Readers' responses received to the Sept. 11 Hotline to Nagatacho column, "Stop the annual Taiji dolphin massacre, make your children proud" by Deb Bowen-Saunders, and letters published on this subject on Oct. 9 ("Call to stop dolphin hunt in Taiji makes waves," Have Your Say):
Regarding Joseph Jaworski's letter on the Oct. 9 Community page ("Dolphins are not people"), he asserts that "the right to life is unique to humans and is derived from our unique ability to be moral actors." He adds, "Animals can be intelligent, or use tools or language, but they cannot evaluate their actions in terms of 'right' and 'wrong.' " "Animals are completely captive to their instincts," he states.
Throughout history there are accounts of dolphins rescuing humans at sea. Dolphins have also been seen protecting swimmers from sharks by swimming circles around the swimmers or charging the sharks to make them go away. A dolphin known as Moko in New Zealand was observed guiding a female pygmy sperm whale together with her calf out of shallow water where they had stranded several times.