"It's Dante's Inferno for dolphins"

This outrageous cruelty to dolphins by the Japanese needs to be stopped. The sooner - the better.

The slaughter of dolphins is certainly difficult to watch, and it is equally pathetic to listen to the fisherman deny the fact they are poisoning themselves with mercury infested meat. The whaling industry is dying in Japan, and unfortunately, the Japanese Government does not want to be held accountable for displacement of the few whaler/fisherman who are left in this sunset industry. Most Japanese do NOT eat whale, nor do they feel it is a matter of cultural necessity to sustain this industry. There are more pressing issues that the Japanese Government needs to address. The fact that they are depleting the world's fish resources in many nations is far more damaging to Japan's reputation as a responsible international player. I would hope that more theatres in Japan will show this movie, and it is important that it is shown in the West on our various national broadcasting networks, so that Japanese in this country can see for themselves the damage they are causing to their own reputation.

I don't understand why dolphins (or pilot whales) deserve any more consideration than other animals. It seems to me they have a responsible quota in place.

I don't understand why this still happens. I remember all too well the photos of this slaughter in National Geographic when I was a kid more than 30 years ago. Not one of the reasons offered to justify this massacre are valid. This is the act of a primitive group of people who need to give up pointless tradition.

The documentary is an example of culturally biased criticism. Westerners are not the center of the Universe and other cultures do not have to justify their eating practices to them. Most cultures have eating practices that outsiders find unjustifiable. Americans eat pork, which Muslims and some Jews find disgusting. Americans love beef, which 100 of millions of Hindus abstain from. French people love horse meat, which Americans over react to. Peruvian people eat guinea pigs. Where's the outcry and documentary film makers when the Peruvian ranchers have their annual roundups?

"The fact that they are depleting the world's fish resources in many nations is far more damaging to Japan's reputation as a responsible international player."

Yes. This is the message. But how does the "world" make Japan responsible and caring? Simply put: We can't. The exploitation of deep sea fisheries by Japan must be elevated in importance by the UN. The Japanese exhibit a "sami-given" right to support user-driven economies that SPITE all others. They will not stop until the resource is dead. (BUT: It's important they keep their traditions, you know.)

Man, this article is making me hungry. I wonder how much better than Ahi, dolphin taste like.

I'm glad some movies at least,are informative and eye opening and give us a little insight into the barbaric nature of some people and how unevolved they are from their primitive roots. The merciless bloody slaughter of these innocent loving animals is sickening. I don't know who it is that has heard a tuna or a pig try to communicate lovingly with a human, but some people seem to have missed the essence of this enlightening and important movie. Go see it again, and this time open your mind...as well as your eyes. Ever hear see a tuna communicative noises to human beings? Ever see a tuna trained to do tricks in the water and the air to please a human? Ever see a tuna wriggle and coo lovingly at the loving touch of a human hand? Grow up people, within these precious specimens lies secrets of nature and the universe, none of which will be revealed by rounding them up and stabbing them to a painful death with harpoons. Too sick for words...and will continue until more people get it...!

I suppose after this animal rights activist covered in red paint lies on a white sheet made to look like a Japanese flag during a protest against dolphin slaughter in Madrid, Sept. 3, 2008, she would go on to ENJOY a Spanish bull fight with all the manner of a civilized animal rights Westerner.

It says a lot about a person or country when children or animals are subjected to cruelty, because children and animals cannot defend themselves from crooked minds and cold-blooded hearts.

Have you ever been in the woods on opening day of deer season? Come on, people -- other people killing warm-blooded animals is a horrible sin but when we do it it's just tradition and good eatin'. What BS.

Leave them alone. They are the people who are very offended if you go in their house with your shoes on. There must be their side of the story in their own language, too.

I am against the slaughter of all animals but I find some of the western ideas on this subject illogical. What is the difference between slaughtering a dolphin for meat and slaughtering a cow for meat? Nothing. It is hypocrytical to be critisizing the Japanese for slaughtering these animals when you'll be gnawing on a juicy steak for dinner. You can't have it both ways. You're either against meat products or for all meat products.

Before anybody goes off on the Japanese know this. They developed a plan for forest management 400 years ago that we should be looking at. Don't simplify a whole people so that you can paint over them with a broad brush. It's lazy and beneath most of you.
As for the movie...killing stuff sucks, but you couldn't live without it. Even the vegans participate in the slaughter of life, the wage-slavery of the migrant worker, and economic warfare on vast swaths of the populace. It's a matter of taste. We all live. We all kill. We all die.
A larger question should be asked...Why is it that a 'dying' way of life (or business) is held to more tightly as it passes away? Think on this: the closer a thing is to oblivion, the dearer it becomes. Dolphin slaughter is a minor thing compared to our insistence on an unsustainable way of life fueled by cheap credit, foriegn imports and oil. As it becomes clearer that we can't go on this way, powerful forces align to dig in "our" heels to rally against the changes that can save us.
Additionally, I don't think Dante had a circle of hell involving dismemberment and slaughter. The afterlife should do better (or worse)than re-create the horrors we already practice amongst ourselves.

Let me just tell you that killing a dolphin is in NO WAY similar to killing a fish, nor a pig.. nor a sheep!.. We farm these animals therefore they will not become extinct! And if you were educated on the topic.. you would know that in Taiji, you can eat 'dolphin burgers' whilst watching dolphins perform! SICKENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s i'd love to see a fish, sheep.. or pig do what a dolphin can do!

Im sorry but if the Japanese want to eat dolphins, let them! The whales, too! I am so tired of the screaming and hollering about these "poor" animals when in EACH of the countries on this planet ABORT HUMANS and the public turns a blind eye. Leave the Japanese alone. I have been to Taiji. I have been to the homes of the people living there. Do you know how poor that prefecture is? Do you know how much the entire country of Japan must import yearly to survive? No, you don't. You are worried about cute or intelligent animals that we as humans DO have dominion over. I don't like the slaughtering of animals and I certainly do hate death BUT to sustain human life sacrifices must be made. Now, if I come to your country protesting about you killing your own children before they leave the womb, I'd get tossed in jail. Don't come to Japan screaming about our treatment of animals when you are already killing yourselves off in your "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!!" Such hypocrisy!

Dolphins are among the most intelligent of all animals and many of their brains are larger than humans. Dolphins should have rights, what Japan is doing has to stop. Scientists have recently suggusted that we should consider dolphins as non- human persons - who therefore qualify for rights under the law. These animals deserve our respect and what is anyone doing about it? Laws need to be pasted and in order for this to happen the people of Japan and elsewhere for that matter need to show concern. But how can a people who are so used to utilizing every living thing as if it serves no purpose but to feed them going to change there ways?~sorry but whats with the shark fin soup that you have to add chicken to because there is no taste and this soup is causing the disappearance of many sharks that have been here since the dinosaurs and even eating jellyfish which is nearly all water and no nutrition. And why on earth do people need highly contaminated meat that the dolphins have ~ dont they know that eating seafood contaminated with mercury can damage your lungs, kidney, not to mention brain by causing vision and speech impairment and also lack of coordination. This gives one the idea that there is hardly any gain for humankind (except for the almightly dollar of course) by doing this to the dolphins, then why in gods green earth is it still happening? People get sick from the meat of this highly intelligent creature that deserves more rights and more respect, the fact that this is still happening is enough to make me sick.