URGENT REQUEST to HELP Taiji ORCAs in JAPAN

Orcas Families including Young Ones were Captured And Sold to Three Aquariums

Join the international protest against Japan's treatment of marine mammals by telling the Japanese to release the five recently captured orcas. Demand an end to all ocra captures and the brutal drive fisheries that supply the international aquarium trade.

If the captured orcas are not release soon, an international boycott of all Japanese products including retailers will be launched.

Contact:

Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto
c/o Mr. Takehisa Nogami, Consul General-Japan
1300 SW 5th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97201-5667

Phone: 503-221-1811

Background Story

Feb 10, 1997 - Tokyo, Japan. By Anko Shiina, President of JAVA (Japan Anti-Vivisection Association):   

10 Orcas including young ones and pregnant females were driven to the inshore in Tiaji (well-known place for capturing whales), Wakayama Prefecture on February 7. NGO including JAVA have been making urgent request to release all the Orcas immediately. However the captors disregarded our request completely, and captured five Orcas separating them from their families to sell to aquariums. The price of one Orca was about YEN 30,000,000 (about US$250,000).  Aquarium people insist that capturing Orcas for academic research purpose is legal. However, it is obvious that they are going to use the Orcas for commercial purposes such as "shows" or "exhibition" etc.

Orcas grow to be more than 7 meters in length and weigh around 4 tons. Orcas are united by strong family bonds and they form maternal line. If they are separated from their families they depend on and kept in the small pool of an aquarium , they will have a stressful and short life.

We make the following request to the aquariums which purchased the Orcas and to the Japanese government:

"We request the release of all the 5 Orcas sold to the aqariums to the sea they came from all at once."

We would appreciate it if you could send the above request to the following persons and places. We would also appreciate it if you would send the copies of letters of request you have sent to JAVA at QZY10546@niftyserve.or.jp.

Please send letters of request to:

* Chief of the Fisheries Agency, Mr. Michio Shimada
Tel: 81-3-3502-0942 Fax:81-3-3502-0794

* Governor of Wakayama Prefecture,   Mr.Isamu Nishiguchi
Tel:81-734-41-2022 Fax:81-734-22-4032

* Shirahama Adventure Sea World
Tel:81-739-43-3333 Fax:81-739-43-3252

* Izu Mito Sea Paradise
Tel:81-559-43-2331 Fax:81-559-43-2336

* Kujira no Hakubutsukan (Taiji Town Whale Museum)
Tel:81-7355-9-2400 Fax:81-7355-9-3823