Petition Against Dolphin Slaughter in Japan

SLAUGHTER OF 17,000 DOLPHINS READY TO BEGIN !

Fishermen in central Japan are set to begin hunting dolphins, an annual event which comes around every autumn. This year, however, the activity might trigger controversy after the recent international outcry over Japan's whaling programme. The dolphin hunting season officially got under way on Sunday in the small port town of Taiji - the traditional home of Japanese whaling - some 450km southwest of Tokyo.

Poor weather has prevented fishermen from going out to sea so far, but they plan to catch a total of nearly 2 400 dolphins and smaller species of whales during the season, which runs until the end of April, a local official said.

Both whaling and dolphin hunting are traditions that date back hundreds of years in Japanese society. But unlike Japan's whaling programme, which Tokyo says is for scientific research purposes, dolphins are hunted purely to provide meat for consumption, a Fisheries Agency official said. The hunt was being carried out in accordance with International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules, according to the Fisheries Agency official, adding that strict quotas were set each year. In addition to Taiji, dolphin hunting is allowed at several other ports and a total of nearly 17 000 dolphins are caught every season.

If you feel strongly enough about this, please :
1. copy this entire mail (copiez ce mail en entier)
2. paste it into a new mail, to keep the formatting neat (collez-le dans un nouveau message, pour conserver sa mise en page)
3. add your name, city, country and email address and send it to anyone that you think will feel the same (ajoutez votre nom, ville, pays et adresse e-mail puis envoyez-le a vos amis interesses a faire de meme).

If you find that your name is at number 100, please forward the entire petition to the following address (si vous etes le no 100, merci d'envoyer la petition complete a l'adresse suivante) : stoptheslaughter@hotmail.com

Every time I receive 100 names I will forward them to various organisations such as Green Peace in order to help them in their fight against this sort of atrocity.

Thanks for your concern !