Dear Friends and Dolphin Project Supporters,
I’ll be traveling to Taiji this season to bear witness to the dolphin capture and slaughter that takes place 6 months of the year.
Why I volunteer?
Every year thousand of dolphins are hunted and driven into a small cove in Taiji, where they are either slaughtered or captured for tourist entertainment.
Ric O’Barry and Dolphin Project team have been present on the ground, in Taiji, since 2003. By bearing witness, documenting and sharing what happens in a cove of this small town in Japan, we raise awareness and educate about these hunts and their undeniable connection to the captive industry. Our intention is always a peaceful one, to raise awareness and to make invisible visible.
Since I’ve started volunteering for Dolphin Project, I have been to Taiji several times. While bearing witness to these horrors is one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced, there is a gift in that painful experience. It's the mirror in which I can see a reflection of my humanity. By choosing to suffer and feel with these dolphins, I share their pain; it connects us, and through this connection I am (forever) moved to act, to fight, to end this madness and to help leave this world a better place.
When I’m not bearing witness to dolphin hunts, I use every opportunity to educate and raise awareness. I’m a firm believer that education is key to ending these hunts and with them the dolphin captive industry. I'm involved with several schools in my hometown (Vancouver, Canada) where I speak to preschool and elementary school children about Dolphin Project work. By fostering and encouraging positive thinking, through meaningful discussions about freedom, compassion, empathy, and influence children make connections and draw conclusions that are vital in seeing the world as it should be seen.
With your help, I will be able to be on the ground in Taiji and any amount raised over this goal will support the Cove Monitor campaign throughout this season.
For more information about volunteering for Dolphin Project please visit dolphinproject.com.
Thank you so much for your support!
Love,
Ivana
