late post regarding Phil. Japan dolphin day

sorry super late na tong post na to..schoolwork kase..hectic.. ^_^'

an article bout japan dolphin day... may mga pics akong nakita sa multiply..pero,nakalimutan ko kung kanino ko nakita..di tulo ako makapag-post ng mga pics.

3 September 2008

MEDIA RELEASE

Philippine Groups Join International Clamor to Stop Whaling and

Dolphin Slaughter in Japan

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) instituted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Twenty-two years later, whaling still continues. About 27,000 whales have been killed since the moratorium went into effect. A loophole in the 1986 international moratorium permits so-called "lethal research" on whales. Based on this, the Japanese government intends to kill about 1000 whales a year in the high seas, and another 23,000 dolphins in Japanese waters.

From September through April, Japanese fishermen slaughter dolphins and porpoises in the most brutal way possible. Known as the "Japanese Drive Hunts", this practice has been denounced by scientific experts and all major aquarium and zoo associations as unsustainable and inhumane.

"It is ironic that at this day and age Japan still continues whaling and allows for the slaughter of dolphins in its islands. This practice has no place in today's world. We call on the Japanese people, who probably do not know what is going on, to urge their government to stop the drive hunts", says Trixie Concepcion, Regional Director of Earth Island Institute-Philippines.

"Major aquarium and zoo associations have issued policy statements against the Japanese drive fisheries and will not procure any of their show animals from the drive hunts. These include the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums (WAZA), American Zoo & Aquarium Association (AZA), and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks & Aquariums (AMMPA)", adds Concepcion.

"It is sad to know that the Philippines has been patronizing the drive hunts by allowing the importation of false killer whales and dolphins from the Japan", says Anna Cabrera, Director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

"The Philippines imported 5 false killer whales in 2001 and 4 bottlenose dolphins in 2004 from Japan. Those animals that did not die immediately in the drive hunts are now slowly dying at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic. We also call on the Philippine government to stop being a party to this brutality by banning any importation from the drive hunts", adds Cabrera.

The KALIKASAN-People's Network for the Environment (KPNE) also relate how other Japanese-sponsored projects will affect the environment.

"The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is a one-sided agreement which is seen to affect the Philippine economy as well as make the Philippines a dumping ground of toxic waste from Japan. We call on the Philippine Senate to scrap this one-sided agreement”, says Clemente Bautista, Coordinator of the KPNE.

As outrage over the continued killings mount, activists from over 54 organizations in 34 cities all over the world will troop to their local Japanese embassy to protest the Japanese Drive Fisheries. In the Philippines, the Dolphin Day Protest is led by Earth Island Institute-Phils. (EII-Phils), Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (KPNE-Phils), and AGHAM-Youth (Advocates of Science & Technology for the People).

For more information, please contact:

Trixie Concepcion 0918-6293648