This Week's Dolphin Outlook

We actually had an all Blue Week in the Cove off the coast of Taiji, Japan (including today). There were no captures or killings of any dolphins in Taiji all week long.

However, it was a close one because on Thursday this week, an entire pod of Dolphins literally escaped capture. I do not think I have ever known that to happen before. It was amazing to hear from the Cove Monitors that are there reporting on this every day, and they are showing live footage too:

"They caught a pod yesterday and netted them off shore but the pod escaped. I'm imagining they were pacific white sided as they always net them at sea to prevent them getting injured as they are so valuable to the captive market" --Vicki Kiely
End Japan’s Deadly Taiji Dolphin Hunt
640px-tursiops_aduncus_port_river_adelaide_australia_-_2003-Aude Steiner
Target: Hiroshi Moriyama, Minister of Japan’s Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

Goal: End the annual Taiji dolphin hunt in Japan, during which hundreds of dolphins are butchered.

Japanese fishermen have already killed dozens of dolphins during their annual hunt off the small coastal village of Taiji. Every year, fishermen venture into the ocean and capture the dolphins. They are corralled into a cove, where they are slaughtered. On the first day of this year’s hunt, twenty dolphins were murdered. Hundreds are expected to be butchered in the cove by the end of the six-month hunt.

The fishermen and the villagers argue that the hunt is ethical because it represents the nation’s tradition and because the dolphins being murdered are not endangered. However, tradition cannot be used as an excuse for the slaughter of hundreds of innocent and majestic animals. Times change and societies progress. Traditions should follow suit. In addition, the fact that the dolphins are not endangered holds no merit. If this is used as an argument, hundreds of dolphins will continue to be murdered at an extraordinary pace and will one day face extinction.

The brutality of the hunt gained notoriety after the documentary about the Taiji hunt, entitled “The Cove,” won an Academy Award. Since then, protesters have flocked to the village. However, the village’s fisheries officials and the Japanese government refuse to listen to their pleas and continue to allow hundreds of dolphins to be murdered. Sign the petition to demand that the Japanese government recognize the cruelty of the hunt and make an effort to end this barbaric practice. Click to help!

Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project can confirm that the first Atlantis U.S.-based resort will be developed in West Oahu, Hawaii, and will include an extensive captive dolphin exhibit.
Update: Atlantis Confirms 1st U.S. Resort to be Built in Oahu
Dolphin Project can confirm that the first Atlantis U.S.-based resort will be developed in West Oahu, Hawaii, and will include an extensive captive dolphin exhibit.

"Hawaii developer Jeff Stone’s The Resort Group, the master developer of the 642-acre master-planned resort community, said a subsidiary of China Oceanwide Holdings closed on the $280 million purchase of 26 acres of land at Ko Olina’s “Honu Lagoon 2.” The Hong Kong-based company, which is headed by one of China’s richest individuals, is spending about $580 million total on Hawaii properties.” ~ Source: American City Business Journals, Pacific Business News, 9/19/16. Read more: http://bit.ly/2dk02iW
Take The Pledge to Not Visit a Dolphin Show!