Why we care if dolphins die

[silver_surfer]

A dolphin massacre in Taiji, Japan has enraged animal lovers around the world. What makes us adore these underwater beauties? Is it their communicative clicking, their smiling faces or their incredible intelligence?

Passion for dolphins

Turtles? Whales? Sea lions? They might fascinate us, but few creatures inspire the devotion that dolphins do. Maybe it's because zoologists consider them one of the most intelligent animals or perhaps it's because they just look so friendly.

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Mother's milk

Perhaps we feel an affinity for dolphins because they are warm-blooded mammals like us. Dolphins birth one calf at a time. And let's be honest - those little guys are insanely cute!

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Dolphin hunt

Our connection to these marine creatures leads us to feel protective. Dolphin hunts, which are a tradition in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji, have repeatedly provoked protest from around the world. Here, fishermen drive a group of dolphins into a bay and kill them.

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Sound manipulation

Dolphins navigate the waters using sonar signals. The fishermen bang steel pipes together under the water to disorient the animals and herd them into the bay. An entire group can be captured this way, since they travel together in schools.

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Bloodbath in the bay

Dolphin hunts turn Taiji's waters a deep red color. In order to attract less attention, the fishermen now stab the dolphins through the head with a metal rod and then seal the exit wound with a cork to prevent bleeding.

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Luxury business

Many of the dolphins are killed for their meat. Dolphins are dished up for eager buyers around the world. A bottlenose dolphin goes for $150,000 (111,520 euros) while a rare albino dolphin calf will sell for as much as $500,000.

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Captive creatures

Bottlenose dolphins are very popular in marine entertainment shows. They learn fast and are crowd pleasers. But they suffer depression and die extremely young when kept in captivity. They may look like they are smiling, but they are not.

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Highly intelligent

Dolphins have large, complex brains and have excellent communication and cognitive skills. But audiences are usually oblivious to the documented suffering of these marine performers.

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Favorites for film and television

Dolphins are popular performers. Here we see a shot from the German hit film 'The Dolphin Miracle.' But are they happy when captured and used this way? Reports say that during the filming of the famous television series 'Flipper', one of the dolphins committed suicide. His trainer, Richard O’Barry, has since become an advocate for dolphin rights.

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Secret weapons

Dolphins are also used by the US military to defuse mines or even place mines on enemy ships. These wily creatures look so friendly and harmless that they are seldom seen as a security threat.

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Source: DW (http://www.dw.de/why-we-care-if-dolphins-die/g-17404903)

[Beit El]

The fact that we've become sentimental faggots that take every tragedy personally. Many people in the first world completely grow up without any hardships, turning them into massive spoiled crybabies and easy targets for animal activists and humanitarian nutters.

[SardiniaAtlantis]

The fact that we've become sentimental faggots that take every tragedy personally. Many people in the first world completely grow up without any hardships, turning them into massive spoiled crybabies and easy targets for animal activists and humanitarian nutters.
So you don't give a damn about the ecologic balance of the world?

[Beit El]

So you don't give a damn about the ecologic balance of the world?


You're overestimating the rationality of these people, they do this for sentimental reasons (e.g. Dolphins are cute!11!!!!).

[Drawing-slim]

Those mongols eat all the cute annimals, dolphins puppy dogs an little cute cats. That's fucked up!

[Hadouken]

i love dolphins

friendliest animals ever

[SardiniaAtlantis]

i love dolphins

friendliest animals ever

Dolphins are great, they are not only extremely intelligent, but they also save peoples lives on a number of occasions!

[Äijä]

Im not against hunting whales, I am against using modern technology to kill them in unsustainable numbers.

[SardiniaAtlantis]

Im not against hunting whales, I am against using modern technology to kill them in unsustainable numbers.

At their present rate however any number is unsustainable.

[Äijä]

At their present rate however any number is unsustainable.

Not true.

[SardiniaAtlantis]

Not true.
I suppose maybe not true for all species but certainly for a fair amount of them.

[Äijä]

I suppose maybe not true for all species but certainly for a fair amount of them.

Yep, here are some numbers, naturally only those with a strong population are good for hunting.

Good way would be to get the tax from the meat go to the preservation of endangered whales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cetaceans

[SardiniaAtlantis]

Yep, here are some numbers, naturally only those with a strong population are good for hunting.

Good way would be to get the tax from the meat go to the preservation of endangered whales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cetaceans

I agree with that idea.

[Äijä]

I agree with that idea.

Also big penalties for hunting over the quota or the wrong species, just because I also have a soft spot for the whales.:p