Activists Worldwide Protest Japan's Dolphin Slaughter

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Activists Worldwide Protest Japan's Dolphin Slaughter

 

SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 7, 2005 (ENS) -

Joined by America's Whale Alliance's 35-foot Whale

Bus, members of In Defense of Animals, the

International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island

Institute and One Voice - France held a protest in

front of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco

today. The activists want to draw attention to the

annual killing of thousands of dolphins in Taiji and

other bays in Japan.

 

The demonstration is part of a day of international

protest October 8 against Japan's slaughter of over

23,000 dolphins and small whales each year, the

largest kill of dolphins anywhere in the world.

 

Forty-four demonstrations are being held at Japanese

embassies and consulates in 26 countries. Activists

are demanding a permanent end to the drive fisheries

and the preservation of dolphins and whales as natural

treasures.

 

Protesters in Miami, Florida object to Japan's annual

dolphin killing. They say if enough people protest,

the Japanese government might stop the slaughter.

(Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Every year from September through April, fishermen in

Japan hunt and kill thousands of dolphins. The

activists are moved by the cries of the dolphin

mothers with newborn calves " who call out in distress

as they are separated in the most brutal ways

imaginable, " they said today.

 

" They are driven onto Japanese beaches and bays,

stabbed with spears and knives, then left to slowly

bleed to death literally turning the sea red while

others drown entangled in nets. Some of the dolphins

are taken alive, pulled out of the water by ropes tied

around their tails to be sold to marine parks, " the

groups said in a joint statement.

 

Video footage, taken by One Voice - France, documents

dying dolphins struggling in a blood-stained bay.

Photo and video evidence of the slaughter caused so

much embarrassment to the Japanese Government that it

now prohibits photos or video being taken of the

killings.

 

" Japan's annual slaughter of dolphins is cruel and

barbaric, " says Mark Palmer, associate director of the

International Marine Mammal Project. " We will continue

to expose the senseless killings until Japan puts an

end to this bloodbath. "

 

The international consortium of environmental

organizations fighting to end the slaughter Tuesday

released an internal memo prepared by the Japan

Cetacean Conference on Zoological Gardens and

Aquariums to its member aquariums encouraging the

buying of more dolphins from the Taiji drive fishery.

 

" The aquarium industry is secretly subsidizing the

violent slaughter of thousands of dolphins in Taiji

and other fishing villages in Japan, " said David

Phillips, director of the International Marine Mammal

Project. " This memo is the first direct proof from the

Conference to its member aquariums soliciting buyers

for dolphins. "

 

" In a key part of the memo, the Conference encourages

its member aquariums to request even more dolphins

that are currently not available due to permit

restrictions, " said activist Richard O'Barry, former

trainer of TV star Flipper and marine mammal

specialist for One Voice, the French animal welfare

organization.

 

" Fishermen herd dolphin schools into shallow waters,

where around 2,000 are annually slaughtered for meat, "

said Sakae Hemmi, spokesperson for Japan's Elsa Nature

Conservancy.

 

Japanese fisherman with dolpins in his boat sits in

bloody Taiji Bay. (Photo courtesy Sea Shepherd

Conservation Society)

 

" The aquarium industry subsidizes the slaughter by

offering thousands of dollars to buy a few prime

specimens of dolphins from the shallow waters of the

blood-filled slaughter pools, " said Hemmi. " Without

these enormous prices for prime specimens, it will be

quite difficult for the drive fishery to survive, for

dolphin meat is much contaminated with mercury. "

The memo was prepared by Senzo Uchida, executive

secretary of the Japan Cetacean Conference on

Zoological Gardens and Aquariums and sent to the

directors of aquariums that are members of the

Conference.

 

The memo outlines a meeting held by representatives of

the Conference, the Taiji Fishing Cooperative, Taiji

town councillors, and the Isana Union, representing

the drive fishermen at Taiji. Even the Japanese

government was involved, as Hidehiro Kato of the Japan

National Research Institute, a government agency,

originally recommended this meeting be held.

 

Each year from October through April fishermen at

Taiji hunt the passing schools of dolphins, writes

long-term Japan Correspondent Kjeld Duits. In Taiji

Bay, fishermen beat on long metal poles stuck into the

water. At the end of each pipe is a metal disc which

carries the sound, panicking the dolphins so they are

easy to capture.

 

The fishermen drive the dolphins into a bay and close

it with nets, Duits observes. The next day the

dolphins are caught, one by one. Fishermen drive a

long metal pin into the neck of each dolphin, and

within seconds they are dead. Until recently their

throats were slit, but Japanese authorities have

banned that method, he says. It sometimes took minutes

for the dolphins to suffer and die.

 

" These are no fish. They are self aware creatures that

routinely make choices and decisions regarding the

details of their life. They are entitled to freedom of

choice, thus they are entitled to freedom, " O'Barry

told Duits in an interview.

 

" Dolphins are more like gorillas or humans than fish, "

said O'Barry. " But they are treated the same way as

tuna. Does an animal have to be close to extinction

before we treat the animal with respect? "

 

Sea Shepherd Society founder Captain Paul Watson has

been fighting the Taiji dolphin kill for years. The

Japanese fishermen are indiscriminate, he says, they

kill any species that approaches the coast. Sea

Shepherd crew have witnessed the killing of striped,

bottlenose and Risso's dolphins, pilot whales, false

killer whales and melon-headed whales.

 

In October 2003, Sea Shepherd crew documented a mass

slaughter of dolphins on the beach at Taiji, Japan.

The video and photos of dying dolphins struggling in a

bay stained red with dolphin blood was embarrassing to

the Japanese government, to the point that Sea

Shepherd has been banned from approaching areas where

dolphins are killed.

 

In November 2003, Sea Shepherd crew physically freed

15 dolphins from a net in Taiji just before they were

to be slaughtered.

 

Since September 2004, Sea Shepherd has offered a

reward of $10,000 to encourage people, including

citizens of Japan, to document the killing. The most

graphic footage will be rewarded with the cash.

 

Sea Shepherd has a one-minute Public Service

Announcement available, featuring Academy Award

winning actress Susan Sarandon. " Susan has made a

significant contribution to our educational campaign

to bring attention to the large-scale, cruel dolphin

massacre in Japan by donating her time and her voice

to this project, " Watson said.

 

The marine mammal conservationists believe if they can

get 100,000 people to demonstrate against this kill on

one day - October 8 - public opinion will reach a what

O'Barry calls a " tipping point " and the dolphin kills

will end.

 

Phillips said, " The public, including the people of

Japan, would be outraged if they knew the truth - that

thousands of innocent dolphins die a horrible death so

that a few can be shown doing tricks in aquariums. The

drive fishery and the slaughter must be stopped, and

the aquarium industry should be ashamed of sponsoring

the killing of thousands of dolphins annually. "

 

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