Cerita Memilukan Jepang: Lautan Darah Lumba-lumba

Taiji - Lumba-lumba adalah mamalia laut yang jinak dan jenaka. Tapi tiap tahunnya, hewan ini diburu secara sadis untuk diperdagangkan dengan dalih tradisi kuno.

Sebuah kota pesisir kecil di Provinsi Wakayama, Jepang bernama Taiji. Kota ini memiliki penduduk 3.500 orang. Diintip detikTravel dari CNN, Senin (4/2/2019), ada sebuah tradisi yang masih melekat dengan orang-orang Taiji, yaitu perburuan lumba-lumba.

Sekilas, kota ini sangat indah. Ada begitu banyak gambar atau aksesoris lumba-lumba dan paus yang menghiasi Taiji. Tapi ada tradisi sadis yang masih terus dilakukan di sini.

Perburuan lumba-lumba ini dikenal dengan nama Dolphin drive hunting. Tradisi ini sudah berlangsung sejak abad ke-17. Sehingga pada tahun 1675, kota ini kenal sebagai pusat perburuan lumba-lumba.

Setiap tahunnya, nelayan dan pemburu lumba-lumba akan datang ke Taiji. Mereka akan mulai berburu pada bulan September-Maret. Ini berkaitan dengan migrasi lumba-lumba.

Dalam tiap perburuan, pemerintah provinsi mengizinkan nelayan untuk memburu 2.000 lumba-lumba dan pesut dari tujuh spesies berbeda. Kegiatan ini mereka sebut sebagai tradisi kuno.

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‼️🐬 UPDATE on #TheCove via Director Louie @Psihoyos: When you watch a dolphin show you are witnessing a spectacle of dominance. Dolphin shows will one day all go the way of Roman gladiator rings and smoking on planes. The Cove gave dolphins a voice, a voice now heard around the world. Quotas for dolphin and porpoise consumption in Japan when we began that film were in the tens of thousands, last year that number was down some 97%. Dolphin shows and eating cetaceans will one day soon become a thing of the past -- stains on our evolutionary history and they, and films that try to defend these barbaric acts will also be discarded into the waste bin of history. In the article, "Beyond The Cove: what happened after the Oscar-winning documentary?" director of A Whale of a Tale, Megumi Sasaki claims, "It was like they were pointing a camera at people who can't raise their own voice. It's like bullying." I am the director of #TheCove and our team did in fact spend several days negotiating with the Mayor of Taiji and the dolphin hunting union to get their side of the story for our documentary. We even offered to not film the dolphin slaughter if they agreed to let us interview a single fisherman or town leader, but not a single person from that town was willing to step forward and talk on the record about the dolphin hunt. I went to journalism school and getting both sides of a story was always the goal. But do you really need to hear both sides of a story when one of those sides is committing barbaric acts of violence? Is it necessary to hear Jeffrey Daumer's side of the story to have an accurate picture? Serial killers and pedophiles have a point of view, but do you really need to hear both sides of a story when one of those sides is committing barbaric acts of violence and refuses to speak? Since nobody affiliated with the hunt would talk to us on the record, our team made the decision to break into the area now known as The Cove to see what they were hiding. What we saw and heard there was far more revealing than any interview could have achieved - it was so unspeakable it shocked the world. WATCH NOW - LINK IN BIO. Video: @oceanicpreservationsociety

A post shared by Oceanic Preservation Society (@oceanicpreservationsociety) on Aug 17, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

Caranya, nelayan akan berlayar sampai ke tengah lautan mengikuti rute migrasi lumba-lumba. Kemudian, nelayan akan menggiring lumba-lumba dengan suara ketukan palu. Ini membuat mereka takut.

Setelah lumba-lumba berhasil digiring ke laguna, nelayan tak langsung beraksi. Lumba-lumba akan dikunci dengan jaring sehingga mereka tak bisa kembali ke lautan lepas.

Keesokan harinya, tepi pantai akan ramai dengan pelatih lumba-lumba dari berbagai tempat. Para pelatih ini datang untuk memilih lumba-lumba mana yang akan mereka bawa ke akuarium untuk atraksi.

Kebanyakan dari pelatih akan memilih lumba-lumba hidung botol betina. Mereka akan dipilih sesuai dengan kriteria dan dikirim ke berbagai belahan atraksi akuariun di seluruh dunia.

Tonton video: Sadisnya Tradisi Lumba-lumba di Jepang yang Dikecam Banyak Pihak

[Gambas:Video 20detik]

Tiap lumba-lumba dijual dengan harga yang mahal, mencapai USD 150.000 atau sekitar Rp 2.097.382.500. Lalu bagaimana dengan lumba-lumba yang tidak terpilih?

Inilah yang terjadi pada lumba-lumba yang tidak terpilih. Mereka akan dibawa ke laguna sepi dan terpencil yang tidak boleh diakses oleh siapa pun, kecuali nelayan.

Lumba-lumba akan di ditombak di perairan. Perlahan laut berubah menjadi merah karena darah lumba-lumba.

BACA JUGA: Perburuan Kejam Lumba-lumba di Jepang Sudah Banyak Dikecam

Lumba-lumba adalah mamalia akustik. Mereka berkomunikasi dengan suara yang dikeluarkan. Sambil berenang kesakitan, lumba-lumba akan melolong lemah sampai akhirnya mati.

Setelah mati, lumba-lumba diangkat ke atas perahu atau langsung di seret ke daratan. Benar-benar menyedihkan..

Lumba-lumba tersebut akan dijual dan didistribusikan ke seluruh pelosok Jepang. Padahal, daging lumba-lumba mengandung jumlah merkuri tinggi dan sangat berbahaya untuk dikonsumsi.

Kegiatan ini akhirnya menadapat kecaman dari berbagai aktivis setelah diangkat jadikan film berjudul The Cove. Film dokumenter ini menyibak kengerian yang tersimpan rapat saat waktu perburuan tiba.

Masyarakat Taiji masih melakukan tradisi ini dengan dalih adat istiadat. Walau kenyataannya, perburuan lumba-lumba hanyalah topeng bagi keuntungan pribadi nelayan Taiji.

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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 💔🐬 Update on #TheCove via Director @psihoyos: In the article, "Beyond The Cove: what happened after the Oscar-winning documentary?" director of A Whale of a Tale, Megumi Sasaki claims, "It was like they were pointing a camera at people who can't raise their own voice. It's like bullying." I am the director of The Cove and our team did in fact spend several days negotiating with the Mayor of Taiji and the dolphin hunting union to get their side of the story for our documentary. We even offered to not film the dolphin slaughter if they agreed to let us interview a single fisherman or town leader, but not a single person from that town was willing to step forward and talk on the record about the dolphin hunt. I went to journalism school and getting both sides of a story was always the goal. But do you really need to hear both sides of a story when one of those sides is committing barbaric acts of violence? Is it necessary to hear Jeffrey Daumer's side of the story to have an accurate picture? Serial killers and pedofiles have a point of view, but do you really need to hear both sides of a story when one of those sides is committing barbaric acts of violence and refuses to speak? Since nobody affiliated with the hunt would talk to us on the record, our team made the decision to break into the area now known as The Cove to see what they were hiding. What we saw and heard there was far more revealing than any interview could have achieved - it was so unspeakable it shocked the world...watch the full clip on our Facebook page - LINK IN BIO. The atrocities in The Cove are conducted within the confines of a Japanese National Park designated in the Town of Taiji as a "wildlife sanctuary." It was protected by guards, guard dogs, barbed wire and electronic sensors. It was clear why the Taiji mayor and the dolphin hunters wouldn't speak to the press or anyone else for that matter. Video: @oceanicpreservationsociety

A post shared by Oceanic Preservation Society (@oceanicpreservationsociety) on Aug 20, 2018 at 9:26am PDT

(bnl/aff)