New Year, Same Cove Slaughter: Legacy of Blood Grows in Taiji
Ric O’Barry’s new weapon in his battle to end Taiji, Japan's dolphin drive hunt: his iPad, from which he can live-stream reports from the infamous killing cove. (Photo: Leah Lemieux)
Rejuvenated after a two-week holiday hiatus, fishermen in Taiji, Japan, have returned to work with a vengeance.
Since January 1, between 60 and 65 dolphins have been murdered in the waters of the notorious Japanese inlet, according to numbers reported on CETA-base.com.
Cove star Ric O’Barry is currently on the ground in Taiji and witnessed Saturday’s slaughter of roughly 12 striped dolphins. Leah Lemieux, a Cove Monitor for O’Barry’s The Dolphin Project, describes the scene on Save Japan Dolphins.
Although Ric has witnessed this distressing scene so many many times before over the years, the feelings of horror never seem to dim, watching as the frightened dolphin family leap gracefully from the waves, trying desperately to outrun the merciless hunters. We could soon see it was a pod of just over a dozen beautiful striped dolphins being inevitably pushed closer and closer into the killing Cove. Once the nets were deployed sealing them in, there was no more hope for the poor creatures.
While 2012 has gotten off to a disheartening start for those fighting to end the worst and largest dolphin drive hunt in the world, the news from the Cove is not all bad.
Part of the reason for O’Barry’s return to Taiji was to display a new weapon: live-stream reporting via a new iPad, reports The Dolphin Project.
My new iPad is hooked up to a WiFi signal , so I can send emails, video, and event do media interviews via SKYPE from the shore of the Cove itself. This will revolutionize our coverage of the dolphin hunts here in Taiji. I can be here in Taiji and talk with any reporter anywhere in the world about what is happening in real time. I can show them the Cove and its legacy of blood. I can let them hear and see the banger boats as they go about their shameful work of slaughter.
Comments