The documentary, “The Cove,” represents the abject, inexcusable cruelty of humans in depicting the large-scale slaughtering of marine mammals, namely dolphins and whales by Japan. A group of passionate activists banded together and, over several years, tried to make the public aware of what was and is taking place. The sadness of this is that dolphins are not only intelligent beings, but also self-aware beings like humans.
Yes, nature itself is cruel. In the food chain, nature dictates that humans are at the top of this chain. And, yes, our ancestors survived by hunting and killing other specious for survival. Therefore, a limited amount killing for food is unavoidable.
Cruelty in nature is true for numerous specious, not just humans. For example, sharks were observed in a killing spree of sea lions off the coast of South Africa. The killings were as fierce as the killings of the dolphins by Japanese fishermen. It is important to note that the shark killings of sea lions was very similar to the Japanese slaughtering of the dolphins. Why? Because the sharks were killing the sea lions and not consuming them. They were just killing for the sake of killing and killing much more than they could possibly eat.
Since the mass slaughtering of dolphins and whales has come to public attention, it has become an issue for nations such as Japan. But many other nations have similar sins when it comes to slaughtering animals. Don’t we mass slaughter cows for food? Yes! But cows are raised specifically for the purpose of food consumption. Cows do not have self-awareness as dolphins do. Also, dolphins are wild and an important part of the marine ecosystem.
Besides cows, we humans mass slaughter other animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, buffalo, and a number of other species, all done in the name of food production. But, what about the unnecessary slaughtering of other animals?
For example, greyhound dogs are raised to race and when they reach a certain age, or are not fit to race any longer, they are put to sleep. This would undoubtedly be considered mass slaughtering. What about bull fighting for pleasure, and the slaughter of the bull at the end of the contest? Or, the mass slaughtering of sheep during the religious holiday of “Korban Bay rami” in Islamic countries? During this barbaric practice, the streets run red with blood from the slaughtered animals.
“The Cove” documentary showed the world the mass slaughter of dolphins with spears so much so that the water on the bay turned bloodied RED. The same scenario takes place in Turkey during Korban Bay rami. The Bosporus in Istanbul turns RED from the slaughtered animals.
When the issue of Japan’s slaughtering of marine mammals came to the attention of the UN, and it was brought up for a vote whether to prohibit such acts, it was voted down. Japan bought the votes of several Caribbean nations by promising those poor nations to build fisheries for them. And so, the slaughter of the dolphins continues.
I believe as many do that dolphins are a highly intelligent species and currently research is underway to learn about their ultrasonic abilities. The US Navy is experimenting with dolphins and using their particular talents. We cannot farm dolphins. We cannot domesticate dolphins. They are not a species conducive to captive purposes. But, isn’t that how it all started? One of the activists trying to bring attention to the dolphin slaughter was actually the one who started the capture and use of dolphins in shows and on TV. That is until he realized that it was wrong to keep dolphins in captivity.
There must be an international agreement about which species to slaughter. We already farm the grass feeding animals for food purposes. But we must protect dolphins and whales and not subject them to further slaughter. We must take care of them. If we destroy them, we take them out of the food chain and it would ultimately come down to our own destruction. It has also been found the meat from the slaughtered dolphins is highly toxic with excessive mercury.
Supposedly we have animal rights, but they are biased rights. Some animals have rights and others do not. Some indirect theories deny animals’ moral status or equal consideration with humans due to lack of consciousness, reasons, or autonomy. (We have already established that dolphins are a conscious species with self-awareness). Ultimately denying moral status to animals, these theories may still require not harming animals, but only because doing so does harm to a human being’s morality (Wren np).
It is tragic to see under what conditions and for what reasons dolphins are decimated. I do not buy the reasoning of the Japanese national culture. The suffering inflicted on the dolphins is totally unjustified and proves to what extent human beings may be cruel when guided by sordid interests. Remember Immanuel Kant, Rene Descartes, Thomas Aquinas, Peter Caruthers, and various religious theories (Wren np). In these circumstances, government is not the answer. Starting with a few passionate individuals, we have an obligation to behave with dignity towards other kingdoms of nature and the international community must set an example of right action to that end (Kaya, “Our Animal Friends and the Environment” 2015).