Recently, tourists on a cruise ship witnessed the slaughtering of two killer whales in the Caribbean. Apparently, whale hunting and dolphin fishing are legal in that area. On a Facebook post, Captain Paul Watson of a conservation group known as the Sea Shepherd asked people to sign a petition urging Prime Minister Dr. Ralph E. Gonzales to ban the inhumane activity.

A lot of countries are actually supporting whale conservation efforts now. Even Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz already spoke against commercial whalers. Watson earlier said that it is time for governments to step in. Obviously, there is no more tradition in people with speedboats and weapons - this is already a business.

Also known as orcas, these intelligent sea creatures are technically classified as dolphins. Their sheer sizes make them look like whales but their dorsal fins prove otherwise. Dubbed as something mightier than the great white shark, people were horrified to see these killer whales look helpless.

In fact, per the Caribbean360, Thomson Cruises already canceled its trips to St. Vincent and Grenadines after the traumatic incident as a sign of protest. The tourists were onboard the TUI Discovery when a pod of four orcas emerged. Unfortunately, hunters on speed boats with harpoons rushed in and immediately targeted the pod.

Another cruising vessel, the Fantasea, was on the scene when the bloody hunt occurred. The captains of both tourist boats tried to steer away knowing that the day would turn brutal but the passengers still heard the "loud explosions" from the fishing weapons. It was later reported that the killer whales were dragged to the shore and then chopped for food.

The group of whalers from Grenadine is called Bequia (an island) while the group from St. Vincent is known as the Barrouallie (also an island). The former was granted a quota of four Humpback whales each year by the International Whaling Commission. Barrouallie, meanwhile, do indiscriminate hunting of hundreds of dolphins using harpoons donated by the Japanese Fisheries Agency.

For the record, Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic killed 333 minke whales this season. Nonetheless, Sea Shepherd noted that kills are now dwindling down since they started the fight against commercial whaling. Sadly, most of these activities are cultural traditions which make them hard to stop.

In St. Vincent and Grenadines, a Scottish settler named William Wallace introduced whaling in 1875, the Daily Mail reported. He and Joseph Ollivierre, his French business partner, built the first whaling station of Bequia. Since then, whaling evolved from a tradition to a profitable practice.

One of the largest dolphin slaughtering areas on Earth is found in Taiji Cove, Japan. Also, people with Scottish blood run to the shores of the Faroe Islands, Denmark to massacre pilot whales every year. The meat will be cut into strips which will be dried under the sun. Villagers will either eat it or sell it to other islands as toppings for soups.

Topics Sea Shepherd