Marine mammal exhibitors join protest against Japanese coastal dolphin killing, From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006

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>From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:

 

 

Marine mammal exhibitors join protest against Japanese coastal dolphin killing

 

More than 60 organizations demonstrated

outside Japanese embassies and consulates in 32

cities against " traditional " coastal whaling on

September 20, 2006, the second annual Japan

Dolphin Day declared and coordinated by Ric

O'Barry of One Voice. Most notoriously practiced

at Taiji, the coastal whaling method consists of

driving dolphins into shallow bays from which

they cannot escape and then hacking them to death

en massé, after some are selected for live

capture and sale to swim-with-dolphins

attractions and exhibition parks.

The so-called " drive fisheries " have been

protested for more than 30 years by marine mammal

advocates including Sakei Hemmi of the Elsa

Nature Conservancy/Japan, film maker Hardin

Jones, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder

Paul Watson, and Steve Sipman, who invented the

name " Animal Liberation Front " in connection with

releasing two dolphins from a Hawaiian laboratory

in 1976. The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks &

Aquariums and the American Zoo & Aquarium

Association finally issued statements of

objection to the " drive fisheries " in March 2004,

as did the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums

in June 2006.

" The Japanese dolphin drive hunts are an

abominable violation of any standard of animal

welfare, " said New York Aquarium marine mammal

research director Diana Reiss in a September 21,

2006 media statement, announcing " a new

campaign to end the drive hunts. " A supporting

statement came from Emory University

neuroscientist Lori Marino.

Responded O'Barry, after thanking

activist groups for their support, " I am very

happy that the captivity industry is getting

involved. If the industry started policing

itself, that would be helpful. It could change

the economics of the dolphin drive. A dead

dolphin is worth $600; a live show dolphin is

worth $ 100,000.

" These corporations make hundreds of

millions of dollars displaying wildlife,

including dolphins, " O'Barry fumed. " The

Wildlife Conservation Society, " which operates

the New York Aquarium and the four major New York

City zoos, " has enough money and clout to stop

the dolphin slaughter, and the related dolphin

captures, any time they want to, " O'Barry

contended in a series of e-mails to ANIMAL PEOPLE.

 

 

--Merritt Clifton

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with

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