The human species is a self-conscious being aware of its own vulnerability to physical and emotional pain. Some humans believe that man is the only animal on the planet with a self-awareness that recognizes this distinct combination of capacities and vulnerabilities.
In fact, dolphins have a similar kind of consciousness. Dolphins have very large brains, highly developed societies, complex social relationships, strong family ties, sophisticated cognitive abilities and, actually, get along with and treat each other better than the way human beings treat each other.
A team of Japanese and American scientists, academics and media specialists will gather in Tokyo, this Fall, to launch a grassroots effort to raise Japanese public awareness of the annual dolphin drive hunts.
The Japanese tax-payer subsidized fishing industry’s shameful and brutal persecution of dolphins raises serious moral and ethical questions.
The practice is enabled and assisted by a crew of former ministry officials and bureaucrats who have been recycled into cushy, high paying jobs as fishery executives.
Once fishermen spot a school of dolphins at sea, they generate a wall of underwater noise to steer them toward a bay near the shore.
The fishermen then collectively manuever the frightened and confused dolphins into an inlet where a net is pulled across the mouth to trap them.
Once trapped, a few of the healthiest dolphins are culled out to be sold for high prices to parks - where they are indentured as entertainment servants. Most of them are stabbed and sliced open with spears, knives and hooks.
The Japanese government and the Japanese fishing industry conceal the atrocities - keeping it so secret that most citizens of Japan are completely unaware of the merciless slaughter.