Officials from the Taiji facility in Japan have been left furious after a pod of dolphins was successful in escaping their clutches.
Image Credit: AFP/Getty via The Telegraph
According to the BBC news outlet, DolphinBase Center staff found their nets were slashed, suggesting that some kind of foul play allowed the dolphins to roam free.
Three of the dolphins from the pod instinctively stayed together and went right back inside where they had felt comfortable and familiar with the territory, however one has yet to be spotted and could be lost.
"We are enraged by this heinous act which can easily lead to the dolphins dying," a statement from the facility staff said. "They think that once out of their pen, dolphins will swim far away but that is not true. Dolphins will not stray far and they will not leave their group."
The staff continued by explaining the danger behind this act because the lone dolphin may not be able to survive on its own. Dolphins are pod-based creatures which means they often depend in their pod to navigate and hunt. Without their pod, they are left to their own devices.
The foul play was probably the result of an angered animal activist who wanted to set the creatures free, however not much is known about who or what caused this event to happen and local police don’t have any leads.
There is a lot of support for the resistance against dolphin slaughtering, not only from international government officials, but also from celebrities around the world as it’s not only gruesome enough to turn waters red with blood, but it’s also cruel and unnecessary to kill these beautiful animals.
The slaughtering is not only brutal, but the carcasses are later cut up for meat to be sold on the market.
While the perpetrator behind the freeing of the creatures is still at large, it may face severe consequences if he’s caught.
Source: DolphinBase via BBC
