Another Orca Dies

Another Orca Dies at Japanese Aquarium!

IKAN's Orca Stickers

On Oct. 24th, 2000, a male orca died at Izu-Mito Sea Paradise.
In this year only, already two orcas have died in Japan.

<previous news>--------------------------------------------------------
A Female Orca Died in Aquarium(2000.3.29)
On Wednesday, March 29, a female orca called Ruka which was displayed at Nanki-Shirahama Adventure World died. She was captured in Iceland in October, 1981. Even on the day she died, she had to appear on a show, and after the show, she stayed at the bottom of the tank and could not swim up. We have got this information from reliable sources however, the aquarium denies the fact. And insists that they have only three orcas though all we activists know that there were four.
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IRUKA & KUJIRA (Dolphin & Whale) ACTION NETWORK took this occasion to write protest letters to aquariums;

To participants in Aquariums

'Release Orcas'

We have been feeling grief at the sad news that a male orca called Yamato, (his ex-name was Tanouk), who was displayed at Izu-Mito Sea Paradise, died there on Oct. 24th.
The aquarium had expressed their strong confidence in keeping orcas however, he died after no more than 4 years in captivity even though he had not yet reached even half of his life expectancy.

Yamato was reportedly captured in the Icelandic Sea in Oct. 1989. Later on, one female orca out of five orcas captured at Taiji called Asuka was brought to the aquarium to mate with Yamato. Scientifically that would have made problems by mating orcas from different sea areas. Now, we are worry about the health of Asuka.

In this year only, already two orcas have died in Japan.
A female orca called Ruka at Nanki Shirahama Adventure World on March 29th and this time.
Orcas migrate through the vast oceans of the world and have close relationships among individuals of their society. Again, we experience how terribly wrong it is to capture such animals and put them into artificial tanks.

Wo as not to waste Yamato's untimely death, we urge you and beg you to stop the archaic practice of keeping orcas immediately.

Please make a step to help release orcas. To realize this, we will make our best endeavors.

Regards,

Nanami Kurasawa,
IRUKA & KUJIRA (Dolphin & Whale) ACTION NETWORK
Kiyo Bld.205 2-5-5 Hyakunin-cho,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan
phone&fax +81-3-3366-8122
Email:QWP06555@nifty.ne.jp

　 IKAN ＜Iruka(dolphin)and Kujira(whale) Action Network＞
P.O. Box #10 Iruma Post Office Saitama Prefecture Japan Email: QWP06555@nifty.ne.jp