As a Florida resident, I will be delivering this petition in person to Tallahassee to Gov. Rick Scott office. Make your voice heard!

Every year between Sept. 1st and March 1st an annual dolphin cull is started in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. This cull is sanctioned by the government of Japan under the guise that dolphins are considered pests and this inhumane practice is not sustainable. The Fishermen Union, "Isana Fisheries" are given a yearly quota to hunt these self-aware, sentient mammals. 

The Fishermen of Taiji have been allocated the following Taiji dolphin drive fishery catch quota for 2014-2015: 1,938 cetaceans allowed to be killed or taken.

•          134 Pacific white-sided dolphins;

•          450 Striped dolphins;

•          509 Bottlenose dolphins;

•          400 Pantropical spotted dolphins;

•          261 Risso's dolphin;

•          114 Short-finned pilot whales;

•          70 False killer whales. (None have been caught in the past 4 yrs.)

Yet, many of those dolphins captured in the Cove in Taiji are taken into captivity.  The meat is sold locally to the citizens of Taiji and sometimes it is  served to children in public schools and is sometimes sold as “whale meat” to unsuspecting consumers. The meat is highly toxic as it contains high doses of Mercury, a heavy metal. The entrails and discarded or inedible parts of the carcass meat is also taken to the processing plants and sold as fertilizer and/or made into dog food.

IMATA (International Marine Animals Trainers Association) rides along and participates in the slaughter  along with the Fishermen to select the perfect specimens that will be sold to aquariums around the world. At the present there are dolphins that were imported from Japan  living at the Miami Seaquarium. There is also another dolphin being imported from the Kamogawa Aquarium that soon will be making SeaWorld Orlando its new home. "Kirara" as this dolphin is called was born in captivity from wild caught parents and soon the life she knows with her family will be destroyed. There is also another import from Kamogawa  Aquarium “Argo” the pilot whale imported in March 2012 bit.ly/14afOXv that resides in Seaworld San Diego.  There are several dolphins imported from Japan scattered in aquarium in the United States.

Dolphins live in pods like humans live in family units always staying with the parents, siblings, aunts and uncles. They swim many miles a day. The migrate or follow schools they feed on that happen to swim in the Kuroshio Current that runs on the east coast of Japan.

We are asking that our wonderful state of Florida that reveres and loves wild dolphins to stop the relationship that was started in 1995 with the Wakayama Prefecture.  There are many cities in Florida that continue to enjoy sister-ship with other wonderful cities in Japan:

•         Miami Beach  -  Fujisawa, Kanagawa Japan, since 1959
•         Cleawater       -  Nagano, Nagano Japan, since 1959
•         Delray Beach  -  Miyazu, Kyoto, Japan , since 1977
•         Miami Beach  -  Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan, since  1959
•         Pensacola        -  Gero, Gifu   Japan,  since 1988
•         St Petersburg -  Takamatsu, Kagawa , Japan, since 1960

We are respectfully asking that you watch the Oscar winning documentary “The Cove”   bit.ly/1xqLqS4  and  https://vimeo.com/52943939 we ask that you sever the relationship with Wakayama Prefecture until the culling of dolphins stops!