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(Photo - 001)
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(Photo - 002) The surfer can relax.
It's a dolphin, not a shark. In spite of our travesties against the
dolphins, they have shown no malice towards us. On the contrary, they have
time and again saved humans from drowning, even from sharks, which they
normally dread and avoid.
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(Photo - 003) Dr. Lori Marino with
dolphin brain (Marino notes that all of her studies on dolphin brains are
done on organs from animals that have died from non-research causes; e.g.
strandings or disease). The brain of an adult bottlenose dolphin
measures over 1,600 cc, versus the average adult human brain of about 1,450
cc. They have complex languages, social structures and, AM thinks, a
voluminous memory for legends and sagas and knowledge passed down verbally
from generation to generation. By killing dolphins, we destroy not only
their biological bodies, but their cultures as well.
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(Photo - 004) At the tip of the
breakwater @ Futo, Japan - November 2004
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(Photo - 005) Outer breakwater @
Futo Harbor
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(Photo - 006) Inner breakwater @
Futo Harbor
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(Photo - 007) Futo Harbor - the
epitome of peace and tranquility. Spot one of the most evil buildings in the
world.
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(Photo - 008) Dolphin-killer boats
left high and dry
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(Photo - 009) The standard type of
Japanese fishing boat
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(Photo - 010) The evil building -
one of the very worst
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(Photo - 011) "Eto Prefecture
Fisheries Co-op, Futo branch" - evil, whichever way you look at it, however
they label it. Click here, to see how
evil it could get.
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(Photo - 012)
Ex-dolphin-killer-boat of Ishii Izumi - rebel
ex-dolphin-killer-turned-whale-watch-operator, who almost single-handedly
halted dolphin-killing at Futo as of 2001. There is recent talk of resuming
dolphin-killing there. Stay tuned.
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(Photo - 013) Japanese
whale-watchers
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(Photo - 014) Ishii Izumi at the
helm
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(Photo - 015) Sighted two sperm
whales within a half-hour
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(Photo - 016) from close to land
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(Photo - 017) Ishii Izumi, not
popular among the fishermen, but has friends in the tourism industry,
including the local hotelier Mr. Kozuno
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(Photo - 018) Homeless people in
Japan, showing Japan's economic vulnerability
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(Photo - 019) Pearl culture is
ubiquitous along the Japanese coast. This is near the entrance to Taiji
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(Photo - 020) To Taiji by water, go
out and turn right; by road, carry on to the right, then turn left; evil
concealed in beauty
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(Photo - 021) Entrance road to
Taiji off the highway - one way in, same way out; statues "honor" the
humpback whale, which the Japanese have resumed killing in the Antarctic.
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(Photo - 022) Map of Taiji, dotted
line on upper right is the highway, Taiji Harbor at centre-left, the killing
bay at centre-right, the Whale Museum complex at the point at right
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(Photo - 023) The first evil
establishment one will encounter, within a few hundred meters to the
entrance, is the infamous Dolphin Base
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(Photo - 024) which operates a
swim-with-dolphins "program"
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(Photo - 025) World Dolphin Resort,
operated by Dolphin Base
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(Photo - 026) No resort for the
dolphins
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(Photo - 027) who have lost all
family members to slaughter, and are imprisoned and enslaved for life
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(Photo - 028) Dolphin Base also
exports captured dolphins to such places as the Hualien Ocean Park of China
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(Photo - 029) After passing Dolphin
base, the entrance road (lower left) soon leads to the Whale Museum complex,
with the retired harpoon-boat, bronze harpooner statue, aquarium and the
museum itself
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(Photo - 030) Extinct old-time
harpooner next to retired modern harpoon-ship
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(Photo - 031) Even their art shows
human subjugation of dolphins
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(Photo - 032) The Aquarium in the
Museum complex, and the closed lagoon where dolphins, captured from the bay
150 meters away, are kept for the swim-with-dolphins "program", and an orca
for show
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(Photo - 033) The "Whale Museum" at
Taiji - more like a whaling museum
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(Photo - 034) The bay on the right,
within 150 meters of the museum, is the cove into which dolphins are driven
for slaughter
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(Photo - 035) The highway is the
line on the left; the whale museum is on the north point; the killing bay is
the small cove just south of it; Taiji Harbor is the long inlet south of the
killing cove; the four characters on the bottom right says "Wakayama
Prefecture"; the area enclosed by the red line, according to the title, is "Taiji
Wildlife Protection Area"
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(Photo - 036) The 150 meters south
of the museum - the bay into which the dolphins are driven; it has been
closed off by barricades and signs; the characters in red says "falling
rock; do not enter"; the only rock that might fall here would be a
meteorite; the foot-path turns right through a gap into the neighboring
killing cove which is not visible from the road
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(Photo - 037) The outhouse on the
end of the bay; behind and above it is the road; below and in front of it is
the beach;
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(Photo - 038) The holding bay, as
viewed from the road; around the point to the left (north) is the museum,
around the point to the right (south) is the smaller killing cove, not
visible from the road; when a pod of dolphins is driven in, the mouth of the
bay would be closed off by nets; the dolphins are herded up against the
beach; divers from Dolphin Base (see below) would arrive, wade into the
water in wet-suits, select a few young females for captive purposes, which
they would tear from their families roughly by slings; the rest of the
dolphins are kept in the holding cove overnight, then driven around the
point to the neighboring killing cove to be slaughtered the next morning
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(Photo - 039) The bay as viewed
from the point around which is the museum; obviously I had to cross the
barrier to take this picture
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(Photo - 040) The view due south
from the north end of the beach in the holding bay; the foot-path around the
bay makes a right turn (due south) through a gap from the holding cove to
the killing cove
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(Photo - 041) The path is likewise
barricaded by a 6'ft-hgih barrier anchored firmly on both sides and the
bottom, with barbed wire on top; physically impassable (except for a
pole-vaulter)
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(Photo - 042) The atrocity on the
other side of the barricade, in the killing cove, where entire pods of 20-50
dolphins are slaughtered once every few days between November and March
every year
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(Photo - 043) The dolphins are
killed in a difference fashion at Taiji than at Futo; here they are killed
in the water by long handled knifes and lances
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(Photo - 044) and hauled on to
skiffs by hooks, whether or not the dolphin is still alive
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(Photo - 045) Even tiny babies are
not spared
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(Photo - 046) This most unfortunate
dolphin was killed by disembowelment, looks clean, because its blood has
been left in the water
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(Photo - 047) The skiff takes the
dolphins to Taiji Harbor to be butchered The above 6 pictures are by
Sea Shepherd.
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(Photo - 048) Looking north from
the Taiji highlands; the white building is the aquarium at the Whale Museum;
the cove to the left of it is the holding/killing cove; the lighthouse is at
the entrance to Taiji Harbor
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(Photo - 049) The entrance to Taiji
Harbor; in it are numerous fishing vessels, among which are the 13
dolphin-drive boats
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(Photo - 050) Taiji Harbor; the
Fishermen's Co-Op is the L-shaped building; in front of the Co-Op building
is the butchery
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(Photo - 051) The butchery in front
of the Fishermen's Co-Op Building
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(Photo - 052) This is a closer look
at the dolphin being off-loaded into the butchery.
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(Photo - 053) The butchery,
downloading fish at the moment; when butchering dolphins, the blue tarps
would be drawn to shield the scene from observers
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(Photo - 054) The skiffs, with the
nets used to close the mouth of the holding-killing cove; they are used to
transported the dead and dying dolphins from the killing cove to the
butchery
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(Photo - 055) The shrine across the
road from the butchery; it does not seem to impart compassion upon the
fishermen, but it does bless them with safety, luck and good catch
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(Photo - 056) Two of the 13 dolphin-killing boats at Taiji; the
tell-tale signs are the sounding rods
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(Photo - 057) Close-up of the
flared trumpet-like end of the sounding rod; when a pod of dolphins is
sighted, the 13 boats would go out, form a screen between the dolphins and
the open sea; the dolphin killers would then dip the sounding rods into the
water, which they would bang with hammers; the flared ends would trumpet the
sound into the water, which drives the dolphins into the holding/killing
cove
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(Photo - 058) Dolphin meat
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(Photo - 059) AM with western
businessmen in Singu - the nearest city to Taiji (20 min.) - interested in
developing whale watching near Taiji
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(Photo - 060) AM with the tourism
minister Mr. Suzuki, who is also interested in developing whale-watching in
the region
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(Photo - 061) Anthony Marr has
devised an interspecies communication technique which could save dolphins by
the pods from capture and slaughter. He tested this technique personally in
2004. No dolphins were killed during the 10-day test period. Funds and
personnel are needed to develop and deploy this technique.
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(Photo - 062) This Japanese mission
for the dolphins was performed in partnership with the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society. With Captain Paul Watson and Allison Lance-Watson at
the SSCS headquarters in Friday Harbor, WA.
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(Photo - 063) In 2003, Allison went
to Taiji, Japan, slipped into the cold waters of the holding/killing bay in
broad daylight to free a family of trapped dolphins, was arrested with
colleague Alex Cornellison who also went into the water, and was subjected
to solitary confinement in Shingu for three weeks. She is one of my
heroines.
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(Photo - 064) With Sea Shepherd's
Stephen Thompson in the 2005 anti-dolphin-slaughter demo in Vancouver. Steve
single-handedly obligated Costco to promise to remove all seal oil products
off the shelf. Unfortunately, under pressure in Newfoundland, Costco caved
in and broke its promise in mid-April, whereupon Steve went to the
headquarters of Costco in Washington state, while Costco was having a
national conference, and stood outside of the Costco building, alone, for
three days. The war goes on.
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(Photo - 065)
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(Photo - 066)
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(Photo - 067)
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(Photo - 068)
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Since 