When Tarah Millen of Courtenay went to Taiji, Japan, she saw and took pictures of some incredibly beautiful scenery.
But, in the same small village on the southeast coast of Honshu Island, she also witnessed and documented the hunting and slaughter of dolphins every day for the nearly three weeks she was there.
Millen volunteered as a Cove Guardian with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society — an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization — for 19 days in November, witnessing an annual dolphin drive hunt that occurs in a hidden cove in Taiji and kills reportedly thousands of dolphins a year, taking pictures, capturing video footage and writing about what she saw on her blog and on Facebook.
Millen was amazed by the support she received to make her trip to Taiji possible.
With two large local fundraisers, her blog and social networking, Millen raised almost $4,000 in a month and a half so that she could spend three weeks in Taiji and her partner, Ryan Hughes, could spend one week at the cove.
“That was really generous, the amount of money, and I doubt we would’ve been able to do it if we were not in the Valley because there seems to be a high level of consciousness here,” said Millen.
Once in Japan, Millen and Hughes stayed in Kii-Katsuura, travelling to Taiji every day with other Sea Shepherd volunteers and gathering as a group at the cove parking lot.
“We’d stay in the cove all day to stand guard,” said Millen.
There were about 15 cove guardians on average, and they came from all over the world, she explained.
During the dolphin drive hunt, which takes place every year from September to April, the 26 dolphin hunters go out in banger boats searching for pods of dolphins. They bang metal rods against their boats, and the sound vibrations create a wall of sound leading the dolphins to the cove, explained Millen.
The men drive the dolphins into the cove and net them off one day, and the next day, trainers choose the dolphins they want, while the rest are slaughtered for meat, she noted.
The men kill the dolphins and take them to a gutting barge, explained Millen.
“They place it far away so tourists can’t see it,” she said. “They gut them and throw the innards into the ocean. They eat lunch while they’re doing it and laugh. They tie the dolphins to the banger boats and send them to butcher houses, and they are butchered for dolphin meat, which poisons people with mercury.”
Toward the end of her time in Taiji, Millen saw the men gutting live dolphins.
The Japanese use numerous tarps to try to cover up what they are doing, noted Millen.
“It’s very clear they’re entirely ashamed of their actions,” she said. “When you see people talk about their culture, they usually showcase it. Here, they cover it all up. It’s not cultural. It’s a lie.
“Culture is something that happens for hundreds of years, and this has only been happening for 40 years. Were it not for the demand for captive dolphins, the dolphin hunt wouldn’t happen.”
“It’s a culture driven by profits,” added Hughes.
The dolphin hunters receive up to $300,000 for a trained dolphin but only receive about $300 for a dolphin cut up for meat, he noted.
“The general Japanese public don’t eat dolphin meat,” he said. “Everybody Tarah and I talked to who were Japanese natives, they said they had no idea this was going on, and they don’t eat dolphin meat.”
Millen, who wants to go back to Taiji next year and every year after that, is certain the Sea Shepherd campaign made a difference.
Scott West of Sea Shepherd did a 90-minute interview on Japanese television while she was there, which raised awareness about what happens at the cove.
“I was able to reach 4,000 people with my YouTube channel and thousands with my blog and thousands with Facebook,” said Millen. “It’s all about awareness. Change has to come from inside, and that is the Japanese government. All these people who find out, all they have to do is call the Japanese consulate. The more phone calls they receive, they will have to change it.”
To read about Millen’s experiences in Taiji, visit www.coveguardian.blogspot.com.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com