Dolphins...
As if killing them 'accidentally' in the Tuna fishing wasn't enough, the Japanese think that this is a good way to hunt them.I've just finished watching the programme about it. Pretty bloody sickening. Killing animals is a necessary thing, humans are omnivores after all, and it is as natural as anything else that we eat them. But to kill so viciously and in such an inhumane and callous manner and call it for food appalls me. It is irrelevant that Dolphins are 'cute', they are intelligent animals, and deserve to be treated with respect.
I am totally against the entire concept of eating Dolphins, as much as I would be against eating Chimpanzees, Gorilla's or any other intelligent life form (as we understand it), but see that as a personal choice. If someone needs to eat, then they should be able to do that. I don't approve of their choice of food, but to only eat the stupid seems a little unfair in the cold light of day, doesn't it? Surely the more that an animal that you wish to eat could understand that fact, and can feel suffering as you kill it, do you not have a responsibility to attempt to alleviate that suffering as much as possible? The footage of the long drawn out and violent deaths of the Dolphins was massively cut as shown (7pm on a week night), and even so was more than capable of showing sufficient to make me disgusted, upset and abhor the entire process.
I really don't understand any culture that can kill an animal with such disregard as to it's wellbeing. The fishermen at one stage even said that they felt close to the Dolphins. Really? Is that why you herd them into shallow water by panicking them over a period of hours, and then hack them to pieces on a beach after dragging them out with hooks and slings around their tales? Do that to your other friends, family or pets, do you?
I am torn between really angry toward the fishermen, and sad for the Dolphins. I can't decide where my feelings would be worth expressing. The fishermen were not in the least contrite despite some good attempts to educate them as to the sort of animal they were so heartlessly causing so much suffering.
I'll stop now, I could go on about this for hours.
posted by Brock @ Tuesday, November 09, 2004
1 Comments:
I saw the same show, and I was pretty disgusted too.
However, the government guy who met the documaker made a valid point: there is a vast difference between the way westerners see things and the way the Japanese do.
I agree that killing them for sale to dolphinariums (or even catching them imho) is wrong, and even eating them as a delicacy sucks, but would you feel the same way if a forgotten tribe in Dakedakestan depended on dolphin meat for their survival?
The way humans farm and kill all animals is nasty and painful and traumatic for the animals - this coming from a 28-year vegetarian who has just started eating meat for the first time.
I agree with you, though.
/soapbox
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