Keep the Taiji Dolphins in Your Prayers

Swimming Free away from Taiji

by Steven Thompson, TDAG 
November 27, 2012 

Are dolphins intelligent? Are dolphins spiritual? To those who believe...to those who are ready to give it a try. As you go to sleep or meditate today, please send a psychic message to the dolphin pod members who escaped today:

STAY AWAY FROM TAIJI! ...IF YOU HEAR THE BANGING, GO UNDER...OUT TO SEA

An entire pod of dolphins ESCAPED certain death today. They outsmarted the most ruthless technologically advanced dolphin murderers on the planet: the Taiji Killers, those who eat dolphins. There was no massacre today.

How do you think the escaped pod feels now? Happy? Exhausted? Did anyone die in the mad rush to escape? Are their hearts beating back to normal? Where will they swim to next?

Many of us sat on the edge of our seats waiting for the #tweet4taiji. We waited and waited...drank a cup a tea...felt like throwing up...not working...not sleeping...knowing the dolphins were swimming a race...a high speed marathon where there can only be one loser. And losing means you watch your friends and family get their throats cut or their spines pithed...blood still filling the water...screams piercing your soul...mothers and babies dragged by their tails, drowned in agony. This is the vision that may await the dolphins if they swim by Taiji.

Please envision the dolphins who escaped today, communicating with other dolphins to stay away from Taiji. Please envision the awareness of the Taiji hunt to spread among all dolphins everywhere. Please share the vision that dolphins must swim under the wall of sound and back out to sea.

Please tell the dolphins that you care...care enough to stay away from Taiji. Taiji is no place for a happy and free dolphin.

Swim fast and free

Away from Taiji 

Under the sound and out to sea

Telling all dolphins is the key.

A big THANK YOU to the volunteers in Taiji today guarding the Cove and monitoring the hunt. Without groups like Sea Shepherd, Save Japan Dolphins, and individual dolphin activists all over the world, we simply wouldn't know.

Erwin Rocks Japan, Engulfs Holland

Erwin Vermeulen found innocent Feb. 22, 2012

By Steven Thompson
2/25/2012
Japan

Good media coverage on Erwin rocks Japan, even if they do still use the whaling word and avoid any mention of dolphins. Thank you Japanese media.

Amazing coverage engages the entire population of the Netherlands. Her Majesty Beatrix is reported to have been made aware of the human rights issues in Erwin's case. And Erwin hasn't even started on the Amsterdam press circuit yet. That all starts in the next 24 hours. All dolphin lovers offer a sincere thanks to the Dutch media and the Dutch government.

Stories have spun wildly and happily out of control. There will never be a way to repair the image of the police oppressing an emaciated, honest, and non-violent Dutch citizen protecting the even weaker members of the seas, the beautiful dolphins.

An interview with a Dutch tourist in Spain today came out with the understanding that Erwin had received no hot meals and was forced to be in solitary confinement. Neither is true, but the way it was all handled by the accuser, his boss and the police give rise to endless exaggeration on a personal level. The story will continually mutate around the coffee tables of Amsterdam for years to come.

Thank you Dolphin Resort Hotel! Thank you Mr. Kitagawa! Thank you Taiji and Shingu and Wakayama police. You could have ended the circus earlier but chose not to.

Remember that meeting? You all voted to continue the charade as yes-men for the Governor of Wakayama and his deputy, the Mayor of Munchkin City, I mean Taiji.

Gauging the impact of the new media coverage and the acquittal is what I'm thinking about. How deeply will Sea Shepherd's win in court affect the outcome of the dolphin hunt?

This discussion will be in flux as meetings and more press conferences get held over the next week. The next press conference is in Amsterdam. Both sides are certain to spin it for themselves. But one thing is clear: times have changed.

People around the world are certainly more engaged, but no country is now more engaged than Holland. I get the feeling that the Sea Shepherd flags will safely be Dutch permanently. Thank you Madame Prosecutor.

Dutchman Erwin Vermeulen, paid any balance due to cover the stress of the Dutch government for Sea Shepherd support with his 64 Days of inhumane treatment in a Japanese jail for doing nothing more than loving dolphins. The witness was judged to have lied. No pushing occurred. Dutch people protect their own and now this includes Taiji dolphins. Thank you Judge.

As I noted a few days ago in the TAG Blog:

"The Dolphin Slave Resort owner, their young cry-wolf dolphin trainer Kitagawa, the Japanese police at three levels (Taiji, Shingu, Wakayama), and Ms. I-want-Erwin-in-jail-one-more-day Prosecutor, clearly, obviously, and very publicly screwed the pooch."

My feeling is that that cute little Japanese puppy was Japan. And that she didn't like it very much. The politicians and business people who deal in dolphin death look pretty incompetent to the Japanese establishment. And then there is the money.

Budget negotiation in Japan for next year's national subsidy on Cetacean meat and the massive Taiji police and Coast Guard presence, and the whole Institute for Cetacean Research folly will occur every day all the month of March for a decision by the beginning of April.

My dolphin drumbeat until the end of March is: No more money for the Taiji hunt. Try it: 9 beats--pat your knees or the table in front of you.

No-More-Money-For-The-Taiji-Hunt

Dolphins Win the Day in Court

Erwin Vermeulen and Scott West 

By Steven Thompson
Wakayama, Japan
February 23, 2012

All are just beginning to calculate the implications. But, one thing is clear: The dolphins won yesterday. A watershed moment exploded for all of us in the Free Dolphins Movement.

What happened yesterday, with an innocent ruling for Erwin Vermeulen in Japanese court, was much more than just our friend Erwin going free. The shock passing through all sides will be felt like the Earth's crust heaving a meter or two as we try to help each other.

New stories will come out in the near future. There are new players, or significant players in the dolphin issue whom I did not know about. Several came forward yesterday, poking their heads out for just long enough to see that the field is wider and deeper than I expected. There are at least six new stories I will cover in the following weeks. These stories exist because Sea Shepherd has committed to be in Taiji until the dolphin hunt stops. I cannot thank them enough.

The story of the Second Dutchman in the courtroom yesterday will come out. He helped me understand more in 10 minutes about the social and political issues in the dolphin issues than I have learned in the last four years.

The story of the Japanese Police supporting Erwin will come out. This telephone conversation was completely unexpected.

The media involvement has also never been this focused. I feel this was an immense change for them too. In a turnaround, I got to interview the reporters, as a captive audience, as we waited outside the court building for an hour, in line for an entry ticket. The reporters have been prevented from reporting on the dolphin issues by nationalist-agenda editors. This may change now.

The story of Scott West will be told in time. If he had not been such a hardheaded professional, this would certainly have had a very different outcome. Scott deserves the title and respect of Captain. He has effectively steered a ship called Infinite Patience, in a Japanese sea of chaos.

I also spoke to a friend of the accuser yesterday, a friend of Mr. Kitagawa. This is a first I believe--no one has heard the story in detail from the dolphin trainer's point of view. There is more here than we realize. Much more.

Finally, I spoke with Erwin at length. We will not see Erwin fade off of the stage anytime soon. Tomorrow will be a momentous occasion for Erwin. After 73 days of being kept from his job, he will legally be able to go back to work. Two hours from now, Erwin will be back in Taiji, defending the dolphins' right to live. Thank you Erwin, for your love of life and your endurance throughout this ordeal.