Close the Cove!!

CLOSE THE COVE!: End the senseless slaughtering of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.
By: Eileen Balam
Target: Taiji mayor Kazutaka Sangen
As people, we are nursed and raised with restrained freedom until we learn to become more responsible, which is usually around 18 years old. Like humans, dolphins are nursed and raised by their mothers until they are approximately three to eight years old, then they are free to swim the ocean with no restraints. The slaughtering of dolphins in Taiji, Japan is inhumane and unfair to the dolphins as the Japanese fisherman strip the dolphins’ freedom by capturing them and holding them captive until sold or slaughtered!
In Taiji, Japan, the government is allowing dolphins to be captured, sold, or slaughtered through September to March annually. Japan’s horrendous and brutal secret was revealed through Ric O’ Barry’s documentary The Cove. Within these six months of catching and killing, Japan alone is killing approximately 20,000 dolphins a year!
Whales and Dolphin Conservation notes, in Japan, dolphins are being slaughtered because the fisherman believe “it is a form of pest control” as the dolphins eat too many fish. Along with controlling the dolphins, dolphin meat was an alternative food for schools and hospitals since the demand for dolphin meat was and still is low. Dolphin meat is contaminated by mercury causing people to be diagnosed with ‘Minamata disease.” The Guardian mentions the mislabeling in schools’ and hospitals’ meat was put to an end in 2008; however, if the Japanese government risked the health of children and hospital patients, will they continue to allow the mislabeling and risk the health of every resident in Japan? Consumption of too much mercury can cause many health issues like impairment in the brain, speech, and vision or can lead to minimata disease.
Not only is Japan simply killing the dolphins, they are torturing them to death. As the dolphins are slaughtered, they are suffering as they bleed to death in the killing cove. The fisherman in the documentary The Cove claim the killings are quick and painless; however, dolphins are seen and recorded trying to escape as they are bleeding to death after being stabbed on their spines with spears. According to A Veterinary and Behavioral Analysis of Dolphin Killing Methods Currently Used in the “Drive Hunt” in Taiji, Japan written by Andrew Butterworth, Philippa Brakes, Courtney S. Vail, and Diana Reis argued that “The method employed causes damage to the vertebral blood vessels and the vascular rete from insertion of the rod that will lead to significant hemorrhage” but does not result in a quick death.
We must stop this brutal slaughtering in Japan now because it is now spreading to other parts of the world like Taiwan and Peru! We must force the Japanese government to stop because the horrendous act is not benefitting anyone. Closing the cove in Japan where the dolphins are captured can prevent killings! Please sign this petition to end the senseless slaughtering before dolphins become extinct in the Japanese waters.