[NYTr] Japanese Exterminate Dolphins In Taiji Harbor

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

Sea Shepherd - November 11, 2004
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_041102_2.html

Taiji Halloween Massacre

By Captain Paul Watson

On October 29, 2004, an entire family of defenseless Rissos dolphins
was systematically exterminated in Taiji harbor, Japan.  The orgy of
killing lasted five hours as the bay turned red with the hot blood of
the sensitive marine mammals.

Because of the success in 2003 of Sea Shepherd bringing the slaughter
to the attention of the world, the fishermen have gone to incredible
effort and expense to prevent filming or photography of the hunt.

The entire killing area is now shielded from view by massive blue
tarps and white blinds. It is like some plastic cold war wall
shielding the world from the awful horrific truth about the cruel
savages of Taiji.

Even more obscene is the blatant complicity by representatives of the
captive dolphin industry. The logos of Dolphin Base, World Dolphin
Resort and the Taiji Whale Museum could be seen among the gang of
thugs and butchers gleefully spearing, slashing and stabbing the
innocent dolphins.

Occasionally during the day, a prize specimen was selected by a
dolphinarium expert, and the stressed young animal could be seen
inside a steel cage as it was taken away amid the death screams of its
entire family in the background.  The chosen ones were small and
young, hauled from the water and away from the bleeding, screaming
bodies of their mothers.

Taiji has become a war zone. Barbed wire has been strung around trees
to keep people from climbing them to observe the slaughter.   Anyone
with a camera is met with hostility and violent threats.

Taiji, Japan, is a place of horror and death, incredible cruelty and
men maddened with the perverse lust for blood.   It is hard to imagine
such sadistic cruelty can exist, especially in a so-called civilized
society like Japan.

But the government of Japan condones this horror and the media of
Japan ignores it. And the people?  Well, it is Japan, and the people
do as they are told.

The dolphins are dying in the name of this strange Japanese culture
that during the last century allowed the rape of Nanking, the sexual
enslavement of Korean women, the beheading of prisoners of war and the
Bataan Death march.

When will Japan join the 21^st Century and retire their passion for
cruelty and death?

With Taiji, the Japanese can now claim total supremacy in the art of
infliction of cruelty and death.  Months from now, Japanese children
will laugh and clap gleefully as these same few captive dolphins jump
through hoops and beg for fish. Not a thought will be given to the
bloody price paid by the dolphins to capture these enslaved
entertainers.  The sterile blue and sparkly dolphinarium pool will
hide the memory of the harbor filled with blood, dozens of dead and
dying dolphins screaming as their eyes are gouged out, flippers are
torn, and intestines are ripped from their bellies as blood spurts
from their blowholes. All of this vividly etched on the memory of the
young performers-to-be.

Once transferred to his new life in prison at the dolphinarium, the
dolphin is forced to entertain the audience. I can hear a child now,
Look Mommy, hes smiling. He likes us. He must really like us.

In the end it is our collective delusions that allow us to commit
unspeakable crimes, for we humans justify everything we do.  The
captivity industry is quite happy for the masses to go on thinking
that these dolphins are happy and even happier that the public is not
aware of what goes on in places like Taiji.

And the killing goes on.

A Sea Shepherd crew is working in Japan to stop this hunt. It is a
difficult, dangerous and frustrating campaign.  Last year two of our
volunteer crew each spent 23 days in jail for the crime of freeing 15
dolphins and preventing their slaughter.  This year, in punishment for
the international exposure that Sea Shepherd focused on the dolphin
slaughter, all Sea Shepherd crew have been banned from Taiji.

Weve been banned from many other places, but being the only
organization banned from setting foot in Taiji is a particular honor
and a challenge.  It is an honor because it reflects that we have
embarrassed the Japanese nation and it is challenge to find ways to
continue to expose and intervene against the butchers of Taiji.

Visit our Taiji Campaign pages for complete details.

    http://www.seashepherd.org/taiji/taiji.html
    http://www.seashepherd.org/taiji/taiji_video.html