New Efforts to End Dolphin Killing in Japan

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New Efforts to End Dolphin Killing in Japan

 

From BlueVoice.org

Thursday, October 04, 2001

 

PETALUMA, CA —

 

International Group To Webcast Brutal Dolphin Hunts in

Japan

 

PETALUMA, Calif., October 4, 2001 -- A team of

environmentalists representing six nations departs

today to try to end the brutal killing of dolphins in

Japan. BlueVoice.org executive director Hardy Jones

announced " we plan to travel to villages where the

killing takes place, bringing with us video cameras

and laptop computers. If dolphins are captured we will

transmit video images and reports to alert

environmental networks around the world to oppose the

killing and to demand release of the dolphins. "

 

More than twenty thousand dolphins are killed each

year

in Japan - a process which is sanctioned by the

Japanese government. Several species of dolphin and

small whales such as pilot whales and false killer

whales are killed for meat and to provide animals for

aquariums and swim-with programs. Fishermen drive the

dolphins into a bay, separate the young and unmarked

dolphins contracted by marine parks, then butcher the

rest.

 

" This kind of brutality can only take place in

secret, " said Jones. " When we capture the slaughters

on film there is a huge international outcry and the

Japanese government steps in and suspends hunting

permits for a period of time. "

 

This year the team has a new weapon - live webcasting.

" We will be capable of capturing images, editing video

right on the scene and then posting the files on the

internet, " added Jones. " This gives us the ability not

only to document the kills but to generate enough

international protest to save the dolphins before the

butchers get their hands on them. "

 

Dolphins are killed for meat but much of the financing

for the dolphin hunts comes from the aquarium and

swim-with-dolphins industry. " There's a nasty secret

about how dolphins get into the world's oceanaria and

dolphin swim-with programs. The athletic bottlenose

dolphins which are stars of these exhibitions are

often the survivors of bloody massacres in which their

pod mates are slaughtered by the hundreds, " said

BlueVoice.org board member Larry Curtis of Naples,

Florida who is a member of the expedition.

 

" Killing dolphins for meat is not only an outrageous

act, " said Hardy Jones, " but the high level of toxins

in dolphin meat makes it dangerous for human

consumption. Japanese consumers are being exposed to

levels of cancer-causing organochlorines and heavy

metals hundreds of times higher than considered safe

by medical authorities in Japan. "

 

BlueVoice.org, founded by film actor ted Danson and

environmentalist Hardy Jones, has been working for

twenty years to stop the killing of dolphins in Japan.

" We've never been closer to stopping this atrocious

behavior, " said Jones.

 

-30-

The BlueVoice.org report is available at

http://bluevoice.org/dolphin/save.html

 

Media Contact: Hardy Jones, BlueVoice.org,

707-769-0708;

dolphinlnk. Jones will be at the Century Hyatt

Hotel in Tokyo October 5 and 6. Then at the Taiji

Resort Hotel.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Video and Still Photos Available

 

For more information, contact:

Hardy Jones

Executive Director

BlueVoice.org

707 769-0708

hardyjones

Web site: http://www.bluevoice.org

 

 

 

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