URGENT UPDATE: DOLPHINS BEING KILLED AGAIN IN JAPAN
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January 15, 2010
Editor’s Note - Urgent Update: Bad news from the front lines. We have confirmation that bottlenose dolphins are once again being killed in Taiji. After rumors swirled last month, The Cove’s Ric O’Barry, director of Save Japan Dolphins, went to Taiji to investigate. The situation was tense on the ground at the time and now recent reports confirm the worst.
“We suspected the killing would resume once the initial publicity from the film died down,” said O’Barry. “Sadly, this is exactly what happened. Bottlenose dolphins are being hunted and killed in Taiji again. The no kill policy didn’t last and was most likely a strategic short-term publicity stunt aimed at quieting the international media.”
O’Barry added, it is not realistic to think that we, or anyone else, can shut it down before this year’s hunting season ends in March 2010, but we have seen what the film is capable of and that was with a limited theatrical release. In order to stop the dolphin slaughter in Japan once and for all, The Cove must be viewed by the Japanese people. So far, it has not been. There are 126 million people in Japan. Less than 300 of them have seen the documentary so far. The work, therefore, is now about launching an effort within Japan to ensure that as many Japanese people as possible see The Cove.”
The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition is leading that effort, and is currently finishing up the Japanese translations for The Cove and making copies to distribute around the country, particularly to decision-makers in Tokyo. Additionally, the Coalition will be screening copies around the major cities shortly.
Donate to help get the word out in Japan here.
“Working together with our friends in Japan and from all around the world, we can stop the killing,” says O’Barry.
“We are already seeing stories in the Japanese media that would never have appeared without The Cove and the Save Japan Dolphins Campaign. The Japan Times, for example, recently printed a story listing ten important human rights issues in Japan -- the Japan dolphin slaughter was number 9!
Save Japan Dolphins Coalition:
Earth Island Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, In Defense of Animals, Campaign Whale of the UK, and OceanCare of Switzerland
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