Date:
To: Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto,
Prime Minister of Japan,
Fax: +81-3-5511-8855

Dear Prime Minister Hashimoto,

I am writing to request, as a matter of the greatest urgency, that you order the immediate release of the orca whales taken into captivity at Taiji. What has been done at Taiji has provoked a great international reaction. People everywhere, including large numbers of Japanese people, know Orcas well and care deeply about them. What has been done at Taiji is unacceptable, morally and ethically, in a world now trying to find ways to release captive animals.

Nobody has the right to do what the people who captured these whales did. Cruelty, whether to humans or non-humans, is absolute; it is not one thing in one culture and another thing in another culture. That animals suffer is a cold, hard, scientific fact; pain, anxiety -- many of the things that constitute "suffering" are measurable by science. To cause suffering gratuitously, for economic greed (or worse yet, for pleasure) rather than for survival -- that is cruelty, regardless of the culture in which it occurs. And I would argue also that the ethic that cruelty is *wrong* and should not be tolerated by society is (or should be) universal.

The orca pod that was captured will certainly suffer immensely as a result of the removal of so many of its members, it may even disintegrate completely... at the very least it will take many, many years to recover. If the pod disappears as a result of the capture, its history and traditions will be lost... and never known. This will be a great tradedy.

The size of the Japanese Orca population is unknown but probably very small. Destroying even one orca family could cause great harm to the population. Orcas live long lives, reproduce slowly and infant mortality is high. Acoustic and cultural traditions exist within Orca families and find various forms of expression in orca populations around the world. Little is known of these traditions in orcas, but they certainly exist.

The Taiji situation apparently arose from a permit to capture orcas for "academic" (research) purposes. The obvious actual purpose of the capture was to take orcas for entertainment and business purposes. Because of this, the permit should be revoked.

The eyes of the world are again on Japan. Your intervention is required. I implore you to revoke the capture permit and order the immediate release of the whales. By so doing, you will gain respect from around the world. What we do now will mean everything in the future. We are the world.

Yours Sincerely,