Assassination of dolphins

The trainer of Flipper made a documentary on assassination of dolphins in Japan, called "The Cove". Dolphins are hunted for meat or to make them prisoners in aquariums. The director realized that having dolphins in captivity was a mistake, after one of the dolphins portraying Flipper commited suicide.

* BBC: Japan town continues dolphin hunt
* BBC: Oscar win for film of dolphin hunt in Japan's Taiji
The mayor of Taiji, Kazutaka Sangen, protested at the film's Oscar win.
"I think it is regrettable that the film presents as fact material that is not backed up by scientific proof," he said in a statement reported by Reuters news agency.
He said that the hunt was legal in Japan and called for respect for the traditions of different cultures.

* Official director's website
* Japanese version of the site
* Documentary site

News on assassination of dolphins (it may hurt sensitive people, discretion is advised)

* Politicians, lies and local flukes
* Freedom and Life to Dolphins

Science:
* Dolphin, Human Brain Size Not So Different

Wiki:

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In the United States, around ten billion animals are slaughtered every year in 5,700 slaughterhouses and processing plants employing 527,000 workers;[1] in 2007, 28.1 billion pounds of beef were consumed in the U.S. alone.[2] In Canada, 650 million are killed annually.[3] In the European Union, the annual figure is 300 million cattle, sheep, and pigs, and four billion chickens.[4]

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Cows are considerably less intelligent than whales or dolphins.

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Originally Posted by Illusions

Cows are considerably less intelligent than whales or dolphins.

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Does that matter?

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Originally Posted by Illusions

Cows are considerably less intelligent than whales or dolphins.

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But pigs aren't, are they?

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Originally Posted by Nessus

Does that matter?

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Brought this up for a similar reason you did in the thread about emotions and the mind. I'm really getting tired of the counter to Japan's whaling/dolphin hunting being that the US kills a lot of farm animals. Yes, that we do. However there are some major differences, one, most of US farm animals in general are far less intelligent and aware than dolphins and whales, and said farm animals have been breed to be that way. Two, said farm animals are, at the current time, a necessary food source that feeds millions, I am unsure, but doubt, the same could be said for dolphins and whales in regards to Japan.

In response to your actual question, I'd have to say it would be nice if it did. However in regards to Ziggy though, it may, I don't know how he feels on the alternate topic of killing chimps for food...

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Originally Posted by Flixy

But pigs aren't, are they?

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Yeah pigs are a sore point as are octopi, and squid...however their deliciousness to cuteness/lovableness ratio isn't low enough to keep people from eating them...

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Originally Posted by Nessus

Does that matter?

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How about hunting and eating Japanese people? Perhaps as soylent green?
It would be compatible with shintoist tradition that encourages Japanese to give more than they receive.
Does that matter?

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Originally Posted by ar81

How about hunting and eating Japanese people? Perhaps as soylent green?
It would be compatible with shintoist tradition that encourages Japanese to give more than they receive.
Does that matter?

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Does it?

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Originally Posted by Illusions

Brought this up for a similar reason you did in the thread about emotions and the mind. I'm really getting tired of the counter to Japan's whaling/dolphin hunting being that the US kills a lot of farm animals. Yes, that we do. However there are some major differences, one, most of US farm animals in general are far less intelligent and aware than dolphins and whales, and said farm animals have been breed to be that way. Two, said farm animals are, at the current time, a necessary food source that feeds millions, I am unsure, but doubt, the same could be said for dolphins and whales in regards to Japan.

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You could turn that around by saying that those dolphins and whales at least had a free life until they are caught.

I don't mind whale and dolphin (or chimps, for that matter) hunting for food a big issue unless it threatens the ecosystem significantly, or the animals are endangered (which most whales are, I believe). Same with regular hunting, and fishing, etc.

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Originally Posted by Flixy

You could turn that around by saying that those dolphins and whales at least had a free life until they are caught.

I don't mind whale and dolphin (or chimps, for that matter) hunting for food a big issue unless it threatens the ecosystem significantly, or the animals are endangered (which most whales are, I believe). Same with regular hunting, and fishing, etc.

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Hunting japanese does not hurt the environment either...:D
Indeed sinking japanese whale ships would help the formation of coral reefs.

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Originally Posted by Flixy

You could turn that around by saying that those dolphins and whales at least had a free life until they are caught.

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Uhh, our cows and chickens have been breed, developed, and engineered over the course of thousands of years to be stupid, docile, meaty, and delicious...I don't think you can say the same things about dolphins or whales...

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I don't mind whale and dolphin (or chimps, for that matter) hunting for food a big issue unless it threatens the ecosystem significantly, or the animals are endangered (which most whales are, I believe). Same with regular hunting, and fishing, etc.

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This doesn't explain anything. So what if you don't mind it? How does that matter in the grand scheme of things?

Natives who hunted aquatic life to sustain their population never "over-fished" the waters. That would have sealed their death. They had a better sense of the delicacy of eco-systems, even without studies to tell them so.

Same for farmers who knew how to fallow land, use composted material and seasons, and let it return to its fertility naturally.

Seems to me what the argument is about is....when does our fancy-pants scientific data and technology turn sour, and we end up with such a manipulated environment that we don't even recognize the manipulations as harmful?

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Originally Posted by Illusions

In response to your actual question, I'd have to say it would be nice if it did. However in regards to Ziggy though, it may, I don't know how he feels on the alternate topic of killing chimps for food...

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I'm just as big a sap for cute animals as the next person. However I would not be as judgemental on Japan killing dolphins, or some other culture eating chimps while I'm singing praise to bacon. Pigs are cute too. I don't know if I'd have the stomach to kill a little piglet for it's meat. Probably not. I'm glasd there are other people who do it for me.

I'm not aware of a topic about killing chimps though, so I might be tunneling in the wrong direction with my answer there.

I'm not basing this on cuteness factor but on intelligence and necessity.

Intellectually, that's the better choice. And Chimps have the luxury to be both cute and rather intelligent.

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Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities
Ransom A. Myers & Boris Worm

Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4J1
Correspondence to: Ransom A. Myers Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.A.M. (Email: Ransom.Myers @ dal.ca).

Serious concerns have been raised about the ecological effects of industrialized fishing, spurring a United Nations resolution on restoring fisheries and marine ecosystems to healthy levels4. However, a prerequisite for restoration is a general understanding of the composition and abundance of unexploited fish communities, relative to contemporary ones. We constructed trajectories of community biomass and composition of large predatory fishes in four continental shelf and nine oceanic systems, using all available data from the beginning of exploitation. Industrialized fisheries typically reduced community biomass by 80% within 15 years of exploitation. Compensatory increases in fast-growing species were observed, but often reversed within a decade. Using a meta-analytic approach, we estimate that large predatory fish biomass today is only about 10% of pre-industrial levels. We conclude that declines of large predators in coastal regions have extended throughout the global ocean, with potentially serious consequences for ecosystems. Our analysis suggests that management based on recent data alone may be misleading, and provides minimum estimates for unexploited communities, which could serve as the 'missing baseline needed for future restoration efforts.

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Source: Nature magazine

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Originally Posted by Illusions

Uhh, our cows and chickens have been breed, developed, and engineered over the course of thousands of years to be stupid, docile, meaty, and delicious...I don't think you can say the same things about dolphins or whales...

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Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant they were bred in captivity with the sole purpose of being eaten, not this type of breeding, my bad. Still, plenty of people like game, too.

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This doesn't explain anything. So what if you don't mind it? How does that matter in the grand scheme of things?

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What do you expect? The entire debate is based on morals, and this is my opinion that I shared. What else could I add? For all I care Japanese can eat whales and dolphins if they want to, I don't really see how that is anyone's business except their own, provided they don't wipe out the species or imbalance the ecosystems gravely (like overfishing), which would affect the entire world.