WAZA.
"The Japanese dolphin drive hunts are an abominable violation of any
standard of animal welfare, and these hunts inflict measurable pain and
suffering on animals that are intelligent, sentient, and socially
complex," said Dr. Diana Reiss, Senior Research Scientist and Director
of the New York Aquarium's Marine Mammal Research Program.
The "Act for Dolphins" campaign involves scientists and veterinarians
from the New York Aquarium, Emory University, the School of Medicine at
the University of San Diego, Dalhousie University, the University of
Hawaii, the University of Notre Dame, and professionals from the World
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the Association of Zoos
and Aquariums (AZA). The immediate goals of the campaign are to raise
public awareness of the dolphin drive hunts , to boost measurable
support through the group's website petition (www.actfordolphins.com)
which currently includes over 22,000 signatures, and to convince the
Japanese government to end the hunts on ethical grounds.
According to the group, the ethical argument for ending the drive is
supported by a solid foundation of scientific evidence indicating that
dolphins possess the mental and emotional capacities for pain and
suffering on a par with great apes and humans. It is also increasingly
clear that dolphins have social traditions and cultures, complex
interdependent relationships, and strong family ties all of which are
susceptible to disruption or even dissolution in the drives.
"The scientific evidence is abundantly clear--the Japanese dolphin
hunts are an assault on intelligent, sentient, and emotional beings
with brains that should make us all stop and think" said Dr. Lori
Marino, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory
University.
Aside from the issue of welfare, researchers point out that the dolphin
drive hunts also raise concerns about the conservation status of
several species of cetacean taken in the hunts, which indiscriminately
target all species of cetacean. Besides bottlenose dolphins, which make
up the bulk of the annual take, the hunts also include striped
dolphins, spotted dolphins, Risso's dolphins, false killer whales, and
short-finned pilot whales.
Most of the species are included on the World Conservation Union's Red
List of Threatened Species. Also, the hunts have resulted in growing
criticism from relevant management organizations on both conservation
and welfare grounds, including the International Whaling Commission
(IWC), the treaty organization that regulates the hunting of the great
whale species.
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Members of the public wishing to support the "Act for Dolphins"
campaign can do so by signing the online petition to end the dolphin
drive hunts in Taiji and Futo at www.actfordolphins.com
(Source: Wildlife Conservation Society)