Dolphins Slaughtered For Shark Bait

Dolphins are being slaughtered by the thousands off of the coast of Peru to be made into shark bait. This practice is outlawed by Peru, but that doesn’t’ seem to be slowing down the fishermen that are taking part.

CNN reported Stefan Austermuhle, executive director of the animal conservation group Mundo Azul, saying that the killing of dolphins had been outlawed by Peru’s legislature since 1996. He continues on to estimate that more than 10,000 dolphins are being slaughtered every year in the waters surrounding the country.

So what has caused such an upset? CNN quoting Jim Wickens, an investigative journalist with the Ecologist Film Unit, saying that in recent years, there has been an upsurge in the targeting of sharks. “The shark meat is predominantly consumed within Peru, but the fins we’re told are being exported to the Far East for use as shark fin soup.”

According to Slate, at least 15,000 dolphins are thought to have been killed off the cast of Peru each year by fishermen who use them as shark bait.

Wickens, along with Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, and Mundo Azul took part in an undercover investigation that involved placing informants on fishing vessels for a week to witness what exactly goes down during these mass dolphins slaughters.

“We were living in very difficult conditions through really quite rough weather and having to eat and sleep for some days actually next to the dismembered carcass of a dolphin. It was horrendous,” Wickens stated.

Once on board, those that were undercover got to see first hand the disturbing practices that have been taking place to not only slaughter dolphins, but also the lengths gone to in order to hunt sharks down.

“It’s a conservation car crash. One apex predator being taken out of the ecosystem, being chopped up and fed to catch another,” said Wickens, “Whichever way you look at it, it’s bad news for the ocean.”

Are these practices just all apart of the great circle of life? It would seem that these dolphins and sharks are being slaughtered too brutally to be considered a part of the bigger picture.

[Image via Shutterstock/Kristina Vackova]