ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE to Korean Embassy in the US

[핫핑크돌핀스]

06 March 2017

His Excellency Ahn Ho-Young 

Ambassador for the Republic of Korea 

Embassy of the Republic of Korea 

2450 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.  

Washington, D.C. 20008 

Your Excellency: 

I am writing on behalf of the Animal Welfare Institute. We are aware that the Republic of Korea still allows the import of dolphins from Japan, where dolphins are captured in a particularly cruel and traumatic fashion, in “drive hunts.” We have read reports that two dolphins were recently imported to Ulsan Aquarium in Jangsaengpo, from Taiji, Japan. Taiji has an annual dolphin drive, a hunt that has been condemned by many conservationists and animal welfare advocates and was described in brutal detail in the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove. 

We strongly urge the Korean government to pass legislation or regulations that effectively prohibit the import of whales and dolphins from Japan, as the only method Japanese capture operators use to catch these species alive for public display is the drive hunt. In the United States, while there is no specific prohibition against imports from Japan, there are requirements for marine mammal captures to be both humane and sustainable, under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Republic of Korea should enact similar legislation, in order to guard against it being part of an inhumane and unsustainable trade in live whales and dolphins. 

Thank you for your consideration of our views on this important animal welfare matter. 

Yours respectfully,   

Naomi A. Rose, Ph.D. 

Marine mammal scientist