I’ve always loved dolphins. I’ve never had the opportunity to see one up close, but I’ve always had a desire to travel wherever they are, just to be near them, and maybe interact with them. They are a remarkable species; incredibly intelligent, gentle, and full of life. They are like living art as they glide through the water, traveling upwards of a hundred miles a day. Research has shown that these magnificent creatures may be just as intelligent, perhaps even more so than our selves. They use a sophisticated language that we are only now just beginning to understand and appreciate. They live in complex social communities. They love their children just as we love ours. And they are often as curious of us as we are of them. Human history is filled with accounts of dolphins rescuing people at sea, and even placing themselves in harm’s way to protect us from predators. Indeed, they are one of the few species on planet earth that we could form a wonderful, equal, and meaningful relationship with.
Tonight Denice and I watch the documentary, The Cove. My stomach is still turning from watching the horrific violence that is done every year to the dolphins in Taiji, Japan. They are herded from their home in the ocean into a tiny cove, where they are brutally slaughtered by the thousands. They are butchered live common livestock. In once scene a baby dolphin desperately tries to fling itself onto the rocks, to escape the fishermen’s spears. This is so wrong! These creature should not be treated like this. I’m sorry, but dolphins are beautiful creatures, and they don’t deserve this. The future will judge this generation for allowing such barbarism to go on.
The few “lucky” dolphins that are chosen to escape the bloodbath are the ones that are sold into virtual slavery. They are the ones that are forced to perform for us at Sea World, or places where people go to ‘swim with the dolphins.’ I had no idea this is how these dolphins were obtained. Denice and I had ‘swimming with the dolphins’ on our unwritten bucket lists, but after watching this I WILL NEVER TAKE PART in this sick industry. If I ever get to see a dolphin or be close to one it will be on their turf, where we are both free, or not at all!
