A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
TOKYO––The Japanese whaling fleet in 2013 killed just 103 minke whales out of a self-assigned quota of 935, and killed none of the 50 humpback and 50 fin whales they had hoped to kill, acknowledged Japanese agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at a homecoming media conference. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
BEIJING––China Daily on February 22, 2013 spotlighted an Internet campaign against the fast-spreading practice of keeping seals in tanks as an attraction at hotels and restaurants. The campaign was initiated by the Panjin Harbor Seal Protection Volunteer Association, of Panjin, Liaoning province, and the Green Beagle Environment Institute of Beijing, whose volunteers have documented the presence of 43 captive seals at 20 facilities––most of them small and severely substandard.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
CHENNAI––The Animal Welfare Board of India on January 14, 2013 ordered state governments and wildlife agencies to deny permits to anyone who “proposes to import or capture any cetacean [whale or dolphin] species for training, to use as a performing animal for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition, private or human interaction, educational or research purposes.” The directive formalizes policies which have informally prevailed against would-be marine mammal exhibitors since 1998, when a now defunct Chennai aquarium called Dolphin City imported four dolphins from Bulgaria. All four died within six months. Whether the AWBI directive can be enforced is likely to be tested by would-be developers of dolphin parks in Mumbai, Delhi, and coastal Kerala state.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
HONG KONG––A Sea Shepherd Conservation Society video posted to YouTube on February 26, 2013 shows the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker being repeatedly crunched between the much larger Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru and the Sun Laurel, a Panamanian-flagged fuel oil tanker reportedly carrying a South Korean crew. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
HONIARA, Solomon Islands; BERKELEY, Calif.––Dolphin hunters in the Solomon Islands, dolphin broker Christopher Porter, and some far-right U.S. news media are blaming the Earth Island Institute Marine Mammal Project for the massacre of more than 1,000 dolphins in December 2012 and January 2013. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
BELFAST––Challenging the global scientific, regulatory, and humane communities to recognize crustacean sentience, Robert Elwood of the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on January 16, 2013 published his third major study in six years to demonstrate that crustaceans feel and respond to pain. “Billions of crustaceans are caught or reared in aquaculture for the food industry,” wrote Elwood of his latest research, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. “In contrast to mammals, crustaceans are given little or no protection, as the presumption is that they cannot experience pain. Our research suggests otherwise. More consideration of the treatment of these animals is needed,” Elwood emphasized, “as a potentially very large problem is being ignored.” Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2012:
SEOUL--“Korea has decided to scrap its plan to resume whaling for scientific Research,” the Korea Herald reported on July 17, 2012, just 12 days after South Korean whaling commissioner Joon-Suk Kang announced the scheme to the 64th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission meeting in Panama. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2012:
TOKYO--The international police agency Interpol on September 16, 2012 at Japan’s request asked for the cooperation of member nations in arresting Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson. The Interpol “red” notice superseded an earlier “blue” notice which only sought information about Watson’s whereabouts. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:
Taiji plans “swim with dolphins” park
TAIJI, Japan–Notorious for killing as many as 2,000 dolphins and small whales per winter, the coastal Japanese city of Taiji plans to make Moriura Bay, where the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove was clandestinely filmed, “a huge pool where people can swim and kayak among small whales and dolphins,” the Daily Yomiuri disclosed on May 1, 2012. Read more