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September 08, 2008
Japanese Whale Day (was Sept 3rd mark your calendar)
Every year, up to 20,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales are brutally slaughtered by Japanese fishermen. The dolphins are driven ashore and hacked to death in a horrific spectacle that is now hidden from public gaze.
Of the 20,000 animals killed each year, around 17,000 of these are from a single species - the Dall's porpoise, a small black and white whale that loves to bow-ride, making it a favourite of whale-watchers, but an easy target for the whalers.
Since commercial whaling was banned by international agreement in 1986, around 360,000 Dall's porpoises have been killed, that's a porpoise speared every 20 minutes of every day for the past twenty -two years, driving the Dalls porpoise population to extinction.
The meat from these unfortunate animals is often highly polluted with toxic contaminants such as mercury and PCBs, posing a serious health risk both to the animals themselves and the people that eat them.
Now. the Japanese Government is so desperate to expand the shrinking market for whale products in Japan that dolphin meat is now regularly included in school lunches.
Campaign Whale will be joining a global day of protest outside Japanese embassies around the world to peacefully protest against the relentless slaughter of dolphins and porpoises in Japanese waters.
You may read more articles here at Campain Whale
Posted by sue at September 8, 2008 11:26 AM