On the 8th October 2005, an international day of protest has been organized against the killing of dolphins and small whales in Japanese waters. Hundreds of thousands of environmental organization representatives from around the world will be outside the Japanese embassies that day to take part in a peaceful demonstration against the continuation of these hunts.

Every year, over 20,000 dolphins and small whales are killed in 'drive' hunts, hand-held harpoon and cross-bow hunts. In recent years, these hunts have increasingly come under international scrutiny, prompting concern from bodies such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC), on both welfare and conservation grounds. In the last 20 years, over 400,000 small cetaceans have been killed in Japanese waters.

One form of these hunts is the 'drive hunt', in which dolphins and small whales are rounded up using boats and driven into shallow water where they are killed for their products. During the annual hunt in Taiji and Futo, most of the dolphins are stabbed on the spot, before being loaded onto trucks, sometimes still conscious, to be processed into meat and fertilizer. Young dolphins are‘saved' for the captive industry that is the primary motivation for the hunts. Many fisherman have admitted that they would not continue the drive fisheries if it were not for the high prices offered by the captivity industry for wild dolphins.

Please help with our campaign to bring an end to these hunts by sending a letter of protest to the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong. Let the Japanese government know that you object to the drive fisheries because: 1) the method of killing is unacceptably inhumane; 2) captured dolphins are sentenced to lives of depravation in captivity. See attached for an example letter and contact details for the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong. We hope to gather hundreds of protest letters to show the support of Hong Kong public to end the Taiji dolphin slaughter.

We would appreciate if you can also email ( info@hkdcs.org ) or fax (2357-1670) the copy of your protest letter to HK Dolphin Conservation Society before sending it out to Consulate General Office, so that we can pass this information to the organizers of Japan Dolphin Day. Let us know if you have any question about this campaign. We appreciate your effort to stop the dolphin slaughter, and to make our oceans a better place for the whales and dolphins.

Best regards,
Samuel Hung
Chairman, Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society

For more information, please visit the following websites and attached PDF:

Japan Dolphin Day Website ： http://www.SaveTaijiDolphins.org

Graphic video footage of drive hunt ：
http://www.bluevoice.org/sections/dolphins/save.shtml
http://www.seashepherd.org/taiji/taiji_ruthless_killing.html

Japan Dolphin Day (PDF file)

How long can this small Japanese town conceal the world's bloodiest dolphin slaughter? (PDF file)