J u l y1 9 , 2 0 0 7
T0: Dr. Max Puig Secretario de Medio Ambiente Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana
Dear Dr. Max Puig, We are members of the Taiji town council. We would like to make you aware of the followingfacts: As you know, the large facility named the Ocean World Adventure Park in the DominicanRepublicbought 12 bottlenosedolphinsfi'om Taiji in Wakayamaprefecture, Japan.However,we heardthat the facility hesitatesto import the dolphinsat present and becauseof the strong oppositionfrom worldwidescientists,nature,environmental, animalprotectiongroups,and the WorldAssociationof Zoos and Aquariums(WAZA). Recently we inspected two packagesof the meat of short-finned pilot whales caught by Taiji whalers,and found that the meat in both packagescontainedconsiderable amountof mercury(10 to 16 times higherthan the maximumlevel set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan), and methyl mercury (10 to 12 times higher than the level by the Ministry).We also found that the meat in one packagecontained PCB contaminationhigher than the maximumlevel set by the Ministry. (See the attached documents.) As to the bottlenose dolphins your country is consideringto permit the importation, the result of the inspection by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan well proves that they are also contaminatedby mercury, methyl mercury and other harmful chemicals, and their contamination level is reportedly higher than that of the short-finned pilot whale. We believethere is a high possibilitythat the import of Taiji dolphinsthat show such contamination will contaminate the environment of your country. When the dolphins imported from Taiji die, their bodies are toxic waste. We also believe that it suits national interests of your country not to allow the import of the Taiji dolphins as you would risk environmentalcontaminationof your country. We ask you to take this into