Dominican Republic to Import 12 'Show' Dolphins from Japan's Secret Killing Cove -- Aquarium Industry Implicated

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Dominican Republic to Import 12 'Show' Dolphins from

Japan's Secret Killing Cove -- Aquarium Industry

Implicated

 

Press Conference: Monday, January 29, 2007, Noon,

National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

 

-- View broadcast quality film footage of the

brutal Japanese capture

 

-- Meet the former trainer of TV star Flipper,

turned dolphin protector,

eyewitness to the capture

 

-- Deadly Dolphin Dealers Named -- We expose

Americans who are profiting from this barbarism

 

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition denounces the

proposed sale and transfer of twelve bottlenose

dolphins from the secret Japanese killing coves to the

Ocean World Adventure Park, a Dominican Republic

amusement park. Two American aquarium specialists --

Dr. Michael Briggs and Dr. Ted Hammond -- are

brokering the sale and transfer of the twelve dolphins

with the park's vice-president, Stephan Meister -- a

German National.

 

The Coalition has broadcast quality digital footage of

the grossly inhumane, bloody capture of these same

dolphins in Japan's waters in the port of Taiji. Japan

kills over 20,000 dolphins and small whales annually,

most of which wind up in meat markets. The dirty

secret of the slaughter, however, is that the

international aquarium industry subsidizes these

massacres by paying upwards of US $45,000 for prime

live specimens for aquariums, dolphin-shows and

swim-with-dolphins programs. A dead dolphin sells for

about US $600 on the market for meat.

 

" This was one of the most violent dolphin captures

that I have ever witnessed in my 45 years of working

with dolphins, " said Richard O'Barry, former trainer

of the TV star Flipper. During the 1960s, O'Barry

captured more than 100 dolphins including the five

that were used in the popular TV series. Today he is a

marine mammal specialist with Earth Island Institute.

 

" After being driven ashore, these twelve dolphins were

manhandled out of the water and isolated from their

pod mates as those same mates were butchered. I saw

about 20 trainers and other representatives from the

aquarium industry helping with the killing as well as

the captures. "

 

" We are appealing to the Dominican Republic's

President, Mr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna, to block this

import " said Cathy Liss, President of the Animal

Welfare Institute. " It is shameful that the captivity

industry is subsidizing the cruel dolphin slaughter. "

She continued: " The Dominican Republic must uphold its

reputation as an eco-friendly and conservation-minded

country rather than be an accomplice to this

unscrupulous and barbaric practice. "

 

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition is a group of four

environmental and animal organizations -- In Defense

of Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Earth Island

Institute, and Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan --

dedicated to ending the slaughter of dolphins

authorized by Japan's Fisheries Agency.

 

For further information on the Save Japan Dolphins

Coalition effort to end the Japan dolphin slaughter,

go to: http://www.SaveJapanDolphins.org.

 

Contact: Richard O'Barry, Earth Island Institute,

Phone/Fax: (305) 668-1619, Mobile Phone: (786)

973-8618, E-mail: ricobarry; or Susan

Millward, Animal Welfare Institute, Phone: (703)

836-4300, Fax: (703) 836-0400, E-mail:

susan

 

SOURCE Save Japan Dolphins Coalition