“I want people to understand that these animals have a heart; they have feelings”.

Recently, Dolphin Project had the opportunity to speak with Ren Yabuki of the Life Investigation Agency (LIA). LIA focuses on the representation of animals in Japan. We met Ren for the first time in the 2016/17 dolphin hunt season when he came to Taiji to find out about the problems of the prison industry in Japan.

We would like to thank Ren and LIA for taking the time to talk with us and will be updating this blog as new developments occur.

Q: When did you first learn about the hunts in Taiji?
A: I learned about the dolphin hunt issue from the documentary film, “The Cove” (The Cove is a 2009 documentary film directed by Louie Psihoyos which analyzes and questions dolphin hunting practices in Japan.)

Q: How much do you hear about the hunts in Japan from news sources, and do you feel these sources are biased? Unbiased?
A: Generally speaking, the Japanese media outlets and news sources don’t fully cover the issues at hand in regards to the dolphin hunts. When the news reports on the subject matter, they are very biased and do not accurately portray the available information. The media tends to hide and cover up information for the Japanese people by never telling the full truth.

Q: What was your experience going to Taiji and witnessing the hunts first-hand?
A: What I saw was deeply disturbing and affected my peace of mind tremendously. A bunch of negative emotions ran through my body, making my blood boil upon the monstrosity I witnessed. This doesn’t even begin to describe the full emotions I felt as they are impossible to put into words. What I can say is I felt sadness, despair, anger and helplessness as I was unable to stop or do anything but watch at my horror as the events unfolded in front of me. At the end of the day, I was completely exhausted and drained from what I saw at the dolphin hunt.

Continue reading “Japanese activists file lawsuit against Taiji” →

During a pressure hunt in Kerschlach (Upper Bavaria), a pack of dogs followed a seriously wounded fox to a private estate.

This fox was looking for shelter in the garden of Andreas Nemitz. He instructed, according to the owner of the garden, injuries to the lower abdomen, between the hind legs, on the head and on his lips. © Andreas Nemitz

“I’ve never experienced anything so terrible in my life,” said Nemitz, the owner of the private garden. Many readers were also shocked by the report.
Above all, the hunt for foxes is criticized as such. Almost annihilating for the hunter side was the response to the drive hunt at Kerschlach (Germany), reported by the newspaper merkur.de.

Florian Pfütze, chairman of the Hunting Association of the district, now contradicts the allegations. He says: “What happened there that’s all right”!!

Florian Pfütze, had justified this hunt so that the spread of the fox tapeworm should be fought. Readers, however, refer to studies that show that vaccine baits are much more effective. The allegations of the readers ranged from not keeping closed seasons to the desire to kill!

Five or six hunting dogs were in Kerschlach, but they did not bark much – as is common with a pressure hunt. He doubts whether the Terriers used in Kerschlach were even suitable for their task as hunting dogs.

“A dog handler did not appear,” complains Nemitz. “Some residents expressed their astonishment and anger that they were uninformed about hunting in the village, so they could not make timely arrangements to protect their own pets.”

Nemitz has filed a complaint with the responsible prosecutor about the incident at the fox.

Pfütze does not want to leave it that way. “We are terribly sorry, but what the dogs have done is fine. They smelled a “sick” animal and wanted to relieve it of their suffering, “he says, although he knows he was not there.” The dogs were a well-rehearsed and “recognized pack, who knew what it does”!

Whether the dogs hurt the fox first, or whether the fox had already been shot during the hunt, opinions differ. One thing is certain: Nemitz has filed a complaint.

However, it is clear to him that the topic is difficult for citizens. “I can understand that citizens see the hunt emotionally, but we are doing something good (!!!)” he says.
“The smaller, for example, a fox population, the less widespread diseases. It is a bit absurd that the people attribute lower intentions to hunters at all”!

Comment by the “Action Alliance Fox”, a nationwide initiative of more than 60 animal and nature conservation organizations against the fox hunt”:

“The case of the fox, allegedly shot by hunters and then hunted by a pack of dogs in Kerschlach, documents for everyone what is the order of the day in the hunting season. If the little vixen had been set up in the forest and killed there – like many of his fellow human beings – nobody would have heard of it.
In the way the hunters play down this incident, their sentiment becomes clear: one does not regret that the fox was shot and terrified by the pack of dogs, completely uncontrolled and hounded and attacked outside the hunt-hunting area. One does not regret that he had to suffer and run in panic and great pain for his life, before he was finally killed.

One only regrets that “outsiders should have witnessed the incident in Kerschlach”.
That was “unattractive”, but something “what happened there” was not illegal and “okay”. Here there is no compassion, insight or guilt consciousness;

The hunters are only concerned with their image. The action is not questioned, and as long as no “outsider” witness to what the hunters are doing, apparently nobody bothers them either.

Well, we find it – most probably the most empathetic people – absolutely not “in order” what was done to this fox, apart from the potential danger to local residents and pets. To claim that the hunters acted in the public interest, and to want to justify this massacre even with the fight against the fox tapeworm, can hardly be surpassed in impudence. On the contrary, scientific studies – such as a recent multi-year experiment in France – show that intensive hunting even promotes the spread of tapeworm (!).

The claims of the hunters is ultimately just about to generate an alibi for the equally cruel and pointless hunt on the “loot rival” Fox – and distract from the true motives for the (hobby) hunting. Anyone who casts a glance into the big German hunting magazines, in which hunters proudly pose with their bloody prey, can guess what this really is all about.

No, the scandal is not that someone had to watch the cruel pictures in Kerschlach, but that they even exist.

The indignation over the incident shows at least that fewer and fewer people are willing to accept the pointless animal cruelty caused by hobby hunters speechless and idle.

https://www.merkur.de/lokales/weilheim/paehl-ort377057/bayern-paehl-jagdhunde-hetzten-fuchs-in-garten-jaeger-wir-tun-etwas-gutes-11486534.html

My best regards, Venus

The big state wolf killing begins in Germany!

In addition to Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein has today released a 20-month-old wolf male, Roddy, for shooting.

Roddy in the summer coat in August 2018

In the district Nienburg lives a wolf family consisting of father, mother, 2 children from May 2018, a 2.5 year old fox and a sixth unknown wolf.
Roddy had 8 attacks in 2017 alone. In 2018 it was 32. 22 x of them on sheep. 20 x they were not protected! All not protected and not stalled. The livestock owners there do not want to protect. Over 92% + of the killed animals were NOT protected!

The shooting is unlawful and punishable. The legal requirements are not available. Protect would have had to happen first.
The shooting is unlawful and punishable. Then there must be considerable economic damage relevant to the fundamental right. Is not present here.

The herd is valuable because both parent animals bring fresh genes and are not related to the German wolves! There are also two other foreign wolves running around there.

The shooting of Roddy was approved on 31.01.2019.

That will bring the family through each other. It will come just right to farm animal tears. As long as it is not protected, it will always continue. And the livestock owners will not protect – they said publicly in late October 2018: “Who protects his animals, is a denouncer!”

The initiator of the petition has sent many emails and legislative proposals from friendly judges, etc. to the Minister and his staff.

“Olaf Lies, take back your shooting approval”!

PS of the petition initiator: I go with my wolfhounds twice a week in Roddy’s area. It is an ideal wolf habitat and large parts are NATURA 2000 area. There is so much game there. If the livestock farmers would protect, the population would not even know that there are 6 wolves living there.

With a signature, however, everyone can really do their part in making it clear to the politicians that the majority of citizens do not agree with lobbying. The shooting of the Rodewald Wolf, Roddy, or even the whole herd is purely politically motivated!

Please, sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/nieders%C3%A4chsische-umweltminister-olaf-lies-bitte-rettet-roddy-den-vaterwolf-des-rodewald-rudels-in-niedersachsen-vor-dem-abschuss-e0d19c26-5c23-4e8e-97f6-f70a5e10b381

My comment:  Once a wild animal kills another animal to survive, the farmers give the order to shoot!
When they torture and slaughter  animals the farmer call this “agrarian economy”.
They receive subsidies for the construction of fences and protection from “wild” animals, but they do not do it.
The wolves do their work in the forest and take care of their families, as opposed to the farmers who live on subsidies for torture and slaughter of animals. With 1.5 billion euros in subsidies per year, the german farmers are top earners!

“Who protects his animals, is a denouncer!”, because we want a massacre!!

My beste regards, Venus

.