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May 12, 2001
Norwegian whale blubber may be too toxic for export to Japan
Samples of blubber from five whales tested so high in dioxins and PCBs that only limited consumption was recommended. Japan has refused to permit import of contaminated blubber leaving Norway with
800 tons of the stuff in freezers that would be worth millions in Japan. Norwegians eat the red flesh but not the blubber while Japanese relish the blubber. Norway has not lifted the export ban on whale flesh since announcing an intention to do so in January, and is awaiting the results of further tests on the stored blubber. This year's whaling has
started.
May 7, 2001
Japanese dolphin slaughters filmed and link to "Swim with Dolphins" programs exposed
PETALUMA, Calif., May 7 (AScribe News) -- There's a nasty secret
about how dolphins get into the world's oceanaria and dolphin swim-with> >programs. The athletic bottlenose dolphins which are stars of these exhibitions are often the survivors of bloody massacres in which their pod mates are slaughtered by the hundreds.The connection between the dolphin captivity industry and the slaughter of thousands of dolphins is exposed in a report issued today by BlueVoice.org, an organization dedicated to the protection of marine mammals and the ocean environment. BlueVoice was founded by Hardy Jones and film actor Ted Danson.
More than twenty thousand dolphins are killed each year in Japan - a
process which is sanctioned by the Japanese government. Several species of dolphin and small whales such as pilot whales and false killer whales are killed for meat and to provide animals for aquariums and swim-with programs. Fishermen drive the dolphins into a bay, separate the young and unmarked dolphins contracted by marine parks, then butcher the rest in a manner that is brutal beyond description.
"Killing dolphins for meat is not only an outrageous act," said Hardy
Jones, "but the high level of toxins in dolphin meat makes it dangerous
for human consumption. Japanese consumers are being exposed to levels of cancer-causing organochlorines and heavy metals hundreds of times higher than considered safe by medical authorities in Japan."
From a monetary standpoint, the profits on the sale of dolphin meat are
often marginal. But the increase in demand for live dolphins, captured
and shipped to aquariums and swim-with programs, has created a huge incentive for fishermen to step-up the dolphin drives which result in so may brutal deaths.
In late March and early April, 2001 BlueVoice.org videotaped dolphin
operations in several villages on the east coast of Japan. The work was
co-sponsored by In Defense of Animals, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and Cetacean Society International. The Japanese environmental group ELSA Nature Conservancy provided support in Japan.
BlueVoice.org executive director Hardy Jones has been working for more than twenty years to stop the killing of dolphins in Japan. "We've never been closer to stopping this atrocious behavior," said Jones. "Killings of this kind reported on television and in the press create a huge international outcry. It is not the people of Japan who support the
> >dolphin abuse. It is a small part of the government bureaucracy, a few fishermen and aquariums which pay for captured dolphins who are behind this." The dolphin capture and export business in Japan has expanded into an assembly line process. There are two dolphin bases in Taiji and a new one at Iki. Dolphins are literally "packaged" for export - i.e. they are captured, trained and exported, accompanied by a trainer who introduces the dolphin into the new facility. A formidable dolphin packaging infrastructure has developed at Taiji, which contributes to the continuation of the slaughter of hundreds of dolphins in that village alone. American consultants and veterinarians play an important role.
"Over the years we have been able to stop several dolphin massacres
simply by being on hand," says Jones. "Now, with the power of the internet we will be able to webcast live from the villages where the massacres occur. I believe that if they know the whole world is watching the Japanese government will put an end to this barbaric practice."
The full BlueVoice.org report is available at
http://bluevoice.org/dolphin/save.html
Streaming video of footage from the most recent trip is available at
http://www.tappedintobluevoice.org/ram/Japandolphins.ram
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