Australian town cuts ties with Taiji

Online newspaper 'The Australian', has reported that the community in the outback town of Broome in Kimberley, Western Australia called for ties with Taiji (its' sister town in Japan) to be cut over the annual slaughter and capture of thousands of dolphins in the notorious drive hunts.

Broome - don't want the	beauty of this, or this.....	associated with this !

Shire president Graeme Campbell said the council was in a quandary because of its historical links to Taiji. "We are more than concerned about the practices occurring over there, although some of it could be deemed to be cultural," Mr Campbell said. "How do you balance the historical and very huge contribution in Broome versus a practice which is not condoned and is probably not acceptable to most people?"

Our colleage Ric O'Barry, in Australia representing Save Japan Dolphins to publicise 'The Cove' documentary covering the 'killing cove' in Taiji, recently met with town leaders in Broome and gave a public showing of the documentary; following which Ric, backed by local environmental leaders and thousands of e-mails from across Australia, persuaded the Broome shire council to suspend its sister-city relation with Taiji.

Broome whale researcher Richard Costin said the relationship was untenable and had threatened to leave the town in disgust if the council did not end the arrangement. He said Broome was fast growing a reputation as the whale capital of the world, after humpback numbers had eventually recovered from decades of hunting. He said the Kimberley had the largest population of humpback whales in the world and, in September, Taiji would kill about the same number of dolphins - 23,000 - as part of its annual slaughter. "The Broome shire and community can send out a powerful message to both the Japanese government and the international community that the continued slaughter of whales and dolphins in Taiji and the Southern Ocean is completely unacceptable," Mr Costin said. He said footage of the slaughter had brought him close to tears. "There's no doubt that the sensitivity and intelligence of whales and dolphins can be equal or comparative to ours."

source: Australian/EII
images (c) B Jarnit/G Hayes