- Target:
- Japanese government
- Region:
- Hong Kong
Every year, over 20,000 dolphins and small whales are killed in 'drive' hunts, hand-held harpoon and cross-bow hunts. In recent years, these hunts have increasingly come under international scrutiny, prompting concern from bodies such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC), on both welfare and conservation grounds. Moreover, the exposure of the brutal slaughter of thousands of dolphins in Taiji by “The Cove”, the Oscar-winning documentary of 2010, has aroused additional public concern over the issue.
In the last 20 years, over 400,000 small cetaceans have been killed in Japanese waters. One form of these hunts is the 'drive hunt', in which dolphins and small whales are rounded up using boats and driven into shallow water where they are killed for their products. During the annual hunt in Taiji and Futo, most of the dolphins are stabbed on the spot, before being loaded onto trucks, sometimes still conscious, to be processed into meat and fertilizer. Young dolphins are ‘saved’ for the captive industry that is the primary motivation for the hunts. Many fisherman have admitted that they would not continue the drive fisheries if it were not for the high prices offered by the captivity industry for wild dolphins.
On the 14th October 2010, an international day of protest has been organized against the killing of dolphins and small whales in Japanese waters. Hundreds of thousands of environmental organization representatives and people from around the world will be outside the Japanese embassies that day to take part in a peaceful demonstration against the continuation of these hunts. Apart from the protest, we want to urge everybody to sign this petition to show your support to end the killing of dolphins in Japan. All the signatures gathered will be sent to the Japanese government.
For more information, please visit the following websites：
Japan Dolphin Day Website (www.SaveTaijiDolphins.org)
The Cove: www.thecovemovie.com
Chinese version of the petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39741.html
We strongly urge the Japanese government:
1) To take immediate actions to stop any drive hunt and killing of dolphins;
2) To ban the selling and purchasing of live dolphins;
3) To provide the dolphins with a safe and stable habitat.
Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society
2010-10-14
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The Stop the Killing of Dolphins in Taiji, Japan petition to Japanese government was written by HKDCS and is in the category Animal Rights at GoPetition.