Japanese Dolphin Hunters

Caroline Kennedy is concerned about the inhumaneness of the annual dolphin roundup and slaughter that takes place in the waters off Japan. There are 250 bottlenose dolphins, yes Flippers, corralled in a cove there now. Some will be sold to Marineland type venues, some slaughtered for food, and some supposedly released. Who eats dolphin of the mammal variety anyway? I am surprised there isn’t more protest about this annual event, like the History Channel’s Whale Wars, or something like that. I don’t tweet but here is the tweet Kennedy sent out: Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. USG opposes drive hunt fisheries. The USG being the United States government, and with Kennedy being fairly newly sent to Japan as a US Ambassador, I am proud of her for bringing her concern to the forefront via social media. Of course Japan has resisted efforts by conservation groups to film the slaughter since an Oscar-winning documentary that was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louis Psihoyos came out in 2009, called The Cove. The Japanese defend the practice, and local officials claim that they are conducting a legal and traditional fishing practice while at the same time adhering to the regulations and the quotas established by the Japanese government. The documentary regarding this practice, rounding up and inhumanly slaughtering dolphins, was considered an affront to traditional Japanese culture and generally anti-Japanese. Leaves me to wonder what the Japanese are thinking about the newest ambassador’s tweet.