Thank you for publishing Boyd Harnell's Feb. 14 article, "Eyewitness to slaughter in Taiji's killing coves," the account of the dolphin killings in Wakayama Prefecture. Animal cruelty occurs worldwide, but few things are as horrifying as the mass slaughter of the one of the world's most intelligent, gentle creatures.
My 11-year-old son loves animals, dolphins in particular. One of the highlights of his young life so far has been interacting with a dolphin at the Enoshima Aquarium. Someday he probably will find out about the fate of dolphins in Wakayama. When he asks "Why?" I fear I won't have the words to answer him.
It's ironic that, on the same day that Harnell's article appeared in The Japan Times, the lead feature in another newspaper's magazine for elementary school students was about caring for school pets and fostering a caring attitude toward animals. Don't tell the dolphins.
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