Save the Taiji dolphins.
Protest the slaughter and speak out against mercury poisoning.
Japan Dolphin Day, Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Activists comfort dying dolphins
November 3, 2007 (Japan Times) Opponents of Japan's annual dolphin slaughter have taken their campaign to a new level of confrontation by paddling into the bloody waters off a western killing cove to comfort animals moments before their deaths.
Dave Rastovich, a champion pro surfer from Australia, on Monday led a group of fellow antiwhaling activists into the waters off Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, where 30 or so captured pilot whales — adults and calves — were being held in a netted enclosure for butchering, according to Richard O'Barry, of the United States, who helped coordinate the event. Pilot whales are a variety of dolphin.
Local fishermen shouted threats and brandished propeller blades and a long wooden pole to chase the activists away, said Barry, 68, who once captured and trained the dolphins used in the 1960s hit U.S. television series "Flipper" about a family and their outdoor adventures with a dolphin, before becoming a celebrity dolphin-rights activist.
"The reason we surfers were there was to share the water, stained red with blood, at eye level, with our ocean kin awaiting their execution," Rastovich said.
Peaceful Protest Against Japan's Dolphin Drive Hunts
Japan Dolphin Day, Wednesday, September 3, 2008
JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY
A peaceful protest to stop the largest remaining dolphin slaughter in the world at the Japanese Consulate, a worldwide protest against Japan's killing of over 22,000 dolphins.
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Japan Dolphin Day, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd:
To protest the slaughter and speak out against mercury poisoning.
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WHERE: Japanese Consulate office. 601 Union Street, Suite 500, Seattle, Washington 98101
WHEN: 12:00pm (NOON), WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd.
WHAT: An international day of protest will be held on September 3rd to call on the Japanese authorities to ban the brutal slaughter of dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales.
Orca Network and others will be at the Japanese Consulate in downtown Seattle for the protest. You are welcome to make up your own signs and banners to let people know what the protest is about.
Please use non-threatening language. Please stay on the public sidewalk in front of the building. If you want, bring a red flower to lay at the edge of the sidewalk to represent the blood of the dolphins slaughtered by Japan.
WHY: On Japan Dolphin Day, September 3, 2008, Seattle will be one of many cities participating in a global protest to call for an end to the needless killing of dolphins and porpoises off the eastern coast of Japan. In spite of the international outcry against it, the Japanese government still condones the largest remaining dolphin slaughter in the world.
Most of the Japanese people do not know this slaughter takes place due to a media blackout in Japan about this horrific event.
The Japanese government is knowingly exposing their people to toxic levels of mercury in the dolphin meat that is consumed. Mercury causes severe birth defects and brain damage. Japanese officials are forcing children to eat mercury-contaminated dolphin meat in school lunches. Not only the dolphins, but the innocent children of Japan need our help.
The dolphin drive hunts destroy defenseless, highly intelligent, self-aware mammals in the most brutal way imaginable. These socially complex mammals witness the screaming slaughter of their close family group in a sea turned red with blood, but won't abandon their pod. Some of the survivors are captured and sold to dolphin traders. These dolphins are then transported off to live the rest of their lives confined in pools as "entertainment" in captive swim programs and dolphinariums. The hunts would not be economically viable without the sale of these live dolphins to unscrupulous dolphinariums. The killing of defenseless dolphins and other small whales by the Japanese drive hunts is condemned internationally by many scientific and conservation organizations.
Help us send a powerful message to the Japanese dolphin hunters and their government: STOP THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER NOW. STOP EXPOSING YOUR PEOPLE TO MERCURY. We need to let them know that these crimes against nature are unacceptable to the rest of the world.
For more information about the dolphin drive fisheries, their connection to the captive display industry, and toxic mercury exposures in Japanese children at: Save Japan Dolphins
Orca Network
www.orcanetwork.org
(360) 678-3451
1-866-ORCANET
Nancy Morris (206) 533-6155
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" -- Margaret Mead
Every year more than 20,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are hunted and killed by Japan. This includes around 16,000 Dall’s porpoises killed in hand harpoon hunts.
Over 1,000 dolphins are killed each year in dolphin drive hunts in Japan. Pods of tens or hundreds of dolphins are driven into shallow coves and butchered in the most brutal way imaginable for their meat, which is sold for human consumption, often mis-labelled as 'whale meat.' Between October 2004 and March 2005, 1,165 dolphins were slaughtered in drive fisheries.
Unscrupulous dolphinariums financially support the hunts by buying live dolphins - usually young females - from the fisherman to be used for captive display. These animals witness the screaming slaughter of their close family group, in a sea turned red with blood, before being transported off to live the rest of their lives confined in pools as ‘entertainment’. Between October 2003 and March 2004, 78 dolphins were captured during the drive hunts and sold to dolphinaria.
Click on the link at the bottom of the page to find out more about the dolphin drive fisheries and their connection to the captive display industry.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS
Orca Network has joined a group of over 55 organisations around the world who are opposed to this slaughter. All the groups are supporting a day of peaceful protest in cities around the world, including London, Paris, Washington DC, New York and Brussels, to let the Japanese Government know that dolphin drive hunts are simply not acceptable to the international community.
The protests will take place outside Japanese embassies around the world on September 25th; after the drive hunt season in Japan begins.
Please join us on the day and help us make a stand against this senseless slaughter!
Seattle report for September 20, 2006 - Japan Dolphin Day
ON THAT DAY
Orca Network staff joined the protest at the Japanese Embassy in Seattle for the protest with banners on Sptember 20, 2006.
In spite of an unrelenting downpour on September 20, Japan Dolphin Day, 35 people gathered in front of the Japanese Consulate in downtown Seattle, WA, joining activists in 23 other cities over the globe to protest the brutal, annual dolphin drive hunt and slaughter. Although holding rain soaked protest signs and leaflets, activists from Orca Network, Sea Shepherd International including Sea Shepherd captain Alex Cornelissen of the Farley Mowat, dolphin scientist Dr. Toni Frohoff, nature writer Brenda Peterson, and others clearly sent the message that they will continue to protest the horrific slaughter of over 20,000 beautiful self aware mammals until the Japanese government stops this crime against nature.
One security officer kept an eye on us, along with a police car parked at the curb. Two members of Orca Network attempted to deliver red flowers and a dolphin balloon to the Consul General's office. Police officers followed them inside where the Orca Network members were told they couldn't leave anything in the building. At the end of the protest, the security officer said, he was with us; it was just his job. He let us leave all the red flowers at the edge of the sidewalk by the consulate building. One member of the protest handed him a leaflet, which he said he would read.
It would be wonderful if we never have to protest the brutal destruction of a sentient species again. Sometimes there are miracles!
Nancy Morris
Thanks to Nancy Morris, Cindy Hansen, Toni Frohoff & Brenda Peterson for all their efforts to make the Seattle Dolphin Protest a success.
Photos from September 20th - Worldwide protest against Japan's dolphin drives and slaughter
Dolphin altar at Japanese Embassy, September 20, 2006
Toni Frohoff at Japanese Embassy, September 20, 2006
Brenda Peterson at Japanese Embassy, September 20, 2006
Protest Sign for
anyone to use.
It can be printed by any photo-copy place on tabloid
size card stock.
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