Action alert

Write to Nagoya-City

to Stop Orca (Killer Whale) Trading

ALIVE News March 29, 2010

The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium is planning to purchase Nami, a wild orca that was captured in 1986 in Taiji-city, Wakayama. Sadly, Nami has been in captivity since then.

In 1997, Taiji-city caught 5 wild orcas and sold them to aquariums. Predictably, three of them died a few years later and the last unfortunate one, Coo, died at Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium on September 19th, 2008.

<Reference>
Stop Capturing Wild Orcas!
http://www.alive-net.net/wildlife/sea-animal/orca/orca070701.html

Coo was kept at the Taiji Whale Museum untill 2004. In that same year, the museum rented Coo out to Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium for breeding for the sum of 50 million yen. Coo died 4 years later.

Recently we learned that the Taiji Whale Museum is planning to sell (not rent) Nami for 500 million yen. This money will be paid by Nagoya city.

The orka is a rare species. CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) allows trade of these creatures only for academic or breeding research purposes.

This time, Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium wants only one orca, but they inexplicably claim that they need Nami for breeding. Nami is 26 years old and she is rather old for breeding, especially when
considering the average lifespan of orcas, being forced to live in aquariums, is very low compared to their free brethren living in the wild.

From what we can gather, it seems that the museum wants Nami to train to use for entertainment purposes, and not for breeding.

Orcas swim freely in their natural habitat, ocean, and go where they will. Those unfortunate ones forced to live in confined places, such as an aquarium or pools, are filled with stress. As a result, a lot of orcas (dolphins also) imprisoned in such confined spaces die early, well before their time. If you want to learn about marine life, you can do so by watching movies, such as “Oceans.”

In October 2010, the international meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, COP10 (Conference of the Parties) is scheduled to be held in Nagoya. The city of Nagoya has invited a lot of organizations advocating for environment and wild life conservation.

Trading Nami is not only bad for Nami, but will also hurt the reputation of the city. The city will be criticized for the trade and for wasting tax money.

For more information about Nami and her situation, please see the link below.
http://sha-chi.jp/jp/

Please write to the mayor of Nagoya to stop trading Nami.

The Mayor of Nagoya-city, Takashi Kawamura Site:
http://www.city.nagoya.jp/mayor/

Send your opinions to Nagoya-city.
http://www.city.nagoya.jp/nagoya00009669.html

If you are not able to access the links above, please send an email
message or a fax to
Email* shimin-no-koe@shiminkeizai.city.nagoya.lg.jp
They Secretary Offic of The Mayor of Nagoya Fax: 052 972 4105