Marine Life
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There Is No Such Animal as "Seafood"
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Better LCDs Trump an Animal's Right to Live and Be Left Alone?
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Whales and Wool: Celebrating Some Animals at the Expense of Others
Updates on Wolves, Whales, and Dolphins: The Hunts Go On
Published September 10, 2009 @ 06:31AM PT
In Japan's village of Taiji, the rounding up of dolphins and shipping them to aquariums, to live the rest of their lives in unnatural, miserable captivity, has begun. The killing of pilot whales has begun. Whether and when the killing of dolphins right there in the cove will resume is yet to be seen. Read more here. (See last related post on this blog here.)
The district judge out in Montana who had the power to stop the wolf hunts underway in Idaho and set to begin next week in Montana passed up the chance: He acknowledged that environmental/wildlife groups may be right that the wolves shouldn't have been delisted, but has ruled that the hunts can go on while the painfully slow process of enviro/wildlife groups suing the government over the delisting continues. Read more here. (See last related posts on this blog here and here.)
Oh--and tens of millions of land animals will be killed for food today, 20,000 every minute, just in U.S. slaughterhouses alone, along with the killing of a mind-boggling number of aquatic animals. There's no failed injunction or grand-scale outrage or media frenzy to report on in relation to those equally tragic deaths because people aren't as horrified by the killing of pigs and cows as they are by the killing of dolphins or as disgusted by the terrorizing of chickens as they are by the hunting of wolves, so this isn't exactly news. But while we're noting the day's bad news for animals, it seems wrong to leave out the ones being killed so casually en masse, who are the same as dolphins and wolves in all the ways that matter.
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Photo of dolphin in Texas aquarium by Flickr user See1,Do1,Teach1
Dolphin Slaughter on Hold After Attention from the Cove
Published September 03, 2009 @ 06:55AM PT
Back in February, I wrote briefly on The Cove, the gripping documentary on an annual dolphin slaughter in the Japanese village of Taiji that's been a hot topic among audiences and animal advocates this year (official site here). It's been out in select theaters for about a month now, and in that time, Taiji's Australian sister city has severed ties with the village, and far more significantly, the outcry from audiences has been so great that so far this year, though the slaughter was set to begin this week, the normally blood-red waters of the cove are still running clear: no slaughter yet (see this post from ecorazzi for a striking image comparison).
You can read more about what's happening in Taiji and keep apprised of updates by checking in with Ric O'Barry's SaveJapanDolphins.org blog.
See two different intense trailers below (after the jump) and check to see if there are screenings anywhere near you here.
Killing Fishes for Fuel?
Published August 13, 2009 @ 01:53PM PT
As noted in the past, I have a love-hate relationship with TreeHugger when it comes to the site's animal-related coverage, and when I saw this headline this morning--"LiveFuels to Farm Fish to Make Biofuel = Bad Idea"--I initially groaned, not processing the "Bad Idea" part right away. But it turns out TreeHugger and I agree this time. Writer Matthew McDermott too thinks that the following is a preposterous and unethical proposal:
Anti-Whaling Music Video from Heath Ledger and Modest Mouse Released
Published August 04, 2009 @ 09:17PM PT
Apparently, prior to his death last year, Heath Ledger was at work directing a music video with the band Modest Mouse--and not just any run-of-the-mill music video, but a creative animated video intended to raise awareness of the cruel, brutal nature of whaling. And having viewed the video just now--it was released today--I'd argue that it puts out a strong anti-fishing message too (if not a message in opposition to killing animals in general, even if that wasn't the intent; let me know what you think after you've seen it).
From the band's MySpace blog today:
The Navy versus the Whales (Again)
Published August 03, 2009 @ 05:30PM PT
From NRDC's Switchboard:
Today the Navy released its Record of Decision to begin construction of an undersea warfare training range right next to the only known calving grounds for the critically endangered right whale. Hunted nearly to extinction, North Atlantic right whales are one of the world's most endangered species, with only about 300 remaining. The North Atlantic right whale remains extremely vulnerable to the continuing threats posed by ship strikes, entanglement and ocean noise - a triple threat that will be exacerbated by the Navy's disastrous plan to build an undersea warfare training range adjacent to their last remaining calving grounds.
Once constructed, the proposed undersea warfare training range will be the site of intensive, year-round exercises employing the same kind of active sonar that has caused multiple marine mammal strandings leading to injury and death. It would effectively transform the waters off the Florida coast into an epicenter of sonar use.
Continue reading here.
"Guilt-Free" Sushi Doesn't Include Bits of Fish
Published July 29, 2009 @ 08:21AM PT
Apparently, between yesterday's post and this one, we have a theme going: foods that require the killing of animals are not greed- and guilt-free just because they don't require the killing or exploitation of some other animals. Yesterday, I wrote about the problem of referring to Fair Trade milk chocolate as free of "greed" and as a win for the "socially conscious" when dairy consumption and "production" involve some of the greediest, cruelest human acts. And today, I'm writing in response to a Christian Science Monitor article titled "Guilt-Free Sushi."
Three Reasons Not to Eat Fish
Published July 07, 2009 @ 01:54PM PT
With a hat tip to the Twitterin' Mary Martin of Animal Person, I give you this smart, short video on the fish issue, which I'd not seen before last night:
