#Dolphins #SeaWorld #TheCove – Lest We Forget

A Blessing for the Dolphins

Posted by Sandy McElhaney

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Report from Taiji: October 26

Image by Pilar Posada

 

by Scott West

This morning the dolphin hunters captured two different pods of dolphins.  One pod of at least 52 bottlenose dolphins and a pod of approximately 7 Risso dolphins were “pushed” into the cove and sealed behind nets.  The pod of bottlenose dolphins appears to be predominantly juveniles and infants.  We wonder if these are part of a larger pod and were separated from the rest.  All during the day the Cove Guardians stood vigil.  We will be there before first light tomorrow morning to document their fate.

There were at least four policemen, two Coast Guard Officers, and two firemen at all times watching us at the cove.  Their numbers swelled from time to time.  We are told that they are there to ensure that neither we nor the “fishermen” cause trouble.  I wonder how many Japanese tax Yen have been wasted by the government’s inane support of this dying industry.  The harassment, capture, or slaughter of whales and dolphins has no place among honorable people in the 21^st century. Read More…

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Diary Of A Killer Whale: Tilikum And The Death Of Dawn Brancheau

by Tim Zimmermann

My effort to trace the marine park experience of Tilikum the orca, in order to try and understand how his life life led to the death of Dawn Brancheau, his trainer, is now out in the July issue of Outside. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Tilikum kept dragging Brancheau through the water, shaking her violently. Finally—now holding Brancheau by her arm—he was guided onto the medical lift. The floor was quickly raised. Even now, Tilikum refused to give her up. Trainers were forced to pry his jaws open. When they pulled Brancheau free, part of her arm came off in his mouth.

Brancheau’s colleagues carried her to the pool deck and cut her wetsuit away. She had no heartbeat. The paramedics went to work, attaching a defibrillator, but it was obvious she was gone. A sheet was pulled over her body. Tilikum, who’d been involved in two marine-park deaths in the past, had killed her. Read More…

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September 19, 2010 – Taiji, Japan

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