Killing machine

As Cove Guardians we have all different positions on hunting days. That way we can monitor everything that is happening and often that is on more then one place at the same time. This morning, as the boats went out, i stayed with Valentina in the harbour, to keep an eye on the pens, were 50/60 bottlenose dolphins are held for weeks, waiting for a buyer.

Boats leave port

The boats stayed out long and well over 9.30 (the time they usually stop), we got the call from our fellow cove guardians at the look-out point, that they had been spotted on the horizon in driving formation. At about the same time, Val and i saw the men from the coast guard getting ready with their inflatible zodiac and we saw skiffs loaded with nets leave port in the direction of the cove.

Val at the harbour

Coastguard protecting who ?

We don't want you to see what we do !

Quickly we changed position, and i went with Liam to the cove. There we waited. After a while, i heard the rumbling sound of a diesel engine and then another. Seconds later i saw the first of the 12 killerboats come from behind the rocks that outline the cove, followed by the rest. In their middle was a pod of about 20 beautiful striped dolphins. The men in the killerboats were constantly hammering on the steel poles, and from the skiffs they were throwing big peaces of steel (tied on ropes) in the water to scare the animals in the right direction, the killer cove....In panic and totally freaked out, they hurdled together into what was to be their final destination. Very fast,the cove was netted off and right after that it went silent. From my position i couldn't see anything, the cove is fenced off everywhere. 

Again, they don't like people to see their dirty business in Taiji. But i knew exactly what was going on. Right now they were killing this magnificant animals and shortly after, the skiffs loaded with dead dolphins left the cove.

Again we changed position and we went to the butcherhouse were the body's were chopped up, in no time transformed from a graceful, intelligent, sensitive sea mammal, into a pile of bloody chunks of meat.

Dolphins driven into the cove

The thing that struck me today, was the speed of the whole operation. Taiji is a good oiled, well organized and highly effective killing machine. As the boats were driving in the pod, they radio,ed what species of dolphins they had, so that the men could prepare the cove. (the sides of the cove had to be covered with tarps. Striped dolphins often panic so much, that they throw themselves on the sharp rocks, injuring themselves badly and exposing a bloodbath to the world to see. It has nothing to do with compassion for the animals)

"Protection"

Men in skiffs scare the whole pod with their outboard engines to the end of the cove, were the killers are standing ready to do their work. Others then quickly transport the body´s to the slaughterhouse were the butchers are waiting. Meanwhile all the meatbuyers get a call that fresh dolphinmeat is available.

Loaded with killers and pray

In just a few hours, a family of dolphins, that was happily roaming the wide ocean, now leaves the parkinglot in big plastic bins on pickup trucks, still warm and covered by tarps.

The blood is spilled. The tarps can go down

As i said yesterday, the horrors i have seen so far in only 4 days that i´ve been here, only made me more determine then ever to stop all that is happening here. Please keep sharing all the news you read from Taiji. Together we can make a change.

Today we welcomed two new Cove Guardians from Australia ! They will be introduced on the official cove guardians page. Keep following us folks.
We can´t do it alone. Thanks for all your support.
And thank you for reading my blog.


Love, Willem

Welcome to Taij

My first day in Taiji was a good day. The cove stayed blue.
But yesterday was different...

We went out early in the morning, we saw the banger-boats leave port and we moved to our lookout point, from were you have an exellent view of the ocean. There the waiting began, anxiously tracing the horizon with binoculars, to see if anyone could catch a glimp of the hunting boats and if they were in a drive-formation or not. Usually the killers hunt until 9.30 in the morning. If they didn't find anything by that time, they return to port and call it a day.

Boats in driving formation

At around 9.25 the first boat was just about to enter the harbour, maybe a hundred meters away, followed in a distance by the rest. The cove would stay blue for yet another day !! We were all excited, joking and making plans for the afternoon. We would go out for noodles !
But then, right in front of us, the first boat stopped and layed motionless in the water. We all stopped breathing. Then it slowly turned around, throttled up and speeded back to the ocean when at the same time, all the other boats changed course and headed in the same direction. They were tipped off by a small fishingboat that was laying right in front of us, not more then maybe a mile off shore. The had spotted dolphins.

The bangerboats hurried to get into a driving formation behind the pod. This time it was tóó easy for the killers, this close to the cove...

We all went to another position, high above the cove, from where you have a clear view of the drama that's unfolding in front of you. In my life i have seen dolphins twice. The first time was at a dolphin show in Harderwijk (Netherlands). I was maybe 8 or 9 years old and i really thought the dolphins were happy because they were "smiling". How little did i know....

22 Risso dolphins

The second time i saw them, so many years later, they were surrounded by 12 banger boats, with men who were banging on steal poles in the water, creating a wall of sound making the dolphins franticly flea in the other direction. Everytime a dolphin tried to escape, one of the fast killerboats throttled up, blowing a black puff of smoke from it's diesel engine, driving it back to the pod. Dispite the tragedy, the thing that struck me seeing them in real live again, was the power and grace in which they glided trough the water. What a beautiful creatures !

Once in the cove, it was quickly netted off by men in skiffs. No escape anymore. Right after that, the murderers started to cover the killing zone with tarps. They don't want the world to see their dirty little secret. Covering the cove, only means one thing...The sound of the steal rings scraping over the metal cabels, meter by meter, still haunts me.

2 Taken captive

First 2 Risso's were taken captive by dolphin trainers, to spent the rest of their lives in a concrete tank, doing silly tricks for a human audience. All the other family members had to die.

Yes we see what you do !

So soon, the killing began by ramming a steel rod into the spinal cord, paralizing the animal, but not killing it. Then a wooden plug is jammed into the wound to stop the bleeding. No blood in the water for the world to see ! But they don't always succeed and also this time, slowly the cove turned red... When the animal is tied with it's tail to a skiff for transportation to the butcherhouse, it usually drowns. Usually...

Killed dolphin

Transfering to the butcher

During one of the transports, a killer desperately trying to hide his dirty bloody business, looked up at me, straight in the eyes. Caught like a thief in the night.

It was all over so quickly. Only a few hours ago this dolphin family was happy and free. Now, 18 of them were killed and 2 were kidnapped, never to see their family and the ocean again. All because they made one mistake: They came to close to Japanese shores.

Words can hardly discribe what i felt yesterday and it still is so surreal.
But it made me even more determined to do whatever i can to stop this cruelty. And even if you can not come to Taiji, you can share the news. Let the world know what is going on. Together we are strong !!

But the day wasn't over yet. Shortly after the killing and butchering, a crane was positioned to lift 2 bottlenose dolphins, who had spent weeks in the harbour pens, from their small prisons into a waiting truck to be transported to a dolphinarium somewhere in the world.

Lifted into a waiting truck

We jumped into the car and followed the truck for several hours, only to loose it at some point unfortunately. That's why i didn't had the energy to wright my blog yesterday, we were só tired.

Sunrise at the cove

But today there is no hunting !! All the boats stayed in. So all the time in the world to make up and write a decent update from my blog, as i  promissed.
Coming back from the harbour, we stopped at the cove to wittness an incredible sunrise. Strange that such a horrific place can be so beautiful as well.
So today is my day off. All the others are out for lunch and i think i'm gonna bring some order in the      mess i made of my hotelroom ;)

Thanks for all your support and thanks for reading my blog.

Until soon.
xxx

Willem

Monitors

Today was my real first day as a cove guardian. And that means getting up at 5, making coffee in my room and bring my butt outside in freezing temeratures. But no one is complaining, because we had to make it in time for a rendez vous with some "fisherman".

Dawn in Taiji harbour

So we stood there when the men came out, climbed in their banger-boats, started the engines and took off at daybreak to go hunting for dolphins. Again, it all was surreal for me, having seen this many times on the internet, but now standing a few feet away from them, looking them straight in the eyes. That is, if they looked at me at at all ! Because most of them had their faces covered and everytime i pointed my camera at them, they hurried to turn their head away. Why ? If you have nothing to hide, if what you do is just to make an honest buck, why would you cover your face ? I think you know why...

My fellow "covey's" told me the killers would find it quitte annoying when their picture was taken. So in that 3 minutes, i took about 80 photo's of them. Wíth flash of course ! ;)

What have you got to hide ?

Killers to "work"

Boats leaving port

When the boats left, went together with a few guardians to a high look-out point overseeing the ocean, where we, after a few hours, were so happy to see that they all came back, empty handed, one by one and not all together in a driving formation ! My first day at the Cove was a blue one !!!

Empty handed !

Taiji is a strange little town. Everybody monitors everybody. First, the hunters monitor the dolphins, we are monitoring the killers and the police is monitoring us. They follow us everywhere and watch every move we make. Most of them are very friendly and i really think they are in a difficult situation too. They get the order, they have to do their work, but that doesn't necessarily mean they agree in what is happening in Taiji.

Harpoon boats

It is a crazy town too. The people in Taiji pretend to be whale lovers. Everywhere you can see statues of whales and happy smiling dolphins, but only yards away is the dolphin butcher house. And boats that look like big happy, floating whales to take tourists for a cruise, are passing the harpoonvessels that lay in the harbour, ready to hunt for small cetaceans.

But today was a good day. Because the cove stayed blue, we even had time for a group photo. Which i will put on my blog too. Of course. :) Speaking of being proud....!!!

Proud to be a cove guardian !

Time for bed now. Tomorrow is another (early) day. See you all soon. And thanks for reading my blog.

Love, Willem xx