Dolphin and Whale Wars:The Fight to Protect These Animals

The fight to save dolphins and whales from human slaughter is a highly emotional issue. These animals are considered to be some of the most intelligent and social creatures. They have strong bonds with their families and pods. Regardless, there are still cultures around the world that hunt these animals. Japan, Norway and Iceland actively kill whales, while Japan also hunts dolphins. They are killed in the most heinous ways. Whales are chased with harpoon boats until they are so tired, the harpoon boats catch up to shoot them with paralyzing harpoons. Pods of dolphins are annually rounded up and slaughtered in mass. Many of the dolphins are still alive after capture, bleeding to death, with body parts severed.

It's truly a fight to save these animals. The people fighting for these animals go to great lengths to save these animals. These activists travel the world where these acts take place to film and visibly protest. Some risk their lives, going to hostile environments to document these events. One organization that has taken the fight to a new level is the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. They don't just protest but actively and physically engage, though, in a nonviolent manner to stop the slaughter of these animals. Every year, their methods of trying to prevent the slaughter of these animals have become more confrontational and controversial.

The logic behind Sea Shepherd's approach is understandable. Simply protesting, waving signs, saying please don't kill dolphins and whales, like other animals activists do, don't do that much. It's a business to kill these animals, so money matters, not pity for the animals being slaughtered or for the protesters. Sea Shepherd seems to be having success. Japanese whaling ships had to end their annual whale hunt in the Antarctic early this year, in large part, because of Sea Shepherd.

Money, though, is one part of the issue. The other main part is a cultural issue. This is the part that Sea Shepherd and other similar organizations have missed. Many countries that engage in these slaughters, in particular Japan, have a centuries long tradition of hunting these animals. Many people from these culture's find it a gross infringement on their culture and sovereignty to be pressured to stop these activities.

This in no way condones or excuses the slaughter of whales and dolphins. Although, it's vitally important to understand this is a central reason why these hunts continue. In order to stop these hunts it's needed to fight the reasons behind the activities. If it doesn't make business sense to continue, then there's an excellent chance these activities will stop, but there will still be a strong cultural urge to continue.

Sea Shepherd and other organizations that care about protecting whales and dolphins need to also focus on the cultural issue. The first step in doing this is to try to engage with Japan and other countries that hunt these animals. Stop being their enemy and try to be a partner. There have been stories of Japanese dolphin hunters who quit their activities after being appoached in a polite, personal and informative manner to stop hunting these animals. They need to change their image in these countries if they want to better chance of doing this. The Japanese government and much of Japanese society have branded the Sea Shepherd organization as terrorists. Why would any proud people want to submit to people they deem as terrorists?

The second step is to better educate countries that engage in dolphin and whale hunts. Certainly people of these countries aren't ignorant on this issue, but many don't know the true scope of the tragedies of the whale and dolphin hunts. For example, if more Japanese saw the, The Cove, a documentary about dolphin hunts, it's likely more Japanese would be against dolphin hunting. Animal organizations should advertise on billboards, the internet, and on television commercials in countries where these acts happen. They should also try to have these countries better educate about this topic in schools. Exposing dolphin and whale hunting to the world is great but it may be more important that these issues are better exposed to the general public of the countries that engage in these activities.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/02/18/did-whale-wars-end-whaling-sure-sounds-like/?test=faces

http://worldagainstwhaling.org/whaling-nations.html