In Sanuki city, Japan, the expansion of a captive dolphin facility (misleadingly named the "Dolphin Healing Center") is underway. Already, several dolphins are being held in a sea pen, and if it expands, many others will also be doomed to captivity as well.
Dolphins, who may swim up to one hundred miles a day in the wild, fare poorly in captivity, and two of five dolphins captured for this facility have already perished after just a few months in captivity. The area in which the sea pen is being expanded is also exceptionally ill-suited to house dolphins: The temperatures vary wildly from winter to summer, and the runoff and silt from the adjacent land often cloud the water. When confronted with this spate of problems, city officials in Sanuki have simply stated that they are willing to "experiment" to see whether dolphins can survive in this type of environment. In the meantime, expansion of the sea pen continues, unless we can pressure city officials to abandon this ill-advised enterprise.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Three years ago, the infamous "dolphin drives" (in which fishermen killed dolphins by surrounding them and driving them to shore) in Futo, Japan were suspended because of public pressure. Chances are good that with enough external pressure again, we can halt the expansion of the dolphin tank in Sanuki as well! Please send letters in protest of the dolphin tank to:
Mr. Shinya Akazawa
Mayor of Sanuki city, & Machidukuri-suishin-ka
5385-8, Shido, Sanuki-shi
Kagawa-ken, 769-2195 Japan
Fax: 011+81-87-894-4440
Email: hisyo@m.sanuki.ne.jp
Please cc your letters to Elsa Nature Conservancy, which is collecting letters to show to the media:
Email: pah03724@nifty.ne.jp
Fax: 011+81-29-851-1637
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