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Japanese Dolphin Cuisine: Cruelty or Culture?

Activists have no right to decry slaughter of Flipper's brethren, locals say

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 12, 2008 10:35 AM CST
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(Newser) – One activist calls the Japanese city of Taiji "ground zero for the largest slaughter of dolphins on planet Earth," but locals want him and his cohorts to mind their own business. Residents of Taiji have been eating dolphin meat for hundreds of years and say they have as much right to do so as Westerners have to eat beef, CNN reports.

"I understand that they think the dolphin is a cute animal," says a fish merchant, "but it is our culture to eat dolphins." The issue may not turn on a society's right to practice ancient traditions, however: Taiji's schools stopped serving dolphin after a city council member raised concerns about high mercury levels in the flesh.

Junichiro Yamashita, a city councilman spearheading the anti-hunt movement, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Taiji, Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. Yamashita convinced schools to stop serving dolphin meat after reading reports of extremely high mercury levels in dolphin meat.
Junichiro Yamashita, a city councilman spearheading the anti-hunt movement, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Taiji, Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. Yamashita convinced schools to...   (Associated Press)
Boats are anchored at a port as a giant whale monument is seen in the distance in Taiji, Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. Animal rights protesters have come to this craggy Japanese fishing village for years to stop the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins for meat and fertilizer, and...
Boats are anchored at a port as a giant whale monument is seen in the distance in Taiji, Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. Animal rights protesters have come to this craggy Japanese fishing village for...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, fishermen work on a boat filled with freshly caught dolphins as a diver lifts a tail from the blood-filled water in the fishing town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecure, Japan, in this Oct. 6, 2003 file photo. Animal rights protesters have...
In this photo released by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, fishermen work on a boat filled with freshly caught dolphins as a diver lifts a tail from the blood-filled water in the fishing town of Taiji...   (Associated Press)
A small dolphin monument rests at the gateway to the town of Taiji, Japan, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. Animal rights protesters have come to this craggy Japanese fishing village for years to stop the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins for meat and fertilizer, and failed.
A small dolphin monument rests at the gateway to the town of Taiji, Japan, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008. Animal rights protesters have come to this craggy Japanese fishing village for years to stop the annual...   (Associated Press)
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Conflict exists even among activists
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Dolphins may not be innocent victims anyway
New York Daily News

 
Japan • dolphin • mercury • Ric O'Barry

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