The Cove Exposed
Issue Number 9 January 26, 2010

Ric O’Barry with dolphin meat in a Taiji market. Dolphin meat is poisoned with mercury. Photography by Boyd Harnell
JOIN ME IN TAIJI.

Breaking News: Japanese Scientist Reveals Study Showing That Taiji Residents have 10 Times Higher Mercury Levels Than Average Japanese Citizens.

University of Hokkaido Professor Tetsuya Endo expresses alarm at the high levels of contamination among residents of Taiji, site of the killing of dolphins featured in The Cove.  Dr. Endo is calling for “efforts to curb consumption of whale meat which is highly contaminated with mercury.”

Message From Ric O’Barry, Campaign Director, Save Japan Dolphins:

The dirty secret of the largest slaughter of dolphins on Earth is that the dolphin meat being sold to an unsuspecting public in Japan is poisoned by mercury contamination.

We have brought this to public attention since we began our campaign four years ago.  More recently our testing of dolphin meat and the mercury contamination issue (including the Japan government’s cover-up with a compliant media) is receiving global attention in the award-winning documentary The Cove

In Taiji, Japan, the little town that slaughters a thousand dolphins a year and sells the meat in markets around Japan, one brave town council member, Mr. Yamashita, objected to the inclusion of mercury-laden dolphin meat in the town’s school lunch program, a PR gimmick by the dolphin-killers to get another young generation hooked on poisoned dolphin meat.  Taiji dropped the school lunches, but unfortunately Mr. Yamashita has been shunned and left Taiji.

However, one of his legacies was a decision by the town council to test the mercury levels in Japanese citizens in Taiji.  The results have been held up for months, but now enterprising reporters in Japan are bringing out the story.

The Japan-wide news service, Kyodo News, just published this story, picked up here by The Japan Times, which has been bravely printing the story of the dolphin slaughter and our Coalition work for several years.

The story states that Taiji residents, who eat dolphin meat, are showing mercury levels ten times higher than average Japanese.

The Japan media is finally getting out the story of mercury contamination in dolphin meat.  As more stories appear, more reporters and editors will feel safe in investigating further.

Mercury-laden dolphin meat is a crisis that should bring an end to the dolphin slaughter in Japan, and not just in Taiji, but all across Japan.

We still have a long way to go to get this story out to the Japanese public and help organize the protest to their government to end the cover-up and the sale of dolphin meat.

I believe we are getting closer!  And we will not stop until the dolphin slaughter ends, period.

Ric O'Barry
Campaign Director
Save Japan Dolphins Coalition

Here's How You Can Help Immediately:

Join our Call to Action to Ban the sale of dolphin meat immediately!
Take action at: thepetitionsite.com/4/ban-the-sale-of-dolphin-meat.
Help us with a donation to get the word out in Japan.  When the Japanese public sees The Cove, and realizes that the dolphin meat is poison, the killing will end.  
Go to: eii.org/sjd.
Go to savejapandolphins.org where you can sign up to be informed of the latest updates.
Read the full text of the Mercury Poisoning story here.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/mercury-levels-of-whale-eating-towns-residents-10-times-japan-average.
If you can help, please consider a tax-deductible donation: eii.org/sjd.

One of our friends made me a beautiful nobori (a traditional Japanese banner) that says in Japanese "Save Japan's Dolphins." I'm bringing it with me to Japan to display all over the country. For those of you who are able to donate $100 or more, I will have your name inscribed on the banner as a sponsor of my trip. Thanks for being part of this growing list!
Want to do more? Get your friends and family to go to the website, host a house party, or Cove movie showing for the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition.

Save Japan Dolphins Coalition: Earth Island Institute, Animal Welfare Institute, Elsa Nature Conservancy of Japan, In Defense of Animals, Campaign Whale of the UK, and OceanCare of Switzerland 
www.SaveJapanDolphins.org