Eye of the Dolphin

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Marine Mammal Rights
2007-11-30 21:34:00
(Image credit: Howie Cooke @ Surfers for Cetaceans) Somethings amiss in peoples' DNA make-up when they take perverse pleasure in harassing marine life or wildlife. In the news recently, a jet skier went out of his way to mess around with a pod of dolphins in Scotland. Excerpt: ....a jet-skier ride into a family of dolphins and send them into a panic, a court has heard. The large group of around 20 animals became stressed when they were chased through the water by the jet-skier, diving under the water and returning to the surface only seconds later to breathe. Thankfully there were witnesses and this case goes to court in a couple of weeks. I suggest that one of his punishments should be to be thrown into the water and another jet skier harasses him while he struggles to stay afloat and to breathe. Let him become disoriented, confused, and panicked. Something else that gives further weight to the argument that dolphins should NOT be held in captivity anywhere for any reason:...
More About: Rights , Marine

Splashy Pants and the Crazy Clicker
2007-11-28 22:20:00
(Artist credit: Christian Lassen)Turns out that the Whale naming contest going on over at Greenpeace has a crazy-clicker. Everyone is allowed one vote. But due to a script error, which this crazy-clicker figured out, multiple votes from one I.P. address were recorded.Multiple? Big deal huh? Well ... 150 clicks per minute is a sign of quite the dedicated (or obsessed) whale fan ROFL This writer over at Greenpeace wrote a blog about this ... and it's really quite funny.Incidentally, Mister Splashy Pants is winning in a landslide. So far, he's got well over 70% of the vote. In addition, this vote has been extended until December 7th. With a name like this, you can't help but smile. The public relations on this competition and the catchy name of Mister Splashy Pants, has already gone into hyperdrive. You can check that out here -> Mister Splashy Pants Goes Viral! So be sure to get your Mr. Splashy Pants T-shirt and bumper stickers soon .. and expect Mr. Pants to make th...
More About: Crazy , Clicker

Earth, Whales, and Seals
2007-11-28 08:01:00
Check out this really cool site called Earth -Touch. Amazing videos of wildlife and marine mammals. Registering is free.Bear in mind it's still in the beta stage so technical difficulties might occur. Definitely worth your while. Greenpeace currently has a Whale naming contest going on. Voting ends November 30th. So far, the leading name is Mister Splashy Pants ( lol ) I voted for "Libertad," which means 'freedom' in Spanish. You can only vote once, but spread the word. Another excellent site to check out that covers the issues of Whaling and what we can do to stop it is, Stop Whaling.There are action alerts, news links, and other informative contacts and connections. Bookmark it and check in on it regularly :-) Someone is taking sick pleasure in shooting at fur seals in an area that was set aside for the conservation of wildlife. Read more here: Dozens of fur seals found shot dead in Tasmania And some people wonder why I often prefer the company of the non-huma...
More About: Whales , Hale

Scientific Whale Slaughter - Yeah, Right
2007-11-27 16:50:00
It's interesting that the Japanese do not eat a lot of whale meat, which is further indication of how unnecessary their whale hunts are. It's also interesting that they claim to not care what the rest of the world thinks about their whale hunting, and yet they are seemingly scrambling about, finding ways to use the whales to their maximum benefit (aka greed) while still calling it "scientific research." A Japanese company says it will start offering whale curry in its takeaway business lunches, as the country pursues its controversial whale hunt in the Antarctic. Read more here -> Beautiful whales to end up as $6 curry "I'm getting so tired of the biased articles I read in Western newspapers each year at this time," says Dr Pastene, who supervises nine scientists studying whale samples at Tokyo's Institute of Cetacean Research.It is the work his team does here that drives Japan's "scientific whaling" program, and in turn provokes international outrage. Invariably, he says...
More About: Whale , Yeah , Slaughter , Hale

Victory for Whales, Not So Much for the Dolphins
2007-11-26 11:22:00
"The Labor Party of Australia has won the election and they have won by a landslide and this could be wonderful news for the whales of Antarctica." More to this on Sea Shepherd Have you ever been to Sea World and seen the dolphins? I haven't and always refused to go when friends would ask. Why? Because I have a problem with dolphins being in captivity. This is a very controversial issue in the marine wildlife world. People love dolphins, but they often suffer a failure of empathy and imagination. They do not make the connection that to bring a dolphin into these preposterously unnatural circumstances requires that dolphins be ripped from their natural environment, kidnapped from their families and pod mates, held in nets, carried in trucks, hoisted into planes and flown to distant locations. Many die in the process. Those that survive are condemned to a life in a cement tank, listening to the interminable hum of the filtration system and the screams of the audience. If yo...
More About: Victory , Dolphins , Whales , Hale

10 Cool Things About Dolphins
2007-11-26 05:59:00
There was a story not too long ago, about a pod of dolphins that saved some swimmers off the coast in New Zealand. Why were they being saved? A great white shark was trying to get to the swimmers, and a group of dolphins just suddenly appeared, surrounding the swimmers, and slapping the water with their tails to ward off the shark. Pretty damn cool! This little story starts off a great top ten list of why Dolphins are so cool. 10 Cool Things About Dolphins A sub-species of the dolphin family is the Irrawaddy dolphin. Reports are mixed on just how vulnerable the Irrawaddy is. It does appear that they have become threatened of late and are in danger of becoming extinct. They travel in small pods of around 10 dolphins and spread out over large areas. They tend to be found in rivers or in shallow marine waters in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and North Australia. Their appearance reminds me a little of the Beluga Whales. If you're curious to learn more about the Irrawaddy dol...

Sea Shepherd vs Greenpeace
2007-11-24 12:23:00
There's a good article over at Sea Shepherd about animal rights activist, Allison Lance. The article discusses how she came to be an activist and her involvement with the Sea Shepherd organization.One thing she said: "We go out and we find a long (hooked) line, it could be 100 miles (160 km) and (the net) catches everything: there's swordfish, there's marlin, there's albatross," she says. "And then sharks. Sharks are very important to our ecosystem and we are losing them at a great rate, just for shark fin soup. They take the shark, cut the fin off and throw the body back still alive. Imagine the pain."How does this sort of cruelty serve a "scientific purpose," according to Japan? Read more here: Making a differenceIn further news on the whale hunt news of late, the good folks at Sea Shepherd have publicly spoken out about wanting to work in communion with the folks at Greenpeace . Both organizations have stated they are on their way out to the Antarctic waters to meet the Jap...

Kamikaze Dolphins
2007-11-23 06:06:00
There's a blame game happening in the story from about three weeks ago regarding 152 dolphins that washed up on Iran shores dead. First it was stated it was a mass suicide among the dolphins. Then the blame was shifted to the fishermen, who allegedly beat the dolphins to death with grappling irons after the dolphins got caught in their nets. Finally, the blame was then put on the United States Military for their use of spying surveillance equipment, which, to put it simply, mess with the sonar capabilities of dolphins and other marine mammals. Excerpt from the article: However, Mr Nezami blamed more sinister factors, telling Iranian journalists: "As these dolphins are not among the species normally found in the surrounding Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, probably the Americans - for tracking purposes - have brought them to carry out laboratory works in the Gulf region. This group of dolphins have not been able to tolerate the tests. The likely reason for these deaths is water pollut...
More About: Dolphins , Kamikaze

Dolphin & Whale Culling
2007-11-21 23:37:00
** Warning: What follows is a little graphic in its details as to how dolphins are being slaughtered in Japan. ** Excerpt from the Humane Society webpage: What Is a Drive Fishery? Fishermen take out several small motorized boats to locate a pod of bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphins, or false killer whales (and possibly such other species as pilot whales). Once the fishermen locate a pod, they begin herding the animals toward shore, using the noise of the boats' engines and the banging of pipes underwater. There are some reports that they also use underwater explosives. The fishermen will then either drive the animals right onto the shore or trap them in a bay. Either way, shallow water is necessary, because fishermen slaughter the dolphins by getting into the water and moving through the pod, stabbing animals to death. The fishermen may set some live animals aside for marine parks and remove them from the water using slings or stretchers. Animals destined for slaughter may b...
More About: Dolphin , Whale , Hale

Ancient Rhymes
2007-11-21 13:10:00
Hayden Panettiere is wanted by the Japanese police for her involvement approximately three weeks ago in her attempt to save a pod of dolphins from certain slaughter.Read more here: Hayden Panettiere wanted ...Personally, I applaud her bravery and courage for getting involved, taking action, and speaking out. In related news, still on the subject of Japan slaughtering dolphins, the following is an interview posted several months ago on Ric O'Barry and his activism on this very matter:The Samurai Dolphin Man and the Japan ConnectionThis is an older article, but I feel it's important to share it. Makes me sick that there are humans on this planet who so coldly kill and torture other living beings and then turn around and joke about it.Brazillian fishermen kill 83 dolphins then joke about itThis is a wonderful story about a dog and his special relationship with with a family of dolphins:Dogs and DolphinsLast, but certainly not least, last month a dolphin gave birth. Not such a rare...
More About: Ancient , Rhymes

More on Japan Whaling
2007-11-20 10:26:00
Thanks to Possum for sending me these two news clips. One is about a stranded whale that freed itself off of the R.I. Coast and the other is about the Japan Whale hunt. A juvenile humpback whale that got tangled in fishing gear and had been stranded off the Rhode Island coast over the weekend freed itself and swam off Monday as rescuers sought to aid it. Read more here: Humpback whale freed off R.I. Coast Japanese fisherman claim that their target kill number of 50 humpback whales is their "line in the sand."Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace both vow to intervene with the Japan whaling fleet in hopes of preventing any carnage out there in the Antartic waters. Read more here: Group vows to block Japan whaling fleet If this sort of issue concerns you and you would like to do something about it, please visit the Sea Shepherd and / or Greenpeace websites. Both accept donations that are tax deductible."We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living crea...

Japan Whaling & the Human-Dolphin Connection
2007-11-20 05:20:00
Japan has begun another season of whale hunting, despite the fact that most Japanese would rather eat a hamburger than whale meat.A Political Brawl for Meat They Don't Even Want To EatSo here we are, trying to Save The Whale, Again, and the Japanese fishing industry is wondering what the fuss is all about.The Whales had been protected for over 40 years because their numbers had dwindled to the point of being an endangered species. Even the whalers, by that point, agreed to back off and leave 'em in peace.Not so now. They feel that the numbers have come up significantly enough that it's perfectly okay for them to be back out there, harpooning and torturing these creatures to death. For what? Public and peer pressure has been enough over the years to change most peoples' minds about the hunting for these creatures. Japan's official statement on the reason for the killings are for "scientific research." Yet the meat of the whales they kill are put out on the open market for ...
More About: Japan , Connection , Human , Dolphin

Welcome to Eye of the Dolphin
2007-11-20 03:57:00
Welcome to my new blog :-) I actually have another blog at The Dolphin 's Wink and have for about a year and half, but decided to create another blog back here on blogger. My reasons for doing this are mainly because I felt I was trying to put too much in one place, causing my blog to have the feel of going off in all sorts of different directions.I will continue to keep The Dolphin's Wink focused on those projects I do that are earning me money online, such as affiliate marketing, skill gaming, and traffic exchanges.Eye of the Dolphin will be more of a hobby thing for me, with a focus on my passion for environmental causes, marine mammal issues, and my love for dolphins and other marine wildlife. There will also be some focus on outdoor recreational activities I enjoy such as kayaking, as well as other things I feel passionate about such as animal rights, human rights, and debates on the issues of child abuse.I have a bit of a liberal bent to my views on the world and of poli...