National Geographic published an article called "Japan's Controversial Annual Dolphin Hunt Begins," and I immediately felt the need to write about it. I first heard about annual Japanese dolphin hunts after watching the 2009 Academy-winning documentary film "The Cove" which exposes the industry's brutal practices. Since then, Netflix has also released a documentary called "Seaspiracy." You can view the trailer here, although I do warn that it is hard to watch.

To summarize, Japan hunts dolphins during a six-month hunting season to provide meat to the Japanese people. What is astonishing is how these animals are hunted. Witnesses from The Dolphin Project, an organization dedicated to the protection of dolphins, "say fishermen typically kill the dolphins by spearing them below their blowholes to sever the spinal cord. But it's been noted that the dolphins may not die instantly and that some have been seen moving afterward. Other eyewitnesses have reported that calves, unable to survive alone, have been released back into the ocean after their mothers were killed." Even worse, Seaspiracy claims that for every dolphin being caught, 12 more were being killed – even though there's no market for dolphin meat. This method of hunting is entirely inhumane and it is astonishing to know that it has been a cultural tradition for hundreds of years.

According to Whales.org, “The treatment of dolphins in hunts sharply contradicts current animal welfare standards employed in most modern and technologically advanced societies. The systematic mistreatment of dolphins, allowed and sanctioned by a highly developed country such as Japan, is in striking contrast to the European Union, the United States, and even existing Japanese livestock legislation.”

Why is it that some animal lives are valued while others are disregarded? Some might say dolphins are just fish, but little do they know that dolphins are intelligent creatures. "Research suggests that bottlenose dolphins are self-aware, a trait which is considered to be a sign of highly-developed, abstract thinking. One such indicator is that they have been shown to be able to recognize themselves in a mirror, a behavior that until recently has only been recorded in humans and great apes."

While dolphin slaughter continues year after year, increased awareness has added pressure on the Japanese government to end these hunts even though they have defended them in the past. We have a long way to go, but I have high hopes that dolphin hunting will be a thing of the past.

If you would like to petition against dolphin hunting, sign the Change.org petition here and support marine conservation organizations such as The Whale and Dolphin Conservation and The Dolphin Project.