99% Complete.... Please add your name to this very important petition to stop the murder of our friends our dolphin families in and near Japan... The year is young, but it’s already shaping up to be a rocky one for dolphin killers in Taiji, Japan. Hard on the heels of U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy’s condemnation of the slaughter at the notorious cove and a scathing editorial in The Japan Times comes an equally damning letter signed by marquee-name celebrities calling on the U.S. to block a pending international trade agreement unless Japan ends the annual dolphin hunts. On Wednesday, hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons and Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian Simone Reyes, who works for Simmons, sent a letter to Kennedy asking her to “personally deliver this petition to President Barack Obama urging him to not sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) until Japan bans the slaughter and capture of dolphins in Taiji.” The letter was cosigned by a number of big names in Hollywood, animal activism, and politics, including Sean Penn, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Oliver Stone, Ellen DeGeneres, Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Stevie Nicks, Steve Perry, Jimmy Page, Jesse Jackson, Sylvester Stallone, Vin Diesel, and Ingrid Newkirk, head of PETA and many more. Im glad our letter to Ambassador Kennedy for the president is making the rounds and will hopefully get our own government to do what they can to help stop the senseless, cruel slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, says Simmons. The idea for the letter originated last November when Reyes traveled to Taiji, whose annual dolphin slaughter was made infamous in 2009 by the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove. “I told Russell all about it, and he was horrified, as was everyone else,” she says. “We were trying to strategize ways to help [after] the whole world started watching around Jan. 17, when 250 bottlenose dolphins went into the cove, including a white baby calf named Angel. We knew the iron was hot, and it was time to strike.” Simmons began calling his famous friends, and within a week the list of celebrities who eventually signed the letter blossomed. Neither the State Department nor the White House answered requests for comment on the letter, but Kennedy publicly condemned the drives in a Jan. 17 tweet, writing: “Deeply concerned by inhumaneness of drive hunt dolphin killing. [U.S. Government] opposes drive hunt fisheries.” Kennedy Tweet Sparks Global Outrage Over Cove Slaughter Her statement, which excited global activists and rattled officials in Tokyo and Taiji, was subsequently backed by State Department spokesperson Marie Harf, who told reporters on Jan. 21 that “we are concerned with both the sustainability and the humaneness of the Japanese dolphin hunts. We have been very clear that this is our position.” Since Sept. 1, 2013, the beginning of this season’s drive hunt, the town’s two-dozen fishermen have killed more than 600 dolphins. An additional 150 have been taken captive, “slated to live lonely, degrading, psychosis-inducing lives analogous to enslavement at amusement parks, as chronicled in the film Blackfish,” reads the letter. “The world is looking to you, Ambassador Kennedy, and to our government to send a clear message to Japan that this atrocity must be banned NOW,” the letter concludes. Celebrities were careful not to take a position on the specifics of the trade deal as a whole. “We are not necessarily anti-TPP,” Reyes insists. “We are only pro-dolphin.” Will the administration heed the admonition of such high-octane stars? “A lot of people listen” to Hollywood, Reyes notes. “A lot of people care about what their favorite actor or singer has to say, and we took advantage.” TAKE ACTION:MESSAGES Add Your Voice: Support Satoshi Komiyama’s Fight Against Dolphin Slaughter THE ISSUE Activists like Satoshi Komiyama are working tirelessly to end the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, along with organizations like Save Japans Dolphins. Show your support by sending a message of encouragement to Komiyama. THE MESSAGE Your critical work to end dolphin slaughter in Japan has been inspiring. I stand with you and your organization Flipper’s Japan. Together we can end this brutal practice once and for all! WHY YOUR MESSAGE MATTERS Despite international pressure, the annual hunt in Taiji continues to kill countless dolphins and whales. Thats why the role of activists like 33-year-old Satoshi Komiyama has never been more important. Along with organizations like Save Japans Dolphins, Komiyama works tirelessly to end this barbaric practice, witnessing the hunting first-hand and trying to inspire others in Japan. Komiyama has been fearless in publicizing the dolphin slaughter – now it’s time to add your voice! Send a message of support to Komiyama to let him know you stand with him and activists all across Japan. GREEN 400 MAGAZINE SIGNED THIS PETITION TONIGHT~ Please help out and follow the link below. Thank you in advance... Team Green 400 Magazine They are at 99%, make that 1% difference....
Posted on: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 03:02:35 +0000
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