Captive Dolphins 101

No, this is not an introductory college course on the captive dolphin industry. One hundred and one is the number of dolphins cruelly taken from the wild over a 6-day tragedy in Taiji. I recently wrote to a journalist the following: I know no other cause as worthy of my time as the dolphin cause. It is painful as hell to be a dolphin supporter.

Why is it so painful? When you know that young ones will never see their parents again, your heart breaks. When it happens one hundred and one times, what do you do to mend your broken heart?

To add lasting insult to injury, what do you do when you see the cove turn red because 23 dolphins are being murdered while their family members are swimming nearby, unable to do anything to stop the madness? Again, how do you heal your broken heart?

You write poems. You listen to music. You find joy and laughs when and where you can. And sometimes, you pour your heart out into a blog...

When I was young -- maybe 4 years old, I want to say -- my family and I went to SeaWorld in California. Can I tell you what my favorite memory was going there? It wasn't the show. (And you might argue that's my animal rights activist self re-writing history. No, it's not.)

My favorite memory from that trip to SeaWorld was riding around in a stroller, pushed around by my family. (To be perfectly honest, the simplest things made me happy.)

I would say, if you're a parent or a grandparent, and you're thinking of ways to entertain your children or grandchildren, please -- for the love of dolphins -- do not take them to SeaWorld or any other place where dolphins are held captive, against their will.

Take them to the park. Take them to the mall. Take them to the library. Take them to see a children's theatre production.

But please don't take them to a place that directly or indirectly supports Taiji's captive dolphin trade / slaughter. These places may tell you they oppose drive hunts / drive fisheries; however, by the very nature of holding dolphins in unnatural habitats, the captive dolphin industry fuels what Taiji is doing.

"If you want to know where you would have stood on slavery before the Civil War, don't look at where you stand on slavery today. Look at where you stand on animal rights." -Captain Paul Watson

Let's not forget that captivity is a synonym for slavery.

Please help my broken heart.

A Letter to the International Whaling Commission

Please e-mail secretariat@iwcoffice.org right now. Copy and paste the below and say you support this letter, or write your own, but either way, please demand change for the Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales, who need us to speak up for them.

Dear Members of the IWC Secretariat,

I have spent quite some time learning about the International Whaling Commission. I understand that, as of now, you do not have protections in place for whales such as the Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales that are currently netted in Taiji's killing cove in Japan (2 December, 2012). They await their fate in the morning. What is stopping us -- the world -- from saving all whales, regardless of size and regardless of the mouth make-up they have?

Per your website: "The 1946 Convention does not define a ‘whale’, although a list of names in a number of languages was annexed to the Final Act of the Convention. Some Governments take the view that the IWC has the legal competence to regulate catches of only these named great whales (the baleen whales and the sperm whale). Others believe that all cetaceans, including the smaller dolphins and porpoises, also fall within IWC jurisdiction."

Bottlenose Dolphins and Pilot Whales may be "smaller cetaceans," but they are, in fact, whales. I am among the "others" who believe that all cetaceans should be protected for the future of our planet. We are running out of time.

Please do what you can this very moment to urge Japan, a member of the IWC, to end Taiji's dolphin/whale hunts, live capture, and slaughter. This has gone on for far too long.

Respectfully,
Allison Cabellon
New York, NY

A Letter to President Barack Obama

A handwritten version of this letter is going in the mail tomorrow morning.

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your re-election as President of the United States. The results on Election Night gave me a renewed sense of hope for our country and our world. I have thought about writing you a few times over the past four years, but this letter that I write to you today is not about me. It’s about “a civilization of creatures who have never attacked us, who only show us kindness, and who have no defense against us: they are dolphins, porpoises, and whales.”*

A petition signed by over half a million people will be delivered to you, Vice President Biden, and the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. regarding the dolphins, porpoises, and whales that swim near Japan. These beautiful, intelligent creatures don’t belong to Japan. They don’t belong to anyone. They don’t belong in captivity. They do belong in the ocean.

They do not deserve to inhumanely die by human hands in Taiji's killing "cove."

And yet, this is happening in 2012 and will continue to happen unless we, the people of the world, do something about it. And we are.

Mr. President, I am asking you, as our World Leader and as the Voice of the People, to please work with the Japanese government to end the senseless slaughter in Taiji, Japan.

In your final campaign speech in Iowa, you said, “Don't let anybody tell you your voice can't make a difference.” I took your words to heart and am now using my voice to speak on behalf of the dolphins, porpoises, and whales.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, Mr. President. I know you have a lot on your plate – believe me, I know. But as Captain Paul Watson has said, "If the oceans die, we die! It is as simple as that and, thus, to me, there is no cause more important."

Let’s move the country forward, and let’s move the world forward. Please help stop the killing and live capture of dolphins, whales, and porpoises in Taiji.

Sincerely,
Allison Cabellon
New York, NY

*Quote from "I am a Cove Guardian." Please click here to watch.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Good morning, world. It is 6:45 AM Eastern on Monday, November 5, 2012. Around 11:45 PM last night -- though the cove was blue in Taiji (that is, a good day for dolphins) -- I could not stop thinking about why Yahoo has not stopped selling dolphin and whale meat when Amazon.com permanently did so. I don't want to go into the entire back story on this blog entry, but what you should know is that I was writing a note to someone who could possibly provide me with advice on bringing about change, and when I went to reference something on my Twitter, what I saw -- or rather, what I didn't see -- floored me. So take a look at the two images below:

1. A screen shot of my Twitter conversation with Yahoo-related Twitter accounts and Yahoo Care's response to me on October 25, 2012:


2. And now, here's what it looked like as of midnight and still looks like today:


Yahoo Care removed their response to me! Don't believe my screen shot? Click here to see it on Twitter. You'll see I had good sense to make a record of it with my RT of what Yahoo Care wrote to me, just in case. Now the "just in case" is a reality.

Please note that on Thursday, November 1, I made a follow-up inquiry to Yahoo on my Twitter.

.@yahoocare @yahoo Any update from bit.ly/TELfC7 team re: chn.ge/S4e0Hn petition? 129,273 signed. #tweet4taiji @seashepherd

— Allison Cabellon (@avgc) November 1, 2012

So, sometime between that question on Thursday and Sunday night, the Yahoo Care team removed their tweet to me.

WHY?

I can't get that question out of my head now... WHY?

Allison

P.S. If you have not already, sign the petition on Change.org. More than any other petition right now, I want this victory. I won't give up.

Three Minutes of Your Time

TWO MINUTES: Please watch this video. "My friend is in serious trouble, in fact he is fighting for his life right now."



ONE MINUTE: Please click here and sign the petition to help save Japan's dolphins. We need to reach 500,000 signatures by the end of today, October 31, 2012, and we have about 4,500 to go at the time of this posting.

That's it. Three minutes and done.

THANK YOU!
Allison
New York, NY

UPDATE: Around 6 PM Eastern today (October 31, 2012), Take Part extended the deadline to reach 500,000 signatures to November 15, 2012. So we still have time, but please take 3 minutes if you haven't already to click, watch, and sign.

A Letter to Ellen DeGeneres

A handwritten version of this letter is going in the mail on Monday morning.

Dear Ellen,

My name is Allison Cabellon, and I have been a fan of yours for many years. I am writing to you on a Saturday night because I need your help as a fellow compassionate animal lover.

In 2010, you recommended on your website that visitors/viewers watch the documentary The Cove. Fast forward 2 years later, and the dolphin hunts and slaughter continue in Taiji, Japan. Last night, Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians livestreamed footage to the world. Three Risso dolphins* were captured for a life of captivity, and the rest of their family, 7 more Rissos, were killed. I will never forget the dolphins’ cries while watching The Cove. Last night’s cries will haunt me, too.

Ellen, can you help me – and all who care about animals – by asking Yahoo! to stop selling whale and dolphin meat on their websites? Amazon.com did. I am asking you not only because you care about animals but also because your show’s website, ellentv.com, appears to be hosted on Yahoo! Your powerful voice could make a big difference for the dolphins.

As of tonight, there are 128,617 people on Change.org who are calling for Yahoo! to stop selling whale and dolphin meat. “We can’t make change without knowing what we’re up against.” That is how you ended your website recommendation for watching The Cove. Now that we do know what we’re up against, let’s make the change.

Thank you,
Allison
New York, NY

*UPDATE: As reported by Melissa Sehgal on the October 24th live stream by Sea Shepherd, the three Rissos in captivity are not eating.