JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY

* ate liza's multiply site

From the PAWS yahoogroup (Pls help us spread the word by re-posting / forwarding to your family, friends, and co-workers!):

Dear Animal Advocate,
PAWS and Earth Island Institute-Philippines are among the 45 organizations in the world who are participating in JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY activities on September 3 - a protest against Japan's mass slaughter of dolphins.

For those who would like to join us in our peaceful picket outside the Japanese Embassy located along Roxas Boulevard tomorrow, September 3, please proceed to the San Juan De Dios parking lot at 9:30am.

Protest march to the Japanese Embassy (only a short distance away from SJDD Hospital) and a short program will be finished by 11am.

http://img155. imageshack. us/img155/ 6216/maptojapane seembassyxx2. jpg



To know more about JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY, please click on this link to the Humane Society International (HSI) website:
http://www.hsus. org/hsi/oceans/ dolphins/ drive_fisheries/ japan_dolphin_ day_2008. html

Help us speak out against the cruelty by joining this peaceful picket.

Thank you.

-The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)

Japan Dolphin Day Info: The Marine Park Connection

Mr. Magdaraog, an official of Ocean Adventure Marine Park in Subic has stated during a meeting of Committee on Animal Welfare (CAW) that the marine mammals in their facility "came from Japan".

Please read the full information below which will tell you why you should think twice before patronizing marine parks. Why marine parks "saving dolphins from the Japanese fisheries" is one big LIE.

Fact: Marine parks create a demand for the killing of dolphins.

On September 3, INTERNATIONAL JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY, one may

(1) write letters to the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines respectfully requesting the Japanese Government to stop the hunts:

via email - ecosec@japanembassy .ph

via snail mail - H. E. Mr. Makoto Katsura

Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of the Philippines

Japanese Embassy

2627 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City 1300

or

(2) send out a message to marine parks like Ocean Adventure in Subic by making sure friends and family know about the "Marine Park connection"

Thank you.

-PAWS

From: http://www.hsus. org/hsi/oceans/ dolphins/ drive_fisheries/

What Is a Drive Fishery?

Fishermen take out several small motorized boats to locate a pod of bottlenose dolphins, Risso's dolphins, or false killer whales (and possibly such other species as pilot whales). Once the fishermen locate a pod, they begin herding the animals toward shore, using the noise of the boats' engines and the banging of pipes underwater. There are some reports that they also use underwater explosives.

The fishermen will then either drive the animals right onto the shore or trap them in a bay. Either way, shallow water is necessary, because fishermen slaughter the dolphins by getting into the water and moving through the pod, stabbing animals to death. The fishermen may set some live animals aside for marine parks and remove them from the water using slings or stretchers. Animals destined for slaughter may be hauled out onto land with cranes, often still alive. The cruelty is enormous.

The Marine Park Connection

In the late 1980s, marine parks and aquariums (including U.S. parks and the U.S. Navy) began purchasing live animals, paying many thousands of dollars for each animal. This made hunts profitable again. Although the number of animals killed each year has not returned to the high levels of the past, dozens and sometimes hundreds of dolphins and small whales die annually. (The government sets quotas for each region and species that are frequently violated).

At one time dolphins from drive hunts were imported into the United States. Before 1993, all the dolphins and small whales (such as false killer whales) imported into the United States from Japan were almost certainly captured in drive hunts. In 1993, a California marine park sought to import several false killer whales from Japan, and the same videographer who originally exposed the drives in the 1980s revealed how the animals were captured. The U.S. government had stipulated that the dolphins could only be imported if they had been captured "humanely" by purse-seine net (while less cruel than a drive, net captures are still traumatic). Because the manner of capture violated the conditions of the permit, the government prohibited the import. Since then, no whales or dolphins have been imported into the United States from Japan.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums recently condemned the cruelty of the drive hunts. Going a step further, WAZA, which represents approximately 12,000 zoological facilities around the world, and the Alliance, which represents approximately 45 marine mammal facilities, have specifically urged their members not to acquire dolphins from these hunts, as such acquisition violates the code of ethics or sustainability standards for these associations. The AZA is the last holdout and should follow suit.



*Some videos:

Japanese Dolphin Hunt

Dolphins in Captivity: The Harsh Truth