You leave me speechless

I arrived in Japan 12 days ago and since my staying here at the shores of Taiji, there have been quitte a few moments already, that i was convinced that the cruelty i witnessed could never get any worse.

Sunrise over Japan

But here in Taiji, it can. Like we saw today....



What is for us humans maybe very nice weather, is
for the dolphins and whales passing near the costline of Taiji, an absolute nightmare. A clear sky and no wind. Airless ! The ocean looked almost like a mirror with only a small ripple in the water, making it for the killers too easy to find dolphins. So after they went out, it didn't take them very long to radio in, that a boat had spotted a pod of dolphins.

Drive hunt formation

All 12 bangerboats hurried in to take part in the chase and, at the look-out point from where we watched them come into a drive-hunt formation, suddenly it became dead quiet, where moments before, everybody was talking.




We could see the pod through our lenses, even though they were stil far away at sea. They were splashing with their tales on the water, trying to franticly outrun their chasers. Without succes.....

Dead whale drowned in fishing nets

Yesterday there was no hunting because last week had been a very bloody one. Lots of dolphins had been butchered the last couple of days, so probably all the freezers in town were full of dolphin meat. On top of that, a young humpback whale lost it's life when it became entangled in fishing nets just outside Taiji harbour and drowned. His (or her) dead body was dragged into the butcherhouse. In Taiji, they do not hesitate even to scavenge on dead meat !! So the "gentlemen" took the day off.

Boats leaving port

Run for your live !

But the day before, on friday, a very large pod of Striped dolphins, a 100+ individuals, was driven in, when more then half the pod managed to escape. Dolphins have a very close family bond and it happens often, that a pod stayes in the neighborhood of the cove to wait for their family members, who obviously never show up anymore....

Trainers brought to the cove

The killers know that and look for the runaways the 
days after.

Showing their bloody work....

So we thought this might be them. But now it was a pod of bottlenose dolphins they netted in the cove. Bottlenose dolphins (flipper) are highly wanted in dolphinaria all over the world and are sold for tons of money, often to exceed prices of $ 150.000. So it didn't take long before the skiffs filled with trainers from Dolphin Base Taiji entered the cove, to look for "the best" animals. The young and strong were transported into slings, tied on both sides of a skiff and transported back to the harbour, where they were held in one of the holding pens, waiting to be trained and sold to an owner somewhere in the world.

13 of them were doomed to live the rest of their lives in a concrete tank to do silly tricks for a human adience, never to see their family or the ocean again. I can't even put into words, how sad it is, first to see the pod wild and still free in the ocean and minutes later transported as slaves to their prison.

Transferring the live dolphins

The dolphins not good enough to "star" in a dolphin show, had to die.
Now i thought that every human being, even with the smallest bit of compassion, would wait with the slaughter, untill their family members were out of the way and gone.
But compassion is a word the butchers in Taiji never even have heard of. They couldn't care less, even when these highly intelligent animals are well aware of what is happening with their papa's, mama,s, baby's, brothers and sisters. So the captivity and the bloodshed all started at the same time. While getting a few frightened dolphins out of the nets to drive them to the killing zone of the cove, they were run over by a skiff's outboard engine. The last dolphin was a prisoner who had to stay alive, who all this time, had to swim trough the blood of the others.


On one of the photo's there's a skiff transporting the dead body's from the cove. While, as always, they tried so hard to hide their dirty little secret, something went wrong with the tarp, revealing the tailes of the dolphins killed. Four of five boats brought the body's straight to the butcherhouse.

Taiji, i have no words suitable for you. What i've seen today crosses all bounderies. You leave me speechless.

Even the frog has to help hiding their secret

Banger boat with dead body's

Dear reader, please help and do your own little thing to stop this atrocity. Share the word about what is happening in Taiji with the whole world. Too many people still have no idea !

Thank you for being there and for reading my blog xx

With love,

Willem

Red again

After the killing of the pod of Risso's, 2 days ago, we enjoyed a day off yesterday. The cove stayed blue !

Taking off

This morning a little past 6, we started our day in Taiji at the harbour, were we watched all killing boats leave. From there i went with a few others to the lookout point. It took the boats more then a few hours, but surely enough, 7 of them came together into a driving formation on the horizon, just south of where we were standing. They had found dolphins...! We learned later that it was a pod of 14 to 16 Striped dolphins.

As the formation came closer, we quickly moved to another position near the lighthouse, from where we could overlook the incoming banger boats, as well as the harbour, were "fishermen" already were prepping skiffs with nets, to take off for the cove.


In the meantime the formation was very near to where we were standing. When they come from the ocean, they always drive the dolphins close to the harbour entrance, then make a sharp turn to the right and sail the final half a mile to the cove. The costline off Taiji is very rocky, forming kind of a natural waterway and for the boats this is the only way to approach the cove.

Boats in formation

It has been a few times now, that i've seen the banger boats driving a pod of dolphins to the cove and everytime the same thought popped into my mind: It looks like a véry sad funeral procession. The animals first, slowly swimming, exhausted from often many miles of fleeing from their attackers, followed by the bangers, with the constant sound of the hammers hitting the steel poles sticking into the water. Still alive, but condemned to death.

Turning into the alley of death

Because in this stage of the drive, so near to the cove, the dolphins are so tired that they have to surface every 2 seconds or so to breathe, making it for the hunters ever so easy to keep control over them.


Just when this pod was driven into the cove, we spotted a second formation on the ocean, not to far away from the cove. It were about 6 Risso's dolphins. As if one pod wasn't enough....! After the first got into the cove and was netted off, the skiffs with the killers took off from the harbour and passed us, to start their "work".
Later on i heard from someone that they couldn't even wait for the next pod to arrive. They started murdering the first pod, let their body's lay in that shallow of the cove, so when the second pod was netted off, they swam through the blood of those killed before them....
The cove was red again.

Tansporting dead body's...

Sitting on dead dolphins

Not long after that, we could see the skiffs loaded with dead body's pass right in front of us, into the harbour and straight to the butcherhouse, all hidden under tarps. Of course... And of course, not much later these beautiful creatures left the parking lot in big plastic bins in the back of a pickup truck.

...straight to the butcherhouse

Few days ago someone asked me, when we were taking pictures of the killers getting into their boats, do you think they really care ? I don't know. I don't think so. Fact is that these men totally ignore us, they don't even look at us and if they do, look away as if we are not even there. It wouldn't supprise me if they were instructed to do so. And another fact is that these men make a ton of money on this bloody business, considdering that they can easily make 150.000 USD or more, on a good show dolphin. So i don't suppose they want to stop with what they do. Their greed has no limits. But our presence here has much more effect on a higher level. We are constantly followed by lots of police men, costing the city loads of money. And the shamefull business here in Taiji, brings disgrace to the country of Japan.

Butcher with his tools...

Taiji butcherhouse

I believe we can end this by making the world aware of what's going on. But we can not do this alone. So please, share the word as much as you can or join the Cove Guardians here in Taiji if you have the possibility.
And don't ever buy a ticket to a dolphin show or a swim with dolphins program. We are strong in numbers. Together we can make that change !


Thanks for reading my blog.

Sunrise over Taiji

Love, Willem

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