93 Dolphin Lives Taken In Taiji Hell

93 bottlenose dolphins will never see freedom again. Will never taste their ocean home, feel their pod surrounding them as they travel hundreds of miles across the ocean. Will never eat the fresh salty fish, ever again. Instead they are destined for a life of captivity, sadness, and starvation in marine parks around the world. The true evil behind these kidnappings of souls is hard to convey into words… imagine being brutally separated from your family after being chased by excruciating pain, and forced to watch them be taken away one after another by creatures that are foreign to your world, never to see them again.. this is Taiji.

December 12th, 2012- The Cove Guardians in Taiji report the fisherman preparing the 100+ bottlenose dolphins that have been kept overnight from the previous days hunting. Trainers from marine parks around the world soon arrive at the cove to place their bids on the life of one of these prime specimen of marine mammal captivity. Not even a full three hours after the fisherman have woken up and started the day, 12 souls were given to the devil. 12 souls taken to captivity…not even three hours later. A mother tries to save a baby before the calf dies fro being entangled in the nets. The day goes on, more dolphins lives of freedom are taken, with a total of 32 at the end of the day.

December 13th, 2012- 28 more dolphins are taken from the cove, and sent to marine parks. 2 dead bodies are found from within the cove and immediately removed. Total of 60 dolphins taken.

December 14th, 2012- The dolphins and the Cove Guardians get a break. Mother Nature does her best and sets in a downpour, preventing any selling of dolphins.

December 15th,2012- 31 dolphins taken into captivity today, rendering a total of 93. 93 lives just ruined, taken, abused, tortured, and ultimately put to an end in just 4 days.

The fisherman and trainers are expected to finish selecting dolphins on the 16th, and the Cove Guardians will report.

The amount of grief felt in the hearts of thousands worldwide can be felt even by the type of words on a computer. But none are experiencing the pain and mourning like those bearing witness in Taiji, updating the world, keeping us aware, documenting the events with every detail. For this we thank you, for without you we would know nothing of these events.

In the past 4 days, 93 lives have been taken in Taiji. Families have been separated, never to see each other again. 93 babies, mothers, and fathers have been sentenced to a life of sadness for a crime they never committed.

Some consider it a blessing that these beautiful animals weren’t slaughtered on the spot, killed…upon a deeper analyzing, though, it is not so. There is no difference between the fisherman slaughtering them in the cove and them being taken into captivity. Captivity is death, just slower.

This is Taiji.

 

Showdown in Taiji— High Speed Chase Between Cove Guardians and Japanese Nationalists

On March 12th, at 2:16 A.M. central time, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society released a tweet sharing the news that the Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians on the ground in Taiji were currently involved in a high speed chase with Right Wing Japanese Nationalists. This was the tweet:

“@SeaShepherd: Breaking News! Taiji Cove Guardians under attack by Right Wing Japanese Nationalists. Cove Guardians are now involved in a high speed chase. (2:16am)”

It was wrote by Cove Guardian Scott West that the nationalists showed up at the cove and become angry at the Cove Guardians, which wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was that the police revealed the reasons behind their please for the Cove Guardians to stay away from the Cove—They were afraid nationalists! When the Cove Guardians returned to the cove parking lot they learned the nationalists had began a search for them it seemed, starting at the hotel.

The nationalists showed up at the cove and got violent, causing police to force Cove Guardians into their vehicles, escorting them out of Taiji. The nationalists, with no shock, also got into their vehicles and chased the police and the Cove Guardians, with numbers reaching up to 10 cars at a time. This made it blatantly clear who was in total control of the situation—the nationalists. When Scott West told them to do their job, they had no words to defend themselves.

The convoy soon pulled into the police compound located in Kushimoto, where the Cove Guardians got locked in the gates and the nationalists fled and are nowhere to be seen. At this time Sea Shepherd sent out the following tweet:

“@SeaShepherd: The high speed chase ended at Kushimoto police station Cove Guardians are safe for now and filing reports (2:26am central)”

News went quiet after this tweet until 6:53am central time when this was tol:

“@SeaShepherd: Taiji: All Cove Guardians safe. We’re being advised by Wakayama City police for our safety and protection. #tweet4taiji”

The Sea Shepherd has expressed their appreciation in this incident to the police for their help and protection from the nationalists.

Japanese Right Wing Nationalists Accost Cove Guardians

 

 

Related articles:

Sea Shepherd – A Bizarre Display of Police Authority in Taiji, Japan

Japanese Police Raid (Sea Shepherds) Cove Guardians

Following the arrest of Cove Guardian Erwin Vermeulen Sea Shepherd Founder Captain Paul Watson  has released a report stating that 20 police have raided the Cove Guardians hotel…

Twenty officers of the Wakayama Prefecture police have raided the Clarmant Hotel where the Cove Guardians are quartered near Taiji, Japan.

Armed with a warrant the police as seizing computers, phones, hard drives, photos, cameras and anything they deem suspicious.

No reasons have been given for the raid and the Cove Guardians have been careful to not violate local laws.

The raid follows the arrest of Cove Guardian Erwin Vermeulen who was charged with assault on the word of an employee of the Dolphin Resort Hotel. Erwin was attempting to film the transfer of dolphins from the sea to holding pens at the resort. The employee claims that Erwin pushed him. There were no other witnesses to this allegation.

In contrast a recent assault on two female Cove Guardians by a fisherman resulted in the fisherman being questioned and released despite video evidence of the assault. 

At present the Cove Guardians, Scott, Melissa and Ron and also Heather from Save Japan’s Dolphins are being detained and have been cut off from communication with the outside world.

Nicole MacLaughlan managed to get word to us because she was leaving the hotel to go to Osaka just as the police made their move to raid the hotel.

It appears that the police are acting out of frustration and desperation with a crack down against a group that has not committed a single infraction and have operated strictly within the boundaries of Japanese law.

We anxiously await word of their release from detainment and if we hear nothing we will assume they have been incarcerated at the jail in Shingu.

 

Because this event has happened directly after the arrest of Erwin, some are suspecting something more sinister going on behind these actions. Watson later released this update on the event as well…

Just prior to press time for this report, Paul Watson released the following statement on facebook, None of the Cove Guardians were arrested during the raid on their hotel but all laptops, cameras, phone were seized without cause from all the Cove Guardians.  The Cove Guardians have been robbed of their property and their ability to document the atrocities at Taiji.  This is an act of desperation in an attempt to muzzle free speech and to cover-up the horrific slaughter of the dolphins at the Cove.  Now more than ever, the Cove Guardians need volunteers on the ground in the faces of the killers.

Sandy McElhaney via the Examiner:

Today’s incident sent shockwaves through the marine mammal advocacy community.  Unable to hide the killings behind the blue tarps that litter The Cove, Taiji is now going on an offensive against activists who are armed only with cameras and video recorders and who seek nothing more than to shine the light of truth on the ongoing travesty of the bloody killing Cove in Taiji, Japan.

I and many others are expecting something worse to soon break out on the Cove Guardians and the Save Japan Dolphins team in Taiji, Japan. As the whaling season is beginning, tension between the Japanese and Sea Shepherd are reaching an all time high, and Sea Shepherd is expecting this to be the most violent Anti-Whaling Campaign they have had yet.