A letter I’m working on…

To be sent to the following via e-mail:

Embassies of Japan (as many as I can)
Minister of Fisheries (Japan)
Prime Minister of Japan

Updated December 20, 2010 @ 7:16pm CST.

If you think I should update, add, or scrap any part of the letter, please let me know. I want the letter to be as informative as possible, and reach the eyes of those intended.

 

Dear [name],

It is with increasing concern that I write this letter. I respect Japan and Japanese culture. I have studied some aspects of Japan’s culture, and hope to visit one day. Now, on to the reason I am writing you this letter.

I would like to bring to your attention, the annual slaughter of dolphins in Taiji. There have been many accounts of some of the “fishermen” being under the impression that it is part of their culture, their tradition. An activity cannot be called a culture or tradition if a whole nation’s people are not even aware of it. The residents of Japan at large have no knowledge of the slaughter. Understand that I am not condemning Japan’s culture or traditions. How can something so inhumane and unnecessary be called a culture? How can it be called a culture when the people behind it work so hard to conceal it from their own people?

The “fishermen” – and some dolphin “trainers” – net off specific dolphins in different pods (also known as families), sling them up, and send them off to a life of confinement in a concrete tank where they will perform tricks on a daily basis until they die. While they are being captured, they are subjected to hearing the cries of their family as the rest of the pod is slaughtered.

Here is a quick, basic breakdown of how the dolphins are slaughtered:

First, they are driven into the cove by a wall of sound produced by the fishermen banging on metal pipes that have the ends sticking in the water. Dolphins rely on sound to see and communicate, so this method is very disorienting and terrifying for the dolphins. Then, when the fishermen get the dolphins into the cove, they set up nets so the dolphins can’t escape.

The fishermen and trainers then determine whether there are any suitable candidates for captivity (preferably young females), take those dolphins away, and then detain and tie the tails of the dolphins to the sides of the boats and drag them into the killing cove, where spears are driven straight into their spines to paralyze them. They can still see and hear and think. Some drown while being dragged into the cove. Their bodies – some still alive – are then dragged to the gutting barge and are cut up and the meat is sent to the butcher house. Sometimes they skip the barge and go straight to the butcher house.

Most Japanese people living in Japan (particularly the fishermen and trainers) who are aware of the dolphin slaughter are under the impression that the dolphins are killed as part of a “pest” control, that the dolphins are the reason the fish are disappearing. That is not true. Dolphins have existed for millions of years and they have never decimated the fish population. The reason the fish population is so greatly depleted today is because of overfishing by humans. It is an issue recognized all around the world, and is slowly being realized.

It is true that other cultures kill animals such as cows and pigs. This has been a practise for thousands of years and the numbers are controlled. They have been domesticated for many years so that they could be our food, so that we do not have to rely on wild animal populations. Although, the treatment of these domestic animals still has room for improvement. Dolphins are not domestic animals. They are wild. Dolphin meat is not a common delicacy anywhere in the world. There is DNA evidence confirming that dolphin meat is often labelled as whale meat and sold in markets under the false label, because so few people will buy dolphin meat.

Dolphin meat contains about 19.2 ppm (parts per million) of mercury (the lowest recorded was 5.69 ppm). This amount, as you most likely know, is very toxic for humans, considering the highest amount allowed in Japan is 0.4 ppm. Dolphin meat is still part of school lunches in Japanese schools. What will be done when Minamata disease breaks out, again?

Sincerely,
[my name]

 

Sources for dolphin slaughter not being cultural, the methods, the mercury information, and how the “fishermen” say it is tradition and is “pest” control.

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/educate.php

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/quickfacts.php

http://www.savejapandolphins.org/minamata.php

http://www.seashepherd.org/dolphins/toxic-bureaucracy.html

http://www.seashepherd.org/dolphins/the-ruthless-killing.html

http://www.squidoo.com/taiji-dolphin-slaughter-technique
– note the small number of dolphins involved in the study
– keep in mind that severing the spinal cord does not always kill, and when it does not kill it paralyzes, which means the dolphin is still alive

Blogs of volunteers for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, documenting more facts.

http://soundofcritters.com/archives/1414
– educating another Japanese citizen about the slaughter

http://hundredgoals.com/2010/11/26/how-to-kill-a-dolphin-traditionally/
– “How to kill a dolphin traditionally”

http://cwdebord.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/day-1-cove-guardian-report/
– a report from a 10-year-old boy