Japanese Dolphinariums 101: Kamogawa SeaWorld
General Info: Kamogawa SeaWorld (鴨川シーワールド) is a marine park with a long standing focus on orcas and orca shows. They are now the only facility in the world with trainers in the water with the orca during shows. The park is currently home to 4 female orca (all related), bottlenose dolphins, pacific white sided dolphins, belugas, harbor porpoises, sea lions, and seals.
News:
Since 1970, they have had at least wild 10 caught orca, including some from Iceland, Japan and from the now-endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population. All of which are now dead, except for Stella who currently lives at Port of Nagoya Aquarium.
Chappy and Jumbo were Southern Resident Killer Whales
Oscar, Stella, Bingo, Maggie, King, Caren, Freyja/Patty were Icelandic caught
Zero was Japanese caught
"In May 1991, one of the trainers that swam with the orcas, told after a show that he had been pinned to the bottom of the pool by an orca and that it happened all the time."
In July 2012, SeaWorld San Antonio applied for a permit to import Kirara/Kilala, a Pacific White Sided Dolphin captive born at Kamogawa SeaWorld. Source: The Dodo
In 2013, Lovey, the first surviving captive-born orca at Kamogawa SeaWorld was reported ill and shows were postponed.
In November 2014, "Kamogawa Sea World in Japan to start artificial insemination with its killer whales, the whales are currently in training to monitor estrus, this has started with urine collection with plans to use frozen semen most likely from SeaWorld in the U.S." Source
In December 2015, the aquarium swapped an orca with Port Of Nagoya Aquarium.
Taiji Affiliation? Yes, but currently focuses on breeding instead.
What can you do? Knowledge is power and a lot of people would not be attending and purchasing tickets to these places if they knew what was going behind closed doors. You can reach millions on social media! Don't let a language barrier stop you! You can copy and paste the following phrases to their guests on their social media accounts linked below.
水族館でイルカショーを見る前に「ザ・コーヴ」を見てください (Please watch The Cove before buying a ticket to dolphinariums)
動物は自然界で生きるべきです (Animals belong in the wild).
You can also comment with the link DOLPHINFRIENDS.JP! It links to The Cove in Japanese!TAKE TO SOCIAL MEDIA!
IG: @kamogawaseaworld
FB: https://www.facebook.com/kamosea
Website: http://www.kamogawa-seaworld.jp/
Recommended Hashtags To Copy And Paste In Your Caption: #鴨川シーワールド
More recommended tags: #オルカ #イルカ #イルカショー #バンドウイルカ #カマイルカ #シロイルカ #ベルーガ #アシカ #ドド #海の生き物 #水族館 #鴨川 #kamogawalife
