Caroline Kennedy ‘Deeply Concerned’ By Japanese Dolphin Hunt

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here we are, again confronted by another unexamined tradition dictating the murder of animals at the whim of humans. In the past I have participated and helped organize boycotts against countries involved in brutal practices like these, but today the boycott approach in connection with Japan, China, Korea and other important producers of the manufactures Americans crave and consume by the trillions of dollars every year simply has little effect. Americans and other Western publics are too dependent and conditioned to buy cheaper quality Asian goods to control the buying habit.

Other avenues must be found and tried. This leaves only the political/diplomatic and trade options on the table. Which means that American activists must exert pressure on the admittedly opportunistic US government to include strong animal protections in its foreign policy agenda, and to seek international collaboration (i.e., UNO) for the enforcement of protective measures. These are all difficult goals considering the state of political confusion obtaining in America, the geopolitical goals of the US ruling class, the imaginative leadership at the helm of the animal defense movement, and the imbecilic opposition to the United Nations exhibited by the chauvinist rightwing int his country. (Not to mention the fact that US hostility to the UNO since it stopped doing its bidding automatically has meant a weakening of the ties between the two entities.) But there is no other course as promising as that. The US must include strong ecoanimal protection clauses in its foreign policy, along with adequate funding and the political will to implement such policies. —Patrice Greanville

TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) – In an unusual move, U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy has expressed deep concern over the traditional dolphin hunt in western Japan, where local fisherman corral dolphins in a secluded bay before killing many for meat.The annual dolphin hunt currently underway in Taiji in western Japan has long been a source of controversy and was the topic of “The Cove,” an Oscar-winning documentary.”(I am) deeply concerned by inhumanness of drive hunt dolphin killing,” Kennedy tweeted at the weekend, adding that the U.S. government opposes drive hunt fishing.Every year the fishermen of Taiji – a small fishing town in Japan’s Wakayama prefecture – drive hundreds of dolphins into a cove, select some for sale to marine parks, release some back into the sea and kill the rest for meat.Sea Shepherd, one of several animal protection groups that monitor fishermen in Taiji, said on Monday that more than 200 dolphins have been rounded up into the secluded bay by the shore off Taiji.The organization is streaming live footage of Taiji’s cove, showing fishermen on several fishing boats rounding up the dolphins inside the bay. The dolphins are cordoned off by large fishing nets.

Taiji shot to global infamy after the 2009 release of “The Cove,” which was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos. The film followed eco-activists who struggle with Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to the location of the hunt.

The movie met with fierce opposition in Japan from groups saying it was “anti-Japanese” and an affront to traditional culture.

Japan has long maintained that killing dolphins is not banned under any international treaty and that the animals are not endangered, adding that dolphins need to be culled to protect fishing grounds. (Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Michael Perry)