Date
September 19, 2006
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
Animal Advocates Converge at Japanese Consulate to Demand End to Cruel Dolphin Slaughter
Activists Worldwide Gather to Call for End to Annual Bloodbath
Members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will hold a protest as part of a day of international protest against Japan’s slaughter of over 23,000 dolphins and small whales each year. Activists will demand a permanent end to the drive fisheries and the preservation of dolphins and whales as natural treasures:
Portland, Oregon
When: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Where: Pioneer Courthouse Square, Corner of SW Morrison and Broadway
Contact: Connie Durkee (503) 249-9996
San Francisco, California
When: Wednesday, September 20, 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Where: Japanese Consulate, 50 Fremont St.
Contact: Melissa Gonzalez (415) 388-9641, ext. 228
San Francisco, California
When: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Where: Japanese Consulate, 350 S. Grand Ave., Suite 1700
Contact: Bill Dyer (310) 301-7730
Every year from September through April, fishermen in Japan hunt and kill dolphins—including mothers with newborn calves who call out in distress as they are separated—in the most brutal ways imaginable, resulting in largest massacre of dolphins anywhere in the world.
They are driven onto Japanese beaches and bays, stabbed with spears and knives, then left to slowly bleed to death literally turning the sea red while others drown entangled in nets. Some of the dolphins are taken alive, pulled out of the water by ropes tied around their tails to be sold to marine parks.
Video footage, taken by One Voice – France, documents dying dolphins struggling in a blood-stained bay. Photo and video evidence of the slaughter caused so much embarrassment to the Japanese Government that it now prohibits photos or video being taken of the killings.
“Japan’s annual slaughter of dolphins is cruel and barbaric,” says Melissa Gonzalez, IDA spokesperson. “We will continue to expose the senseless killings until Japan puts an end to this bloodbath.”
For more information or to view photos and video of the slaughter, please visit Earth Island Institute’s Web site at www.savetaijidolphins.org and IDA’s Web site at www.idausa.org/campaigns/marine/japan_dolphin_day.