h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This could be interesting. The mayor of Taiji invites Caroline Kennedy to visit and witness how humane and scientific the slaughter really is.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-envoy-visit-taiji-see-dolphin-hunt-064305554.html#TIGtOwp

*This is a report from Cove Guardian leader Melissa Sehgal who is on site in Taiji:
(full article here on facethingy) :http://www.facebook.com/captpaulwatson/posts/10152134954260932:0

"For the fifth straight day the killers of Taiji, Japan inflicted further pain and suffering on 42 of the 250 Bottlenose dolphins that were herded into the cove. After the killers arrived at daybreak they pushed the first Bottlenose dolphin pod to the killing shore with the same inhumane muscle and force typical in Taiji. Unfortunately, however, the pod that fought so hard in the previous days was unable fight from lack of food, exhaustion, and injuries sustained from killers and outboard motors over the last five days. Once on the shore 40 dolphins were each sentenced to a slow, painful, and conscious death as a metal rod was rammed into their spinal cord. The killers were not the only ones to witness each dolphin suffer on the shore, 1 Bottlenose watched its family murdered in front of her before she was transported to a tiny captive prison in the harbor. Death did not end on the killing shore this morning. One dolphin in the second remaining pod was seen struggling in the nets and ignored by the killers before he/she finally drowned. Killers tried to hide the death of this dolphin with tarps, but his/her struggle was not in vain as Cove Guardians were there for the world to see. Hungry from killing up an appetite, the dolphin murderers took a break for lunch before the remaining 130-140 starved and injured Bottlenose dolphins were driven back out to sea in the same deafening manner as the drive in. Many babies and juveniles were seen in the remaining pod. Too small to count for quota and deemed unsuitable for captivity. Many of these dolphins who were driven out will not survive and will soon be found washed ashore in the coming days."*

I heard that today at 7am, the boats went out and started to drive in ANOTHER pod. They managed to escape and the boats came back empty-handed.

alec.

Reason notwithstanding... the daily slaughter of dolphin continues.

Yesterday they killed an entire pod, 20+ , of striped dolphin.

They have just driven in a similarly sized family of pan-tropical spotted dolphin.

The killers are desperately trying to hide everything they do from the cameras.

alec.

Apart from five taken captive so far, Japanese killers are in the process of murdering the rest of this family of Dolphin.

http://livestream.seashepherd.org/

Could anyone tell me if there is a petition to protest against the horrendous atrocity murder of defenseless dolphins, thank you.

Here is a comprehensive list of What You Can Do.

http://www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians/what-you-can-do.html

alec.

Petitions:
To the Prime Minister of Japan
http://www.petitiononline.com/golfinho/petition.html

To the President of The United States

*You don't have to be a citizen or a resident of the USA to sign this but you DO need to register. Please take the time to do so.*

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-it-illegal-hold-dolphins-and-whales-captivity-any-entertainment-purposes-stop-seaworld-and/Fp56LdNX

To the International Olympic Committee
http://www.change.org/petitions/international-olympic-committee-revoke-tokyo-s-2020-olympic-hosting-status?share_id=kSEQfSgLvK&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_false

alec.

Not to forget the Faeroese (it's part of Danemark) who, every year, make their own special contribution towards the furtherance of cultural traditions.

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NDM0NTA2Mg%3D%3D&mid=10100142&idx=7&sn=2338d5d305296bc264ba02c8620c3c69&scene=4#rd

alec.

Thank you Alec for the links, I have signed and shared the petitions.

A report on the baby Albino Dolphin taken into captivity last weekend.

http://dolphinproject.org/blog/post/angel-in-exile

alec.

If you are in the UK, please contact your MP and ask if they will support this motion condemning the slaughter.

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/1004

thanks,
alec.

And in the Welsh Assembly ;

http://peterblack.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-scandal-of-japanese-slaughter-of.html

alec.

Whilst watching the livestream of these slaughters (they happen daily) I find myself on the opposite side from my own species and encouraging the Dolphin to bite, hurt, maim and ruthlessly DROWN these killers.

I wonder why they do not do that.

Dolphin kill fish and seal for food, they have teeth and are in their element in the water. They have the courage to face up to a Shark to defend some hapless human who is about to become lunch for example.

So why, when faced with their own demise and that of their family, do they not do what the rest of the civilised world wants them to do, and kill, or at least severely maim these fogging iceholes?

Are they following a higher code of behaviour that we simians have yet to evolve to?

I found this :


" Our brains share many structural similarities with dolphins. For example, we both have a limbic system, which is responsible for handling emotional information. One difference between us, however, is that the dolphins’ limbic system is much larger than ours and, says scientist Denise Herzing, it “may be stretched out over more of the brain,” indicating that “the dolphin brain may have more of a ‘global connection’ to [emotional] information”. This could mean that dolphins are more emotional than humans, and that emotions could figure more prominently throughout their thought processes.

While it might be tempting to think that increased emotions would lead to greater aggression when being backed into a corner, another compelling feature of the dolphin brain appears to account for this notion. Sterling Bunnell, in The Evolution of Cetacean Intelligence points out that the cerebral cortex, responsible for logical thought and reasoning in both humans and dolphins alike, is controlled by the emotional activity of the limbic system. This process is facilitated by what are called ‘neocortical association neurons’.

Bunnell observed that, in human studies, the ratio of these neurons to limbic-system brain stem neurons “is necessary for such qualities as …emotional self-control” and that a decreased ratio is associated with “impulsiveness, emotional instability, irritability, loss of humor”. Bunnell points out that dolphins possess a higher neocortical-limbic ratio than the average human, suggesting that their control over their own emotions is greater than what we experience.

It could be that dolphins, while being more emotional, are more emotionally stable than we are, and are therefore able to better control themselves in stressful situations. This could explain their apparent control over the impulse to lash out at the humans who are so callously ending their lives.

This is an interesting hypothesis, but it makes me wonder what the evolutionary advantage or benefit of controlling emotions might be when experiencing an existential threat. In other words, in these situations it would be to the dolphins advantage NOT to control emotion and remain passive.

Whatever the answer, I suspect that if and when we do come to understand why dolphins behave with such pacificism when under attack by humans the answer will humble us".

I look forward to being humbled.

alec.


"Man [has] always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reason." -Douglas Noel Adams

Thank you for this information Alec.



GB

" ...It will happen to You, also without fail,
If it happens to Me....sang the Worlds Last Whale"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7uZhiUEt4#t=31

Pete Seeger knew.

alec.

And Now...
Ladies and Gentlemen, purely for Your entertainment...

http://action.sumofus.org/a/sochi-orca-whales/3/2/?sub=fb

Two Orca have been captured to be put on display at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

alec.

The 'Whale Museum' in Taiji that is holding the Albino Dolphin captured last week has now placed tarpaulins around the tank where it is being held to prevent anyone from seeing the poor thing.

alec.

Pari Match has picked up the story.

http://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Environnement-et-sciences/Massacre-a-Taiji-546308

alec.

And here you can ask the UN to impose sanctions.

http://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/United_Nations_Security_Council_Impose_the_full_array_of_economic_sanctions_on_Japan/?fbdm

alec.

Good article in 'The Ecologist', originally in Counterpunch

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2255121/taiji_japans_dolphin_slaughter_continues.html

"The Japanese dolphin slaughter at Taiji is an exercise in wilful sadism, writes Joshua Frank. But responsibility for the killing spreads much wider than Japan, with captive cetaceans from Taiji reaching aquaria around the globe - including SeaWorld."


A primal connection

"We empathize with the dolphin's pain as biological similarities abound. Like humans, dolphins are social creatures. They give birth, they breathe air and warm blood flows through their veins."

Please help make it stop. Sign the petitions, write to all your favourite polit*cians,rockstars,ambassadors etc.

Keep the pressure on.

If you know someone who likes to visit marine abusement parks, circuses with captive animals, zoos or 'swim with the happy dolphins'
just slap them around a bit.
Tell them that they are supporting the wholesale slaughter of a being far more intelligent than us by buying a ticket for one of these obscenities.

thankyou

alec.