[The issue of whale hunting, centered on species extinction has produced a firestorm of criticism by Greenpeace and other environmental groups of the whaling practice of Japan and other powers. Kjeld Duits here opens the door on an ethical issue that does not pivot on questions of extinction but poses questions of the smallscale but brutal killing of dolphins. The questions extend far beyond the dolphin hunt in a small sea community to the killing of cattle and chickens on a massive scale, practices that take place throughout the industrial world and beyond. Japan Focus.]

On the coast of the small Japanese town of Taiji some ten fishing boats are bobbing quietly up and down on the quiet waves. Fishermen on the boats beat on long metal poles which are stuck into the water. At the end of each pipe is a metal disc which drives the noise into the water like a loudspeaker. About five dolphins flee the terrifying sound, in front of the bows of the boats. For hundreds of years this dolphin hunt has been taking place. Now it has to stop say nature activists.