I have always had a strong interest in the ocean. I love everything about it; the marine life, the coral, the water, but I especially love dolphins. They are my favorite wild animal, and I believe that we should respect these highly developed creatures. The old T.V. Show Flipper was a start of a mulch-billion dollar smile of dolphin aquatic shows. On the surface it would seem like dolphins would love to perform tricks and do aquatic shows for people, but have you ever stop to wonder where the dolphins come from?

Taiji is a small town in Higashimuro District, Wakayama, Japan. It is located in the southern part of the Japanese Islands, at the tip of the peninsula that goes into the Pacific Ocean. The fisherman of Taiji have a very dirty secret that most of the Japanese population does not know. Taiji host the largest dolphin slaughtering in the world, killing over 23,000 dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales just in one year, starting September 1st – March! Dolphins have a migration path they have used for millions of years goes through Taiji; and unfortunately the fisherman have learned their path. Every time a pod of dolphins swim by, the fisherman evenly line up their boats. On each side of the boat they place stainless steel poles that are flared out on the bottom (like a bell), which amplifies the sound into the water. The hunters then hit the poles with hammers. The racket makes a 'wall of sound' underwater', and the dolphins are trapped between the sound and the shoreline. The dolphins become fearful of the sound, and try to get away from it, swimming to the shore. The Dolphins are panicking, causing them to lose their sense of navigation. The fisherman herd them into a small hidden cove by the Taiji Harbor. Nets are place at the mouth of the cove, making dolphins trapped.

They stab the dolphins repeatedly with long spears. The fisherman have also pierce the dolphins with long, sharp fisherman hookers and haul the still living dolphins onto the boats. The dolphins thrash around in their blood, with their blood-curling screams echoing in the air. Since dolphins re self-aware, they understand fully about what happens when they see their calf getting it's throat slit, and the dolphins realize death is next for them. It's inhumane, twisted, and evil.

Ric O'Barry is the leading activist trying to stop the slaughter. He was a former dolphin trainer for the old show Flipper, but once his favorite dolphin died in his arms, O'Barry vowed to save and release every dolphin he could. For over 38 years, O'Barry has been fighting against the captivity industry. He is the marine mammal specialist for Earth Island Institute, and started the 'Dolphin Project' and 'Save Japan Dolphins'.

He has been going to Taiji for years, filming the sights of the slaughter, trying to get the public to see the torture the dolphins go through. In 2009, he teamed up with numerous people to make the film 'The Cove'. It is all about slaughter, with no sugar-coating or softening the blow; you see the spears and the blood filled water. It won an Oscar for best documentary, which is great to get more people aware of the slaughter.






The official reason for killing the dolphins is for dolphin meat. Yet in actuality, a very, very small population of Japan eat dolphin meat; it is consider “trashy.” In a interview with Save the Dolphins, the fisherman themselves said that the main reason for killing the dolphins wasn't for meat, but for “pest control”. In their eyes, the dolphins eat too much fish. It's not about the 'culture', or providing meat, it is about taking out the competition of fish. The Taiji fisherman and the Japan government have wrongly placed the blame on the dolphins, for it is the human's fault that the ocean is becoming over fished.

We need to stop the slaughter; plain and simple. The fisherman will lost their jobs, but they are more important things than jobs. There comes a point when you have to say screw the jobs, the environment and our morals are more important. I hope the slaughtering ends soon, but if not, I plan to go to Japan once I get done with my schooling, and help out the cause. We are the generation that can save our oceans. We spend billions of dollars trying to see if there is intelligent life in space, while we have creatures right here on Earth that could teach us a thing or two about life.