Mr Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan: Act On WORLDWIDE Condemnation And Stop The Annual Taiji Dolphin Slaughter.

To: Mr Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan.

Sir,

I urge you to listen to WORLDWIDE condemnation of the annual Taiji Dolphin Slaughter and end it altogether.

The Tiaji Dolphin slaughter begins in September and runs through to April or May the following year. When a pod of dolphins has been spotted, fishing boats move into position. One end of a steel pipe is lowered into the water, and the fisherman aboard the boats strike the pipe with mallets. This is done at strategic points around the pod, in an effort to herd them toward land. The clamor may confuse or alarm the dolphins, which move away from the noise. The pod of dolphins is thus driven into a bay by the fishermen, which is quickly closed off with nets to prevent escape. As the dolphins are initially quite agitated, they are left to calm down over night. The following day, fishermen enter the bay in small boats, and the dolphins are caught one at a time and killed. The primary method of dispatch was for a long time to cut the dolphin's throat, severing blood vessels, and death was due to exsanguination. However, the government banned this method and now the officially sanctioned method requires that a metal pin be driven into the cervical region ("neck") of the dolphin, severing its brainstem, which causes it to die within seconds, according to a memo from Senzo Uchida, the executive secretary of the Japan Cetacean Conference on Zoological Gardens and Aquariums. But, according to an academic paper published in 2013 in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science titled A Veterinary and Behavioral Analysis of Dolphin Killing Methods Currently Used in the 'Drive Hunt' in Taiji, Japan, those killing methods involving driving a rod into the spine and using a pin to stop bleeding that is used by the Taiji Japanese creates such terror and pain that it would be illegal to kill cows in Japan in this manner. Several veterinarians and behavioral scientists evaluated the current Taiji Japanese killing method and concluded that "This killing method….would not be tolerated or permitted in any regulated slaughterhouse process in the developed world. Death is only the beginning of the suffering for dolphins captured in Taiji. Taiji, Japan is “ground zero” for the international slave trade of live dolphins.

The Dolphin slaughter even goes against Japan’s own ‘Act on Welfare and Management of Animals (Act No. 105 of October 1, 1973), the stated purpose of which is to prevent cruelty to animals and to "engender a feeling of love for animals among the people," By their own rulings, the Taiji dolphin drive is by all interpretations illegal: -

“All people must not only refrain from killing, injuring, and inflicting cruelty upon animals, but they must also treat animals properly taking their natural habits into account.”

Mr Abe, I once again urge you to end the Taiji Dolphin Hunt once and for all and show the world that the Japanese people do indeed ‘engender a feeling of love for animals among the people’.

Yours Sincerely

Paul Christian (Protect All Wildlife)