Save Japan Dolphins Coalition Announces Japan Dolphin Day Sept. 25th, 2007

More than 70 international environmental/animal protection organizations will converge on 40 Japanese embassies and consulate offices throughout the world on Tuesday, September 25th, to protest Japan's annual dolphin kill. Outraged citizens will protest in Bern, Berlin, Den Haag, Brussels, San Francisco, Munich, Panama City, Washington D.C., among many other cities.

The dolphin drive in Taiji, Japan, is the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world - about 2300 dolphins per year, which is more than three times the amount of whales killed in the Antarctic. About 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed throughout Japan every year, and all of the meat tested so far has toxic levels of mercury. Most Japanese people do not know about the slaughter or the contamination.

During the drive hunts, the dolphins are killed in a secret cove hidden away in a National Park in the Wakayama prefecture, a few hours' drive down the coast from Osaka and Kyoto. The methods used to capture and kill the dolphins are exceptionally cruel, and our organizations demand that this barbaric practice stop immediately. The cove is covered with tarps and nets, and access is blocked by steel gates, barbed wire, razor ribbon and guards. The government is trying to keep the yearly blood bath a secret.

Much of the dolphin meat is given away to Japanese children for school lunch programs, yet the parents do not know it is toxic. Acute cases of mercury poisoning in children looks like mental retardation. In adults, it looks like dementia.

The 1973, Kan Nyu Dai 99 Ban mandates no selling or serving of any mercury-tainted food product over the advisory level of 0.4 PPM. It is shocking that Makoto Tanaka, who is assistant director of inspection and safety for the Japanese health ministry, does not enforce the ban in the case of poisoned dolphin meat.

Enforcement in Wakayama is delegated to Mashiko Tamaki of the Wakayama Prefecture Health Division. He, too, is ignoring the ban.

Makoto Tanaka and Mashiko Tamaki are dangerously incompetent and should be replaced immediately by officials who are willing to enforce the ban on mercury tainted food.

The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition includes Earth Island Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, Animal Welfare Institute, and In Defense of Animals. For further information on the dolphin slaughter, dolphins in captivity and the coalition's efforts, go to: http://www.SaveJapanDolphins.org.

Who we are and where we will protest the Japanese embassy or consulate office:

Animal Angel ~ Los Angeles
Animals Asia ~ Hong Kong
Animalitrus ~ Buenos Aires
Animalisti Italiani ~ Rome
AnimaNaturalis International ~ Mexico City/Bogota/Barcelona/Buenos Aires
Animal Public ~ Duesseldorf
Animal Rights Hawaii ~ Waikiki
Animal Welfare Institute ~ Washington DC
Animaux en Péril ~ Brussels
Asian Animal Protection Network ~ Hong Kong
Asociación de Amigos de los Animales ~ Guatemala City
Aware Guatemala ~ Guatemala City
Asociación Oceánica ~ Panama City
Ben White Fan Club ~ International
Blue Voice ~ Miami
Born Free ~ London
British Divers Marine Life Rescue ~ London
Bundestagsfraktion BUENDNIS90/DIE GRUENEN - Berlin
Campaign Whale ~ London
Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society ~ Vancouver
Care for the Wild International ~ London
Campaigns Against the Cruelty to Animals ~ Vancouver
Cetacean Society International ~ New York/Boston
Committee for a Dolphinarium-free Belgium ~ Brussels
Conservation de Mamiferos Marinos de Mexico ~ Mexico City
C. P. R. Environmental Education Centre ~ New Delhi
Dolphin Care UK ~ London
Dolphin Project ~ Miami
Djurrsttsalliansen ~ Stockholm
Earth Island Institute ~ San Francisco/ Miami
Embassy of Shame Tour ~ Den Haag
Environmental Investigation Agency ~ London
Fundación Equanimal ~ Madrid
Fundacion Humanitas ~ Panama City
GAIA ~ Brussels
Harpseals.org ~ Los Angeles
Humane Society International ~ Washington DC
Humane Society of the United States ~ Washington DC
In Defense of Animals ~ San Francisco/Seattle/Portland/Los Angeles
International Animal Rescue ~ London/Jakarta/ Boston
Junglees ~ Calcutta
KidsHelpAnimals.com ~ Miami
Lamma Animal Protection Charity ~ Hong Kong
Lamma Animal Welfare Centre ~ Hong Kong
Last Chance for Animals ~ Los Angeles
Liga Mundial para la Proteccion Ambiental y Animal ~ Panama City
LINC ~ Hong Kong
Marine Connection ~ London
Menschen fuer Tierrechte ~ Duesseldorf
No Whales in Captivity ~ Vancouver
Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition ~ Boston
New York Whale and Dolphin Action League ~ New York
OceanCare ~ Bern
Olmedo Carrasquila ~ Panama City
Orange County People for Animals ~ Los Angeles
Orca Network ~ Seattle
Paz Animal Guatemala ~ Guatamala City
Philippine Animal Welfare Society ~ Manila
Pro-Wildlife ~ Munich
Radio Maria ~ Panama City
Rattle the Cage Productions ~ Miami
reEarth ~ Nassau
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ~ Budapest/Calgary/ Los Angeles/Tokyo
Ttichting Dolphinmotion ~ Den Haag
Vida Tierra ~ Buenos Aires
Wal-und Delfinschutz-Forum ~ Duesseldorf/ Miami/Berlin
World Whale Police ~ Seattle
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society ~ London/Boston
World Society for the Protection of Animals ~ London/Boston/San Jose
Zoocheck Canada ~ Toronto

For further information on the dolphin slaughter, dolphins in captivity and the coalition's efforts, go to: http://www.SaveJapanDolphins.org.