Protesters are battling to save a lonely dolphin and dozens of penguins left abandoned in a derelict aquarium since the start of the year.
The plight of the dolphin, nicknamed Honey, and dozens of penguins that have been abandoned in the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi east of Tokyo has sparked protests this week.
The operator of the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in the city of Choshi in Chiba prefecture, just east of Tokyo, shut the facility in January citing a decline in visitors after the 2011 earthquake and Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Bottlenose dolphin, Honey, was seen in a small pool at abandoned Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, Japan.
But Honey and 46 penguins, along with hundreds of fish and reptiles, remain at the aquarium, an official with the Chiba Health and Welfare department said.
Employees have been regularly feeding the animals, but photos and video taken by activists in March and August from outside the park show Honey floating in a tiny pool in an eerily empty facility.
In another picture, dust-covered penguins can be seen perched on a crumbling structure near a pile of debris.
The female bottlenose dolphin was captured in 2005 near Taiji, a western port town that has become notorious for its annual dolphin hunt that was featured in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove, Japanese media reports.
The operator of the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi in Chiba, east of Tokyo, shut the facility in January after a decline in visitors after the 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis.
The practice of Japanese aquariums buying dolphins from Taiji came under heavy criticism following the release of the film.
The hunt involves driving hundreds of dolphins into a cove, where some are taken alive for sale to marine parks, while others are killed for meat.
The Japan Association of Zoos and Aquariums has since agreed to stop buying dolphins from Taiji.
Now activists and ordinary Japanese residents alike are calling for the animals to be saved from the hazardous park.
Honey was captured in 2005 near Taiji, a western port town that has become notorious for its annual dolphin hunt that featured in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove.
Akiko Mitsunobu, chief of aquarium issues for Animal Rights Centre, a local group, said: ‘Honey is a symbol of both the problem of marine parks and Taiji’s hunting practices.
‘When we went to check on the facility, she was showing signs of stress, putting her head weakly in and out of the water.’
Repeated calls to Inubosaki Marine Park and its parent company went unanswered and a Choshi city official said they have also been unable to reach park representatives.
Sachiko Azuma, a representative of local activist group PEACE (Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation), said: ‘I get feelings of danger and doubt from the fact that they are so silent about this.
‘As a group that handles animals, they have a responsibility to explain what they intend to do with Honey and the other animals.’
News of the abandoned animals spread quickly over social media, with Twitter users posting photos captioned ‘Save Honey’.
A resort hotel’s offer to give them a new home sparked a flood of retweets.
‘I beg the authorities to get in close contact with each other and push ahead with this,’ wrote one Twitter user.
Around 46 penguins have been abandoned in dirty conditions at the Inubosaki Marine Park.
The aquarium has an average of three stars out of five on TripAdviser, with many reviewers criticising the park’s treatment of the animals.
One reviewer from Norfolk wrote: ‘I’m disgusted by the captivity of these beautiful animals. They will have been driven in from out at sea with their pods, seen many of them slaughtered in front of them and then forced into venues like this.
‘These dolphins will have been caught in Taiji, ask yourself how they got there. Then ask yourself what kind of life they live stuck in a tiny tank.
The aquarium has been left derelict since January with hundreds of fish and reptiles also still in the crumbling park.
‘These animals should be swimming wild, not swimming in disgusting water no bigger than a bath tub for people’s amusement.’
Another said: ‘Although the staff are very pleasant my heart sake when I seen the conditions the Dolphins were being forced to live in. Not only was the water green in colour, it was cloudy as well.’
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.