Petition We sincerely request again that you take urgent action to make JAZA stop its member
aquariums from
buying and trading dolphins obtained from the drive hunt. Please reply, indicating to us what you will do to implement our request. What we heartily request is your concrete plan to
support the conservation and ethical treatment of dolphins by ending your member aquariums’ procurement of dolphins from the Taiji drive hunts. As we already explained in detail, the drive
hunt is not Japanese culture or tradition, so there is no need to refrain from acting against the drive hunt as a matter of cultural sensitivity. We previously petitionedJAZA to abide by the WAZA Code of Ethics. However, JAZA replied to us that they did not recognize any problem as long as JAZA follows the laws of Japan.
Clearly, JAZA has no intention to observe WAZA’s Code of Ethics. If JAZA continues to violate the WAZA Code of Ethics, JAZA should be disqualified from remaining as a member of the WAZA, and
should be expelled from the WAZA. On the other hand, allowing JAZA to remain a part of WAZA weakens WAZA's authority and credibility.
Yours sincerely,
Sakae Hemmi, Elsa Nature Conservancy
Yukari Sugisaka, Help Animals
Sachiko Azuma, Put an End to Animal Cruelty and
Exploitation ( PEACE )
On behalf of:
* All groups are organization of Japan or organization
run by Japanese living outside Japan.
(in alphabetical order)
All creatures
Amo Animal Club
Animal Aid
ANIMAL BOND
Animal Club
Animal club"Hang in there"
Animal Friends Niigata
Animal Friendship
Animal life saver
Animal Life Support
Animal Rescue JARF
Animal Rights Center
Animal support Noah
Animal volunteer CAT28
Animal volunteer network
Animal volunteer Yashio cat
Animal Welfare Liaison Committee
Animal Welfare Network
Animal Welfare Promotion Network
Ark tokyo
Ashigara Regional Cats Association
Association for happily life of People and
animals
Association for living happily of People and
animals
Association of seeking castration-contraception
obligation liability of cat
Association to zero from 800 000
Cat Club CFA
Cat freind Association
Cat help
Cat help Ichikawa
Cat help Tochigi
Cat human Association
Cat measures volunteer
Cats Angel
Cats Home
Chiba regional cat Association
Chiba-Wan
Chiro & Sakura's Clinic
Choices for Tomorrow (CFT)
Club of Sagami animal volunteer
Companion Animal Study Group “GO”
Consider the life Association
Consider the stray cat problem in the region
Association
Contraception castration of cat
Association
DandelionVillage
DCSP
Do not produceunhappy dog catAssociation
Dog cultural creation network shelter
work
Dog rescue Ishikawa
Dogwood Wan-wan Patrol
Earth and life Association
Ehime Wan-Nyan Association
Environmental administration reform forum
FCR lovers
Fellow of the tail
Flippers Japan
Flower and cat Regional environment
Network
Flower garden Association
Foster parents of dogs and cats
Association
Four SeasonsAnimal protection Association
Fujita Wan-Nyan Association
Fukui save the dog and cat Association
Fukuoka Dogmans Executive Committee
Fukushima nuclear power plant really save animals
Association
Funabashi regional cat Association
Gentle Creatures
Green net
HAPPY Labs
HAS
Home of Ken
Hope the happiness of animals Association
House of animals
Ibaraki Prefectural network to think about animal
welfare
Ibaraki rescue dog Association
Iruma cats Association
Ishikawa Animal Friends
Iwaki"do not throw away the dog cat"
Association
Japan animal life dignity Association
Japan Animal Rights Union
Japan Anti-Vivisection Association（JAVA）
Japan Rescue Association
Japan stray cat Prevention Association
Japan stray cat Prevention
Association（Higashi-kurume,Nishi-Tokyo)
JEARS
KANAGAWA DOG PROTECTION
Kanagawa stray cat Prevention Association
Kansai Animal Friends Association
Katsushika Edogawa area cat Association
KIDOGS
Kita-kyushu Noa house
Komae regional cat Association
Koto network of life
Kure animal peace
La Vista
Lake and green"EcoMyuze"Miho
Let somehow Jiyugaoka Association
Liaison conference to promote the coexistence of people
and cats
LOVE&PEACE Pray
Meguro
keep the cat in the city Association
Minori Friends of Animals Association
Miyazaki Citizens' ombudsmen
Miyazaki Prefecture Amateur Boxing
Federation
Miyazaki protect the life of the animal
Association
Miyazaki Sumo Federation
Nagano Animal Welfare Association
Namiki Association
National dog cat grant list
Nekoken
Network to eliminate the cat is discarded
New Town Animal Welfare Society
Nishi-Tokyo regional cat Association
Office Nin'na
Ohbu regional cat Association
Okayama Humane Society
Organizations
Orphan Rescue party
PAK
Peace Animal Club
PET&PEACE
Pochi Tama Association
PRANA
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Japan
Promote Hand over of adult dogs, mature cat
Association
Promote harmony with animals Association
Protect the heart of an angel Association
Protect the life of the animal
Association
Protect the life of the animal
Associationin Koganei
Protect the lives of dogs and cats Fukui
Association
Protect the tidal flats and shallow waters of
AsiaAssociation
Regional environmental improvement
network
Representative of cat network
Representative of our cat
Sagami animal welfare Association
SALA NETWORK
Sanhigashi CS・Local activities to reduce the unfortunate cat・Ogunoharapark clean Project Contact
SAVE THE ALLEY CATS
Save the unfortunate animal Association
Shibuya Ecocap Federation
Shizuoka animal welfare "dog and cat
hotline"
SORA
Stray cat Sumida
Sumida regional cat Association
Tachikawa regional cat Association
Tama Animals love Association
Taro no Tomo
Team"Cat meeting"
Teganuma
"dog and cat"club
Therapy dog Toyama
Think about animals Association"Tama"
Think the cat and town Association
Tierheim-Japan
Tokoneko Net
Toyota regional cat Association
Tsukui hashimoto Hatioiji "dog and cat"
Association
UKC JAPAN
Volunteers to protect nature and animals
Association
Wan Life
Wan-nyan Rescue party
Wan-nyan support
Wan-nyan team
We and you and you
With Animals Kagawa
Wonderful
Yamanashi promote the neutering dogs and cats
Association
You-you Association
Society to develop town to live together
with animals
We ask
you to send your reply to our petition in written form by April 30 to the following address.
Defend dolphins, not a ‘tradition’
In mid-January, somewhere between 250 and 500 dolphins were driven into the cove near Taiji, a small town in western Japan made famous in the award-winning film, “The Cove.” There, at least 100
of the dolphins were slaughtered for their meat. Others were packed up and sold to aquariums.
The dolphins are herded, butchered and sold every year, but this year, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, together with CNN news uploaded videos of the dolphin hunt. The video, available
online, is not for the faint of heart. Despite claims of humane killing methods, the video shows the fishermen hacking into the heads and backs of the panicked dolphins, then leaving them to
bleed to death, turning the entire cove bright red.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended the practice in an interview with CNN and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a news conference that marine mammals including dolphins were
“very important water resources.” Suga insisted “Dolphin fishing is one of the traditional fishing forms of our country and is carried out appropriately in accordance with the law.”
Their argument that the force of tradition justifies the herding, capturing and slaughtering of dolphins is a flimsy one. Many past cultural practices, such as slavery, bordellos and beheading
were stopped for ethical reasons. Tradition and culture are forces that change in accordance with new scientific understanding and evolving ethical standards. In addition, the Taiji hunt didn’t
even become institutionalized on a large scale until 1969, so its roots are quite shallow.
Their argument that the slaughter adheres to principles of the law is equally questionable. Veterinarians and behavioral scientists who viewed the covertly recorded video contend that the killing
method used in this year’s Taiji dolphin hunt would not be permitted in any slaughterhouse in the developed world.
Indeed, it is open to question whether the method would be acceptable if used to slaughter cows or other livestock in Japan.
Japanese law states that all methods of killing livestock should reduce the animals’ suffering as much as possible. The method of sending “fishermen” into the water with knives to stab the
dolphins, clearly evident in the video, does not begin to meet that guideline. The desperate flailing of the wounded animals and the long time it takes them to die go against the accepted animal
welfare standards employed in advanced societies.
Japan has already stopped invasive research and other harmful practices on species such as chimpanzees. Intelligent animal species have always held a special closeness to humans because of their
intelligence, capacity for suffering and complex social relations. Dolphins are even known to commit suicide when distressed or confused.
Japan has another tradition, one of deep respect for nature and the creatures in it. That tradition would be much easier to defend. The dolphin hunt is an inhumane practice that should be
stopped.
(Association of Animal Protection Groups throughout Japan)
TNR Japan Animal Welfare Hospital
Hokkaido Nature Conservancy
6 February 2014
Dear Messrs.
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister
Nobuteru Ishihara, Minister of Environment
Ikko Sangen, Taiji Town Governor
Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Kazuyoshi Motokawa, Fishery Agency Administrator
Yoshinobu Nisaka, Wakayama Prefecture Governor
Union President for Fishermen’s Union of Taiji
Agenda for
“ Demanding a Stop to Dolphin Drive Hunting”
Reasons for our Demand
1. Dolphin hunting itself, and the method of catching and killing dolphins, are cruel
acts.
In recent years, two patterns of dolphin
hunting have been practiced in our country.
These are poke pole fishing and drive
hunting.
Drive hunting involves driving a school of
dolphins into a narrow bay, preventing the
dolphins escaping by enclosing them with
fish nets. The dolphins are then captured alive.
In addition to scaring the whole school of
dolphins, some dolphins are killed randomly, in a
state of panic from fear. The dolphins
suffer a slow, agonizing death. In poke pole fishing,
dolphins are stabbed with harpoons from
boats. Some that are not killed die from shock,
while some develop psychological distress.
This clearly reveals that drive hunting is
extremely inhumane.
There is absolutely no transparency and
openness in dolphin hunting. When dolphins are killed, tarpaulins are used to conceal the reality.
Despite this concealment, however, there are still many cases of cruelty reported.
The following facts pertain to dolphin hunting.
1)When driving dolphins, fishermen usually bang on metal rods in the water, causing dolphins’ sonar systems to be disrupted, driving them into a panic.
2)To capture dolphins alive, fishermen pursue them relentlessly. It is reported that panicked dolphins
bash against each other in their own blood, become entangled in fishing boat nets and suffocate to death. They die of panic and the shock of being
captured, drowning in the sea.
3)Most of the wounded and emaciated dolphins are killed due to not being “suitable” for sale. When killing dolphins, it is reported that fishermen plunge metal pins into their blowholes, leaving them to bleed
and suffocate to death.
4)Dolphins regarded as unwanted are driven back to sea. However, these dolphins are allegedly unable to
survive and it is impossible for them to propagate again since they are too wounded and traumatized to do so.
5)In order to sell dolphins to aquariums, dolphins are captured live. A large number of dolphins become victims to the entertainment industry – in other words, to aquariums. Dolphins
transferred to aquariums may die of stress.
Under Japanese ordinances, there are no regulations pertaining to, or punishment for, the cruel methods involved in capturing and killing animals. Furthermore, there are no independent organizations to monitor and verify what actually happens. Despite dolphins being wild mammals (small Cetartiodactyla of
Odontoceti), dolphins are precluded from regulations for wildlife protection and from hunting laws (Paragraph 1, Article 80 of the law, Paragraph 2,
Article 78 of the Ordinance for the Enforcement of the Act ). Dolphins are subject to the Fishery Act. Dolphins are also not subject to the Animal Law that pertains mostly to family
pets.
Furthermore, dolphins are not subject
to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) regulations. Regarding the catching and killing of dolphins, including large Odontoceti and Baleen
Whales, there are no regulations. We must therefore conclude that dolphin hunting is exempt from regulations and legislation in our
country.
In other countries, the basic
concepts of animal welfare in terms of farming, transportation and the slaughtering of animals and livestock used as food are universal.
From a global perspective, there is a long list of problems regarding the current Japanese situation, which lacks regulations and laws on animal welfare.
According to the rules and regulations of the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) that Japan accedes to, the treatment of animals in a humane way, and the painless killing and slaughtering
of animals, are required. Animals should be free from pain, fear and fatigue, while instant death, or death in a state of total unconsciousness,
should be adhered to. Animals should be rendered unconscious immediately, with minimal suffering. Furthermore, it is stated that animals should not
be subject to apprehension, physical pain, fatigue and mental distress. Although these rules and regulations do not apply to wild dolphins, dolphins killed as food should naturally be considered
under these rules and regulations. From this point of view, we must say that dolphin drive hunting is an unquestionably cruel act for the reason that the appropriate catching and killing methods,
in accordance with animal welfare philosophy, have not been adopted.
According to Mr. Iwasaki and Mr. Kai
(in 2010) on “Improvement in the Methods of Catching and Killing Dolphins in Taiji, Wakayama”, which supports the claim made by the central government and the local authority of Wakayama
Prefecture that drive hunting has been improved every year, it is stressed that inserting a metal pin in the dolphin’s blowhole many times to prevent bleeding means immediate numbing, instant
death and freedom from pain. We doubt this theory. That is because of the following results of analysis
released in the paper titled “The Veterinary and Ethological Analysis of the Current Methods of Catching and Killing Dolphins in Taiji, Japan”, researched by the Faculty of Medical and Veterinary
Sciences, the University of Bristol, City University of New York and other foreign research institutes. The results of analysis are “1) Damaging the vertebrae artery and vesicular plexus causes
significant bleeding but does not result in instant death for dolphins. 2) Due to plugging a metal pin into the blowhole to prevent bleeding, death does not come immediately. 3) Mutilation of the
spine requires skill and technique. However, it is questionable if skill and technique is employed, as noted from video evidence.4) The dolphin feels pain until death. 5) It remains questionable
when the dolphin actually dies and no longer feels pain.
The AVMA (American Veterinary Medical
Association) states that dolphin hunting is in breach of modern ideas on animal welfare standards from scientific, humane and ethical perspectives.
The limited number of videos
available on dolphin hunting adequately inform us of the brutality of this practice, greatly shocking those who view them.
2. Generally speaking, dolphins are animals
with sophisticated intelligence, communicative abilities and emotions.
Compared to other mammals, dolphins
have higher capabilities of intelligence and communication, and also have emotions showing their pleasure, anger, sorrow and joy. Hence, dolphins are affectionate higher animals. It is quite
clearly an inhumane activity to cause terror and so viciously harm dolphins in the ways described earlier.
Dolphins form their families and
social groups as schools of dolphins in a sense of solidarity. According to the previously-cited paper by the Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol and City University
of New York, it is stated that 1) The process involved in killing dolphins takes several hours or days. 2) The killing of dolphins is performed in the close vicinity of family or group members.
3) Dolphin cries echo throughout the entire time during the killing of dolphins. 4) Dolphins are highly sociable mammals.
Therefore, dolphin hunting inevitably causes the breakdown of dolphin families and damages schools of dolphins considerably. The remaining family and group
members that survive are traumatized by the mental distress of the sadness experienced due to losing their members. Dolphin hunting not only kills dolphins but it also has a huge impact in the
form of mental trauma on the remaining dolphin family and group members.
3. Dolphins are a rare species of wild animals and should be subject to the protection of
the wildlife. (CITES AppendixⅡ)
In addition to dolphins being rare wild animals and deserving of protection, they are our fellow inhabitants on earth, and our friends, sharing the
living environment on the planet.
The central government and the
local Wakayama Prefecture claim that the dolphin species is abundant as a resource and the numbers captured for harvest is within the range of the annual stipulated quantities on the basis of
scientific research conducted by the central government (FRA: The Fishery Research Agency). However, their scientific research is merely a visual inspection and is unworthy to be considered
scientific research. Furthermore, the directors of the agency are almost all retired bureaucrats or officials, and almost all of the agency board members are too. Therefore we assume that the results of the research are unreliable because their research cannot affect national policies due to the makeup of the agency (being
retired bureaucrats and officials they want to maintain the status quo). Furthermore, there are no independent organizations or institutions to
observe and verify their research and their business. The bottom line is that the current dolphin harvest in our country is under sloppy management and can hardly be said to be an activity that
complies with the concerns of wild animal protection.
The relationship with wild animals
changes naturally with the development of civilization. Wolves and larger felidaes used to be subject to extermination and hunting. However, they are now subject to protection as rare wild
animals, as are their habitats and ecosystems. It is concluded that the preservation of the ecosystem as such has a positive and valuable effect on human beings. Likewise, we recognize that the
preservation of dolphins in the wild, and the ocean as their living environment, is a great legacy for human beings.
The central government, the local
authorities and relevant organizations should recognize this.
4. Dolphin hunting has nothing to do with Japanese traditional activities.
Often the argument is raised that
dolphin hunting is a traditional culture in our country. However, the history of dolphin drive hunting in Taiji, Wakayama, started in the 1960s (according to the town history of Taiji, it started
in 1933). However, the main purpose of dolphin drive hunting is the selling of dolphins to aquariums. This kind of hunting is not historically a part of traditional life or
culture.
Meanwhile, other countries perceive
dolphin drive hunting in Japan as being for the purpose of selling dolphins to aquariums, thereby catching them for commercial use and not as part of traditional cuisine
culture.
5. Dolphin meat is an unnecessary food resource for humans
There is an argument that dolphins are an important food resource. However, many Japanese do not consider them food. Hypothetically, dolphins may have been one
food resource since ancient times but that is no justification for dolphin hunting now. Elephants and humans too used to be the main food resource in
some societies, but currently there is no region on earth that uses these as food resources.In Kyoto, people used to fish “Itasenbara” (a species of Acheilognathus Melanogaster, a freshwater
fish) and use them in sushi. These Itasenbara (Acheilognathus Longipinnis) are a natural treasure and protected species. Hence, likewise, dolphins are no longer necessary food
resources.
6. Dolphin drive hunting is strictly banned in the many countries throughout the world.
The World Association of Zoos
and Aquariums (WAZA), in their code of ethics, states that they forbid dolphin drive hunting and they warn that dolphins caught by drive hunting should not be imported from
Japan.
In addition, many other
countries have introduced laws and regulations banning the catching of dolphins, the import and export of dolphins, the exhibition of dolphins in aquariums, rearing cetaceans, including dolphins
aquariums, and the transportation of dolphins.
7. Summary
As stated above, dolphin
hunting is an inhumane activity and there are no positive reasons for continuing it.
Hence, dolphin drive hunting
should be completely suspended immediately. And, the central government should revise the laws and ordinances regarding animal protection
and should streamline the regulatory
laws with penalties regarding animal welfare which regulate dealing in wild animals generally and forbid the cruel slaughter of animals.
Stop al massacro dei delfini, il mondo si scaglia contro il Giappone
Sale la protesta internazionale contro l’attuale mattanza dei delfini in Giappone.
Sono sufficienti pochi giorni per
catturare almeno 250 delfini, il cui massacro si fa sempre più spietato nella baia di Taiji, in Giappone. Critiche e proteste sono nate dagli ambientalisti della Sea Sheperd Conservation
Society, i quali hanno diffuso in streaming le immagini brutali di questa barbaria.
I cacciatori, che iniziano la carneficina nella stagione autunnale, per poi finire nel mese di marzo, non riservano la stessa sorte per tutti i delfini. Infatti, mentre alcuni finiscono nelle
tavole dei ristoranti giapponesi, dopo esser stati macellati vivi, altri muoiono dissanguati, poiché legati prima per la coda, e poi massacrati con una spranga in acciaio, inserita nella
spina dorsale.
Non è bastato nemmeno il soprannome di “baia della morte”, dato dagli attivisti, a bloccare questa mattanza, che comporta la morte di centinaia e centinaia di delfini.
Quest’anno poi, per dar vita a questa strage, è stata costruita una grande barriera nera nei pressi di una scogliera, dove l’acqua è più bassa.
Ma questa volta il mondo si ribella: la mattanza dei delfini è stata denunciata sia da Yoko Ono, moglie del cantante John Lennon, che dalla nuova ambasciatrice americana a Tokio, Caroline
Kennedy, figlia del presidente, che ha espresso la sua profonda indignazione a riguardo. Nonostante ciò non sarà così facile frenare questo sterminio, perché la caccia ai delfini, come
spiegato dal portavoce del Governo, Yoshihide Suga, fa parte della tradizione alimentare giapponese , come una vera e propria pesca, condotta nel rispetto delle leggi.
全国動物ネットワーク
Sono sufficienti pochi giorni per
catturare almeno 250 delfini, il cui massacro si fa sempre più spietato nella baia di Taiji, in Giappone. Critiche e proteste sono nate dagli ambientalisti della Sea Sheperd Conservation
Society, i quali hanno diffuso in streaming le immagini brutali di questa barbaria.
