Dolphins escape as nets are cut during Japan's annual hunt

Dolphins escape as nets are cut during Japan's annual hunt
by Staff Writers Tokyo (AFP) Sept 29, 2010

Japanese police have launched a probe after nets on holding pens for dolphins in the coastal town of Taiji were cut during an annual hunt, possibly by foreign activists, a press report said Wednesday. They are looking into whether the incident is connected with a statement posted on the website of Black Fish, a European conservation organisation, Kyodo news agency quoted investigators as saying.
The statement said the group's divers had cut the nets of six pens holding dolphins caught during the hunt which started on September 2, the report added.
A number of dolphins were able to swim back out to sea as a result, the statement said.

Taiji, located on the western Japanese peninsula of Kii, has drawn worldwide attention after a US documentary film, The Cove, which described the slaughter of dolphins there, won an Oscar for best documentary this year.

Every year, fishermen in Taiji herd about 2,000 dolphins into a shallow bay, select several dozen for sale to aquariums and marine parks and harpoon the rest for meat.
On September 2, animal rights activists protested against the dolphin hunt in a rally outside the US embassy in Tokyo, calling on President Barack Obama to pressure the country over the issue.
Ric O'Barry, star of The Cove, handed a petition with 1.7 million signatures from more than 150 countries to US embassy officials.

Source:
http://www.care2.com/news/member/430267290/2460152

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Take Part... The Cove - Save the Dolphins

The Secret Is Out. Spread the Word.

The Story
The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening.  
 


The Solution
The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury, and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.


The Results
It’s been working. The film has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of Japan. Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins in 2009. The film, originally rejected at the Tokyo Film Festival, was eventually shown due to public outcry, and has appeared in theaters in Japan. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue.
But the effort needs to continue. On September 1, the six-month dolphin hunting season opened again, and fishermen in Taiji plan to take to the cove despite international pressure. Experts say education, awareness and persistence are needed to eventually turn the tide.


1.4MM people have signed the petition to end the slaughter, but this is just the beginning. The hunt still goes on. Find out what you can do to help.   

http://takepart.com/thecove

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Save Japans Dolphins

Home > Dolphins and Captivity SPREAD THE WORD Dolphins have evolved over millions of years, adapting perfectly to life in the ocean. They are intelligent, social and self-aware, exhibiting evidence of a highly developed emotional sense. Here are just a few of the issues with captivity: Captures of dolphins are traumatic and stressful and can result in injury and death of dolphins. The number of dolphins that die during capture operations or shortly thereafter are never revealed in dolphinariums or swim-with-dolphins programs. Some facilities even claim their dolphins were "rescued" from the ocean and cannot be released. This claim is almost invariably false. Training of dolphins is often deliberately misrepresented by the captive dolphin industry to make it look as if dolphins perform because they like it. This isn't the case. They are performing because they have been deprived of food. Most captive dolphins are confined in minuscule tanks containing chemically treated artificial seawater. Dolphins in a tank are severely restricted in using their highly developed sonar, which is one of the most damaging aspects of captivity. It is much like forcing a person to live in a hall of mirrors for the rest of their life - their image always bouncing back with no clear direction in sight. Join us and pledge that you won't go to a dolphin show or swim-with-dolphins programs > Click here to see a list (in no particular order) of captive dolphin facilities that were closed or never opened. These success stories were accomplished by ordinary people like yourself who actually showed up to protest these dolphin abusement parks.

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