ANIMAL CRUELTYOrangutans in Borneo & Sumatra

andDolphin Hunting In Japan

Orangutans in Borneo and

Sumatra

History and Details of Cruelty

100 years ago there were 315,000 Orangutans in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra, but this number has dwindled down to approximately 60,000 (Shears 2013).

This is largely due to their habitat being decimated so that Palm Oil Plantations can be grown, but their numbers are also rapidly declining due to mining, fires, zoos and animal parks, and adults being butchered for their meat (King 2012).

Palm Oil Plantations are the single biggest threat to Orangutans in the wild. The equivalent of 300 football fields of prime Orangutan habitat is logged every hour in Borneo and Sumatra (King 2012).

Timbers such as teak and mahogany are sold for furniture, and what is remaining is burned using the slash and burn method.

Even though there are many alternatives to Palm Oil, none are as cheap or efficient; therefore companies are extremely reluctant to stop using it (King 2012).

Loss of habitat is forcing Orangutans down onto the ground where they are extremely easy to capture (Mills 2012). Adults are usually killed and the babies are then sold to Zoos and Animal Parks where they are subjected to a life of cruelty being exploited for human entertainment.

In the image above (King 2012) you can see an Orangutan injured as a result of the “slash and burn” method.

Action being taken to Eradicate the Cruelty

Organizations such as Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) and Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) are rescuing and rehabilitating orangutans from animal parks, pet owners and logging sites. They take the rescued Orangutans to rehabilitation centres, where it can take up to 7 years to re-introduce them back into the wild (Monterado & Hermansyah 2013).

It costs $3,000 USD a year to rescue and rehabilitate an Orangutan (Zimmerman 2013), so these organizations rely solely upon volunteers, donations and adoption programs. They also work in schools and villages, and allow people to visit the rehabilitation centres in order to educate the local people on the cruelty towards Orangutans.

BOS are also working with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry to confiscate animals that are held illegally in captivity (World Society for the Protection of Animals n.d.).

Campaigns such as “Say No to Palm Oil” (King 2012) are playing a vital role through social media in raising awareness amongst consumers about palm oil, and strive to create pressure on companies to use other alternatives.

The above image (King 2012), shows a volunteer from the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) rescuing a sick

Orangutan.

Predicted Outcomes for the Future:

Experts have estimated that Orangutans could be extinct in the wild in less than 25 years, but if nothing is done about the destruction of rain forests and the poaching, they could disappear from Sumatra and Borneo in as little as 10 years (Mills 2012).

Further factors contributing to the dwindling numbers of Orangutans in the wild are the increasing population of humans, declining reproduction rates and poachers who sell orangutans on the black market in order to provide for their families (Carol Van Schaik cited in Mills 2012) .

Despite the work of organizations such as BOS and COP and ongoing campaigns to create awareness on the use of Palm Oil, the future is looking very bleak for the Orangutan.

Dolphin Hunting In Japan

History and Details of Cruelty

Dolphin hunting is known as drive hunting or drive fishing and is an extremely popular and controversial undertaking in Japan. The process of hunting the dolphins is conducted by driving the dolphins together with the use of nets and boats. The captured dolphins are normally then killed the next day (Prideaux 2007).

The method of killing has changed in recent years from cutting the throats of the dolphins (which has now been banned by the Japanese government), to killing them with the use of a metal pin that is pushed down into the back of their necks to immobilise and kill them quickly (Coleman 2008).

Hunting season usually occurs at the end of February through to the beginning of April. The most common reason for these hunts is for dolphin meat, but they are also captured in order to be placed in dolphinariums, an aquarium with exclusively dolphin exhibits (Jones 2007).

The above image depicts a dolphin hunter standing in blood soaked water after a drive hunt ( Rastovich 2012)

Action being taken to Eradicate the Cruelty

Currently as drive hunting is legal in Japan and a few other countries little can be done to completely stop the hunts (Jones 2007).

However physical and written protests have become increasingly common. These protests seek to bring about world attention as well as world-wide outrage in response to these hunts (Roth 2013).

Some forms of physical protests have included activists illegally cutting nets or swimming into areas where these drives occur in order to disrupt the hunts.

Actress Hayden Panettiere is infamous for swimming into such an area with a group of fellow activists in the hope of preventing further capture of the dolphins. However the attempt was unsuccessful as they were forced to return to the beach and immediately had to leave Japan to avoid prosecution for trespassing (Coleman 2008).

Non-physical forms of protest include letter writing, petitions and general awareness raising campaigns through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Protestors in Japan peacefully express their outrage at the continued dolphin slaughter in Taiji (Sapa 014).

Predicted Outcomes for the Future

There are health risks associated with the consumption of dolphin meat that should be placing pressure on the drive hunting industry to stop and reconsider these hunts.

These health concerns include the discovery of mercury, cadmium, pesticide DDT levels and organic contaminants like polychlorinated biphenyls (a highly toxic fluid used in electric motors), in dolphin meat (Jones 2007).

Further testing has also found dangerous levels of mercury in the hair samples of frequent dolphin meat consumers (Roth 2013).

This new information, along with the wave of constant outrage and protests should hopefully prompt the Japanese government (as well as the governments of other practicing countries) to outlaw this savage and barbaric practice, therefore preventing further depletion of the dolphin population (Prideaux 2007).

SourceEvaluation

Using our check list as per the Metzger article, we assessed the following criteria to determine the credibility of our sources:

Objectivity: Due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter, objective information was hard to come by and most information offered was obtained from activists’ sites and articles. However the various sites supported one another and there is no commercial gain.

Currency: All websites and articles provided contained current information and most were date stamped indicating they had been updated recently. Currency was within the last two years.

Authority: The author for all sources was easily identifiable for the news articles, which enhanced the credibility of the information. Some websites such as the ones for “The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation” didn’t give you specific authors but they were deemed creditable as other websites had either recommended this site or were affiliated with it.

Accuracy: Due to the professional nature of all websites and articles there was no issue with accuracy and the sites were easy to navigate and free from errors. Statistics provided matched up when compared with other sources so these were deemed to be accurate.

Coverage: A variety of sources were covered, ranging from activist websites, well known organisations and newspaper articles. All of these supported each other by providing factual information with no contradictions.

Reference List All references were completed using the Harvard referencing style.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, 2014, viewed 13 January 2014, <http://orangutan.or.id/?url=splash_ou>.

Coleman 2008, Dolphin hunt sags amid mercury fears, USA Today, viewed 28 December 2013, <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-01-30-808244889_x.htm>.

Jones, H 2007, Saving Dolphins & Whales, BlueVoice.org, viewed 28

December 2013, <http://www.bluevoice.org/index.php>. King, T 2012, ‘Injured Orangutan on Palm Oil Site’ [image], in Say No to

Palm Oil, viewed 21 January 2014, <http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/images.php>.

King, T 2012, ‘Sick Orangutan rescued by COP worker” [image], in Say No to Palm Oil, viewed 21 January 2014, <http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/images.php>.

King, T 2012, Say No to Palm Oil, viewed 7 January 2014, <http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/images.php>.

Mills, T 2012, Threats to Orangutans, Orangutan Conservancy, viewed 6 January 2014, <http://www.orangutan.com/threats-to-orangutans/>.

Monterado, F and Hermansyah 2013, The Increasing Numbers of Orangutan Orphans, The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, viewed 13 January 2104, <http://orangutan.or.id/the-increasing-numbers-of-orangutan-orphans/>.

Prideaux, E 2007, Mercury level acute; store pulls dolphin, The Japan Times, viewed 26 December 2013, <http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/01/11/national/mercury-level-acute-store-pulls-dolphin/#.Ut38vdJ9LIU>.

Rastovich, D.2012. ‘Dolphin hunter standing in blood soaked water’ [image] in Swimming Free, viewed January 21 2014, <http://swimmingfree.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/potential-end-of-dolphin-hunting-season-and-taiji-whale-ranch/>.

Roth, H 2013, Dolphin Hunt – Focus on Taiji, Japan, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, viewed 26 December 2013, <http://us.whales.org/issues/dolphin-hunts-focus-on-taiji-japan>.

Sapa, 2014, “Protestors in Japan peacefully express outrage at dolphin slaughter in Taiji”, [image] in Japanese fisherman capture 25 dolphins ahead of slaughter, Times Live, viewed January 21 2014, <http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2014/01/18/japanese-fisherman-capture-25-dolphins-ahead-of-slaughter>.

Shears, R 2013, Orangutan tied up and taunted by cruel mob which made her climb up a pole is rescued by a British charity, Mail Online, viewed 6 January 2014, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2475824/Orangutan-tied-taunted-cruel-mob-climb-pole-rescued-British-charity.html>.

Zimmerman, R 2013, Orangutan Outreach, viewed 7 January 2014, <http://redapes.org/donate>.

BYKATE GROSSEK

ANDSHERINE SHEHATA