Taiji Meeting to Discuss Dolphin Slaughter Goes Awry

Last week in Taiji, where dolphins go to die, a meeting was held between pro-slaughterers (the resident fisherman and politicians) and those who prefer not to see highly intelligent, social, friendly mammals rounded up and stabbed to death.

I was hopeful when I initially heard about this unprecedented meeting; not that I thought Taiji officials and residents would change their tune, but the fact that they seemed willing to listen (after a generous application of international pressure) seemed promising. The Cove was such a revelatory film because the curtains had been drawn over Taiji for too long. Public officials agreeing to meet about the issue is essentially a public acknowledgement that this brutality is occurring, something they were unwilling to acknowledge in the film.

But the meeting’s potential was squandered. It was supposed to be open to the media, though not the public. But, unsurprisingly, when pro-dolphin advocates arrived, they learned that most major news outlets were banned, and that only pre-selected questions, to be read by a right-wing Japanese moderator, would be permitted. That’s when Ric O’Barry, advocate and activist, planned to boycott.

Prior to the meeting, O’Barry spoke to the press about his disdain for the dolphin trainers, who capture the animals to ship them to marine mammal parks around the world. “I'm more upset with the trainers than I am with the men who are killing the dolphins.” The heavily bodyguarded moderator was so agitated by his statements that O'Barry had to leave the meeting under police protection.

The point of the meeting, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, was to “promote understanding” of Japan’s longstanding dolphin-killing cultural tradition. Indeed, the Taiji drive hunts, which are responsible for about 10 percent of the dolphins killed by Japan every year, have been happening for some time. But just because a country has a history of engaging in animal cruelty doesn’t mean that cruelty should continue.

Which basically sums up the position of the animal welfare proponents: “There will be no stopping of our activities until the harassment, capture and slaughter of both dolphins and whales on this planet ends," said Sea Shepherd member Scott West, who has been in Taiji documenting the hunt, along with his 16-year-old daughter, Elora Malama, for nearly two months.

I’d call that an impasse. So, for now, animal welfare proponents need to continue to campaign, to educate others, and speak out against the cruelty occurring in Taiji. Because if we don't, no one will.

Photo credit: J.D. Ebberly