Dolphin meat

Two of the top global headlines last week were about a Russian socialite sitting on a sexist chair and the annual hunting of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. The latter was the subject of the harrowing 2009 documentary The Cove. Dolphins are intelligent, tool-using mammals with social structures “much like humans,” according to renowned cetacean researcher Janet Mann. Yoko Ono, who is Japanese-American, implored the fishermen to cease the practice: “The way you are insisting on a big celebration of killing so many Dolphins and kidnapping some of them to sell to the zoos and restaurants … will make the children of the world hate the Japanese.” Of the 250 captured this year, about 40 have been slaughtered, and 50 will be sold to marine parks. Some argue that the hunt is a tradition, but does “tradition” make it right? Take action at www.seashepherd.org to contact embassies and consulates.