Saving the Dolphins

Today begins the season of slaughter in Taiji, Japan. Every year starting on Sept. 1 fishermen go out in boats to lure dolphins to a secret cove where they are captured and sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars for research and entertainment all over the world. The ones that don't make the cut end up getting brutally killed by men in smaller boats with harpoons until the water is deep red. This hunt goes on for usually 6 months. Thanks to Ric O'Barry and the makers of the documentary "The Cove", Taiji's dirty little secret is out. Before I saw the movie I had no idea this was going on. I had never even heard of it. My mom knew how much I loved dolphins (I have a tattoo on my ankle)and showed me an article in National Geographic that mentioned it. The only other place I had heard about it was an episode of "Family Guy",(the one where Peter meets a dolphin voiced by Ricky Gervais). Ever since viewing the doc. it has been my mission to become educated and help get the word out. Although, I am extremely unhappy with my current blog host and I think I need to switch.

Dolphins

Watched the documentary "The Cove" and needless to say (which is a stupid turn of phrase when you think about it) I was outraged. I cried. I cheered. I spent today online learning as much as I could about the captivity of dolphins and other animals. I've signed on-line petitions and sent a letter to a lab in Kentucky to release the last 21 of it's chimpanzees back into the wild. I did one thing that was very difficult for me. I "unliked" Dolphin Quest on Facebook. Swimming with Kolohei was, besides giving birth to my daughter, the most life affirming moment for me, but knowing that his day to day life is actually filled with stress breaks my heart. Not having a job, I am unable to donate money, but I can get the cyber word out to as many people as possible about the horrors in Taiji, Japan and other places. Until something else is able to fill my time, this is what I will do.