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Animal Rights Center has been accusing the organizers of the Itoman Harley Duck Catching Competition of violating the Animal Welfare Act, but unfortunately, they were not prosecuted. However, the fact that they were not prosecuted does not mean that this act is not animal abuse. It clearly falls under the definition of animal abuse as defined by the Ministry of the Environment. Throwing ducks into the sea, where they have never swum before, and chasing them is inherently cruel. According to an article in the Ryukyu Shimpo, the Itoman History and Culture Research Institute’s Mr. Kinjyo states that duck catching competitions are not traditional or ritualistic. He mentions that before…
We have been informed that a case, which has been under investigation after a complaint was filed with the Okinawa Prefectural Police against the Itoman Harley festival’s duck catching competition that took place on June 23, 2023, for violation of Article 44, Paragraph 2 (cruelty to animals) of the Animal Protection and Control Law, was referred to the public prosecutor’s office today. We hope that the prosecutors will make a fair and lawful decision. We also hope that the Itoman Harley committee will shift to holding the event in a way that does not use animals and that does not cause suffering to the vulnerable beings.
The Ageuma festival held at Tado Shrine in Mie prefecture has been blasted over mistreatment of animals. On July 27th, Juridical Foundation Animal Environment & Welfare Association Eva and we, the Animal Rights Center, visited Mie Governor, Katsuyuki Ichimi, some prefectural staff, and a former ministry of health minister, Norihisa Tamura, to address this issue. The governor explained that the prefecture is aware and has demanded that improvements be made so the festival will be better suited for the current time. The governor well understands the Ageume festival is no longer acceptable per today’s standards. Mr. Tamura also pushed some changes and gave numerous successful examples in his own hometown.…
The Itoman Harley, held annually on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month (June 21) in Itoman City, Okinawa, is reported to be resumed this year after being suspended for four years due to a pandemic. The Harley itself is a very peaceful event in which a large number of people row boats and compete, and is also held in Naha and other cities. However, the one held in Itoman is interspersed with an inhumane pastime in which 50 ducks are tossed into the sea and chased around and captured. The Animal Rights Center has been calling for the event to be stopped since 2015, but it was held…
There is a trend in other countries to stop using animals for entertainment, such as circuses, as it is an inappropriate environment for keeping wild animals. In this case, wild animals are those other than domesticated animals. No matter how many generations of wild animals are bred, their innate ecology never leaves them. Therefore, animals bred in captivity in Japan are also considered wild animals and are subject to regulations in 58 countries*1 worldwide. There are two directions in which animal welfare problems in circuses can go: problems that cannot always be prevented in the circus entertainment environment, no matter how careful they are, and problems that can occur if…
On Dec.10th, 2022, International Animal Rights Day, we conducted street outreach activities on 3 spots, i.e. Shibuya (Tokyo), Iwate and Shiga, to appeal promotion of animal welfare and protection of animal rights. In Shibuya, a seminar on “animal welfare and rights” was also given. Dec.10th falls on “Human Rights Day.” Every person has the right to live one’s own life as a human being. In the same way, animals have the right to live their own lives. We believe the issue of animal rights is also the issue of animal welfare, just as the issue of human rights is also the issue of human being’s welfare. In the seminar, Ms.…
In June 2022, we learned horses were killed by getting disinfectant, Pacoma, injected without anesthesia at Kasamatsu Racecourse in Gifu. With this information, we submitted a demand letter to improve this situation to the Gifu Prefectural Racing Association, the governor Yoshida, and the National Association of Racing. On June 30th, we received their response. Gifu prefecture replied that they had requested Kasamatsu Racecourse to make a change, to which Kasamatsu Racecourse responded with the following new policies: Horses will be administered an analgesic to get sedated first, then, will move forward with the procedure while administering anesthesia as well as a muscle relaxant drug. The entire procedure from stunning to…
Cockfighting is illegal. As soon as 2 male gamecocks are placed in a pen, it can be illegal. On 2022/4/28, Shizuka Terata questioned the illegality of cockfighting at the House of Councilors Environment Committee. “Regarding Article 44, Paragraph 2, whose penal provisions have been tightened by the recent amendment, I think that making gamecocks fight itself may fall under the item of making a protected animal perform an act that may cause physical injury unreasonably, and is subject to the penalties of the Act on Welfare and Protection of Animals. I would like to ask the opinion of the Ministry of the Environment.” In response to this, Director Okuda of…
In 2021, we, Animal Rights Center Japan, together with the animal protection group Cookhouse in Okinawa, identified the location of the cockfighting ground in Chiba Prefecture. There were approximately 60 gamecocks in wooden cages, and some of them had their entire heads injured, with no eyes, had stitch marks on their heads, and had beaks cut in abnormal ways. Dead bodies were left abandoned, and we also found some bones laying around in the cages. There was a place where 10-20 people could sit, and in the back room there was a circular ring, around which chairs with cushions were lined up, making it a cockfighting ground that could be…
The Act on Welfare and Management of Animals was revised in 2020, which added a new chapter to Article 21 to set better standards to handle animals. We thought we would see great improvement in the animal handling businesses.However, according to the information we gathered in August 2020, the Ministry of Environment mentioned they had no intention of applying this to other animals than dogs or cats.Therefore, we, the Animal Rights Center, started to work together with two other groups called Japan Anti-Vivisection Association and PEACE (Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation) to negotiate with the Ministry.At the same time, we started a campaign called “#animals left behind”…
The dolphin “Honey”, who had been confined to a small cage called a pool at Inubosaki Marine Park (closed), died of obstructive enteritis, as released to the media on March 29 *1. When our partner organization PEACE checked, the last visit by the health center was on March 18, after which they had been told to just wait for a public announcement from the operating company. Just the day before the announcement was made, Animal Rights Center Japan staff had gone to view. Yesterday’s report 2020/4/3 16:00. Looking at the Inubozaki Marine Park from the road, a caretaker was seen feeding dozens of penguins by the pool. In the small pool…
Immediate halt to dolphin drive hunting in Futo for the purpose of selling live bodies to aquariums! In October 2019 Ito Fishery Cooperative in Futo area of Ito-city Shizuoka prefecture resumed dolphin drive hunting, which had not been performed for the past 15 years. If it’s a live capture, it’s not cruel. Based on such understanding, Ito Fishery Cooperative announced to the media the reopening of the hunt. However, the truth is very different. “Ocean-Dolphin-Human” released a video of live capture of bottlenose dolphins by dolphin drive hunting in Futo. The dolphins driven to the Futo fishing port struggle in the net, panic and collide with each other, and…
Press Release As a protest against Ito City Futo district resuming dolphin drive hunting, over 200 organizations from around the world urge UNESCO to cancel the “Izu Peninsula Geopark” designation It has been announced that dolphin drive hunting by the Futo Branch of the Ito Fishery Cooperative “Ito Gyokyo”, which had not been performed for the last 15 years since 2004, will resume from this year. The Izu Peninsula was certified in 2018 by the official UNESCO programme “World Geopark”, but resuming dolphin drive hunting is against its philosophy. In response, we are informing you that the following actions were taken today at the request of two organizations, the certified NPO…
A list below shows dolphins that died from 2018 through Sept 27th 2019. Many of these individuals were born to breed, and died within three years after they were born, except for one skunk dolphin. This sinful act has been repeated in the history of aquariums. Sadly, these wild dolphins have had to lose their calves over and over. The breeding practice takes place not for the dolphins, but rather for humans for their entertainment and profit. A few of them survive, and live a long time, but most of them die. Dolphins live in groups of hundreds, sometimes even thousands. They raise their calves together, swim around the vast…
At “Inubosaki Marine Park” in Chiba prefecture Choshi city which closed due to deterioration and business collapse in January 2018, a bottlenose dolphin “Honey”, humboldt penguins, and fish were left behind, and voices of concerns over their future were incessant. Despite strong interest from overseas, the Marine Park has refused contacts with us or the media and has withheld information. Management resumes with a new owner!? Honey and the penguins may get sold to China!? According to an article on the 2019/7/5 issue of the weekly magazine “FRIDAY”, the chief director has been replaced by a Chinese woman; moreover, details were posted that are astonishing, or rather they matched our worst expectations.…
The severity of harm to chickens from cockfighting taking place in Okinawa was reported previously, but this has not been resolved yet. Cockhouse that protects the chickens submits a petition to create a regulation in Okinawa Prefecture that bans cockfighting, and reexamination will take place in July. Even without examination, cockfighting is cruel, causes many illegal activities, and also causes uncertainty in confidence in Okinawa Prefectural police and Okinawa Prefectural government who can not control these crimes altogether. ARCJ has launched a signature campaign with Cockhouse. This will not be a formal petition because the signatures are on the Internet, but we believe that delivering voices from around the country…
They put two male roosters (shamo) in a small enclosure where they cannot escape, make them fight, enjoy it, and bet money. The chickens bleed from their heads and bodies, and even bones get exposed, and then the winner and loser are determined. They mercilessly discard the chickens who lost and became useless. Female chickens who cannot be used for cockfighting, and male chickens used as underdogs by getting their claws and beaks cut off then become battered are also discarded. It is said that they cut off the lower beak to make a rooster defenseless and make him fight with a healthy rooster and bet on how many minutes the fight…
The Fujisaki Hachimangu Shuki Reitaisai festival was held on September 16th 2018 in Kumamoto prefecture at which abuse against horses took place again. The most noticeable incident was where horses were beaten with whips numerous times during the break, and cheers from the audience broke out every time horses kicked their back legs. The video showing the incident was picked up, and covered by lots of media outlets. However, abuse cases did not end there. We failed charges against three malicious cases for abuse, which were captured on videos. These charges have been accepted. Please sign petition here! Don’t use horses for festivals! Sign petition Process for these charges “Isn’t…
Veterinarians of each prefecture are not professional of each species. They may diagnose that Honey has no problem because she is alive and her scars are getting better. However a veterinarian who’s professional of marine mammal did not diagnose the same. We had Dr. Heather Rally diagnose Honey. She is a California licensed veterinarian with specific training in marine mammal medicine and dolphin health assdssment. She is the Supervising Veterinarian of Captive Aniaml Law Enforcement with the PETA Foundation in the United States. Diagnosis “She needs to be diagnosed and treated immediately” Dr. Heather Rally :Veterinarian (California licensed veterinarian) 2018/09/01 “Video footage indicates that numerous animals are currently being held captive…
Honey was pregnant when she was captured Honey is left alone in Inubousaki Marine Park which is already closed. She is a wild bottlenose dolphine that was captured by drill hunt in Taiji in Wakayama prefecture in February 2005. She gave birth to “Marine” at June 26, 2005. Bottlenose dolphins’ pregnancy period is 12 monthes. There is also a record showing Marine’s father is a wild dolphin, it can be said that Honey was pregnant when she was captured. There is a news paper article of when Honey was captured. “『Unexpected baby A dolphin gave birth to a baby at Inubousaki Marine Park』 The mother was just transported to the park after being…
The multi-partisan parliamentary group aiming for zero killing of dogs and cats has established a project team for amending the Animal Welfare Act. Since its launch on August 25, 2023, the PT has held 21 meetings to hear from stakeholders and deliberate on the direction of amendments. Out of these 21 sessions, however, only one touched on livestock animals, and just one on laboratory animals. Despite 1 billion livestock animals being killed annually, the issue remains far from the priorities of lawmakers. In the sole PT meeting addressing livestock, the discussions showed promise, but it is unlikely to expect significant amendments by 2025 at this rate. 17th PT: Hearings on…
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