The short version is that scientists and zoological park professionals have gotten together to condemn Japan's small cetacean drive hunts and are looking to collect
a million signatures on a petition to try to get it shut down before the next scheduled drive hunts this coming October.
Each year in Japan, dolphins and other small cetaceans are driven in to shore, where hunters kill most and sell some to parks. The reasons given are that these animals compete with the local fishermen, that the hunts fulfill a market demand for the meat, and that sales of animals to parks around Asia support the local economy. These reasons are not sufficient for the annual slaughter of these animals.
Various research projects on dolphin cognition demonstrate that they have capabilities that differ in amount rather than in kind from humans. This includes work that shows self-awareness via the mirror test, a standard means of determining this component of self-consciousness. The petition site is ActForDolphins.org. Please visit it soon.
Dr. Lori Marino, a colleague of mine at Emory University, sent out a call for action to end the Japanese drive hunts that annually kill dolphins and small whales. I got it relayed from Dr. Brenda McCowan at UC Davis.
I've converted the three Microsoft Word documents that I received as attachments to the safer and more portable Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Call For Action
Press Release
Statements from Scientists
I'm proud to say to two of my Ph.D. committee members, Bill Evans and Sam Ridgway, are on the "Statements" page above.
Please pass on word of this to your friends and acquaintances. Please also note here or on O.Z. in the comments if you sign the petition.
More at Online Zoologists.