Don't Go To SeaWorld

SeaWorld.

It seem like fun. It seems like a great experience that not everyone can do.

It seems.

But, not everything is what it seems. The truth is that SeaWorld, and places like it (probably Marineland, but I didn't use them as an example because I'm not 100% sure) fuel the illegal dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. They have the power to stop it. For one, the dolphin trainers sometimes help the fishermen slaughter the dolphins. And two, that's where the dolphin trainers get their dolphins. They come to the cove in the morning, pick the dolphins they want, and the rest are slaughtered. You're probably wondering why this is SeaWorld's fault. Well, a good dolphin usually goes for about $154,000. And for the fishermen, it's all about the money. So if SeaWorld stopped buying their dolphins from the cove in Taiji, then the fishermen would get far less money. A dead dolphin only goes for about $600, so they wouldn't be making very much money. They'd be forced to stop.

See? Instant solution. And the only thing stopping it are places like SeaWorld.

Questions and Answers

Blogger has a problem with plagiarism. They don't like it. No one does, of course, but they work extra hard to make sure that it doesn't happen. So Blogger won't allow me to copy and paste something that I got from a website onto my blog. I was going to put the "Questions and Answers" section of http://www.savejapandolphins.com/ onto my blog, but I can't (Don't worry, I'm not plagiarizing. I was planning on putting links, websites, and my source on the same post). So here's a link if you have any questions: http://savejapandolphins.org/faq.php.
If you have any more questions about this issue or about anything relating to it, feel free to ask me in a comment. Or, you can contact Helen O'barry at helenobarry@yahoo.com with your questions (A lot of people have been sending her questions, so please understand if she can't get to yours).
So, I just watched The Cove for the first time. Well, not for the first time. I watched parts of it with Andie, but I've never seen the whole thing. Not until today. I can't get over how powerful it is. They get their point across by going from one extreme to another. For example, they showed a bunch of dolphins in the ocean. They're happy, they're together, they're jumping in the air with the sunset behind them. They're wild. They're free. Just like they should be. And then they show a lonely dolphin in an aquarium. It's too small for it. It's alone and depressed, it's trainer starves it so that it performs properly. It's trapped in captivity. It doesn't belong there. See? From one extreme to another. It really shook me. Dolphins swim 100 miles per day. 100 MILES. How can they do that in an aquarium?
Dolphins get really stressed out in aquariums. So stressed that they die. Dolphins are smart. They're smart enough to commit suicide when they get stressed out in captivity (breathing isn't an instinct to dolphins. They have to remember to breath. They can commit suicide by not breathing anymore. Humans can't do this because they'll pass out and automatically start breathing again. But dolphins won't automatically start breathing like humans would). They're even smart enough to know what's going on in the cove. They know that their parents are being slaughtered. I don't know how they know it, but they know.
You wanna know a sound that you'll never forget when you hear it? A screaming dolphin. Yep, they scream. When they're being slaughtered. They thrash around in their own blood and they scream. It doesn't sounds like screaming, it sounds like an extremely high-pitched squeal. But it's horrible. And I'll never forget that sound. Never.

The Illegal Slaughtering of Dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

Have any of you heard of the illegal slaughtering of dolphins in Taiji, Japan? Have any of you seen the documentary "The Cove"? Anyone? Anyone? Probably not. But I have, and now I know how cruel the world can be.
Dolphins.
They're being slaughtered.
Thousands of them are killed each year.
And what for? So that they can be incorrectly labeled as whale meat and sold to the people in Japan? So that school children will be forced to eat it? Most of you are probably thinking "Why is it being labeled incorrectly? Why not just tell people that it's dolphin meat?" Well, as some of you may know, dolphin meat is high in mercury. Mercury = mercury poisoning. Mercury poisoning = BAD! Fortunately, school children are no longer being fed the dolphin meat. But the slaughtering is still going on. Every year. Again and again. When I watched "The Cove" I was thinking, this is gonna be bad. This is gonna be really, really bad.
I was right.
Not a speck of blue was left in that water. Just endless red. Blood. Everywhere. How the hell is this documentary shown on T.V. and in movie theatres but the slaughtering is still taking place?! Because when people hear about this they say "Oh, that's sad," and they carry on with their lives. I'll admit, that's what I was thinking before I saw "The Cove" but after I watched it, my life changed. Everyone needs to see it. Everyone needs to know what's happening. Watch it. Recommend it. Take action. Here are some ways to help:

Go to http://www.thecovemovie.com/ and click "Take Action"

Go to http://www.freethedolphinsstopthemurdering.blogspot.com/ (My friend's blog that I'm campaigning with. Is that a word? Campaigning?)

Go to http://www.greenpeace.org/ to help with other issues as well as this one.

Tell. Recommend. Bring awareness! People work better together.