12 PM | 10 Sep

Demand that the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan stops now.

For the past week, Ric O’Barry and a team of activists from Save Japan Dolphins and Earth Island Institute have been in Taiji, Japan, the site of the largest killing of dolphins in the world. Their brave vigil has brought media coverage from around the world and it shone a light on the dangers to dolphins and people if we let this slaughter continue. As awareness and media coverage grew in Japan, the cove remained tranquil and no dolphins were killed.

But around 5:30 am yesterday, 13 fishing boats left Taiji’s harbor and started driving dolphins into a cove. They captured 50-100 dolphins, possibly for export to aquariums.

“Sadly, this isn’t entirely unexpected,” said Ric earlier today from Japan. “This campaign is far from over, and there’s still a lot of work to do in Japan. The good news is we’ve made progress and did garner unprecedented coverage while in Taiji. And at least one media in outlet is reporting that the captured dolphins that are not sold will be returned to the sea. Let’s hope that’s the case. If not, we will find out and report it.”

Ric, Lincoln and the Save Japan Dolphins team are preparing to go back to Japan in the days ahead. They’re intensifying the pressure. TakePart will continue to post updates as we receive them and in the meantime, here are 5 things you can do to help.

Source Takepart

11 AM | 23 Aug

Broome Council has dumped Taiji as sister city over dolphin slaughter

Broome to dump Taiji as sister city over dolphin slaughter

Broome Shire will sever a sister city relationship with a Japanese town that hosts the killing of more than 20,000 (original number reported corrected) dolphins a year after an emotion-charged special council meeting.

More than 50 people, who packed the council chambers’ public gallery, greeted the decision with a standing ovation.

Broome Shire president Graeme Campbell said council’s unanimous decision was to “respectfully advise” the town of Taiji that Broome would be unable to fulfil its obligation as a sister town while the dolphin killings continued.

But he said the shire recognised the role Taiji played in developing Broome’s pearling industry in the 19th century.

As part of a raft of council resolutions, councillors noted the national and international pressure placed on the shire to end the relationship.

(sic)

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Australian director Jeff Hansen commended the shire and Broome residents for taking up the issue.

“May the original surfers stay safe and be free to ride a wave along side one of us soon,” Mr Hansen said.

More from The West Australian

03 PM | 21 Aug

Broome, Australia has the Power to Cease the Dolphin Killings in Taiji, Japan. Here is our letter.

Why write a letter to Broome councillors?

Broome is the sister city to Taiji in Japan. Taiji is a quiet coastal village that use to harbour a terrible secret. Now exposed in Louie Psiyohos’ film The Cove, more than 23,000 dolphins are killed during the ‘cull’ in Taiji each year. It is imperative that something happen to stop the killing season before it begins in September. This is a call out to exert political pressure on Taiji, and to help inform the people of Japan they are eating contaminated dolphin meat.

Australians, if you wish to show your encouragement towards Broome suspending their ties with Taiji, Japan until the dolphin killing stops, please let the Shire of Broome know your support so they can take the appropriate action. Apart from sending emails, you can sign the petition or donate to this campaign.

Here is a list of councillor names and email addresses, with an example letter attached.

Please address the email with :

Dear Councillors,..

councillor.campbell@broome.wa.gov.au shirepresident@broome.wn.com.au roebuckbayep@broome.com.au eo.kacc@westnet.com.au councillor.mitchell@broome.wa.gov.au councillor.albert@broome.wa.gov.au albert@garnduwa.com.au mick.albert@ausport.gov.au councillor.wevers@broome.wa.gov.au nikwevers@bigpond.com councillor.foy@broome.wa.gov.au councillor.lander@broome.wa.gov.au cocos@iinet.net.au councillor.matsumoto@broome.wa.gov.au ematsumoto@westnet.com.au shire@broome.wa.gov.au chris@arthousebroome.com

The following example/ letter has been drafted by Alex Burns and Rosie Cross

For more information, visit the Sea Shepherd site.