tagged w/ Libby Katsinis
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Cove Guardian Marley, after many hours of fear and courageous attempts to save a women she and her Cove Guardian associates could hear screaming for help, posts about her experiences in Japan after the earthquakes and tsunamis.
This young woman who volunteers for Sea Shepherd's Cove Guardians, had not been heard from by her family and other animal rights associates, finally is heard from, is safe and has an amazing story to tell.
Message from Marley - via Elora West's linked blog:
“I…am alive. I just survived the worst thing I could have ever imagined. We were safe the entire time because we drove to the top of a hill overlooking the town, but we watched over the city of Otsuchi as it was completely destroyed.
We had just finished filming some of the porpoise fishermen in the harbor when the earthquake hit. It was so strong we almost got knocked to the ground, the cars were shaking violently.
Thanks to the quick thinking of Brian and Scott we drove to the top of this hill overlooking the town, and what seemed like minutes later the tsunami hit.
A 50 foot surge of water reduced the city to ruins. Their tsunami wall was washed out to sea, everything was completely destroyed. The ocean receded and then rushed back in more then 10 times, the entire ocean floor was exposed.
We saw houses floating in the water, cars floating, a ferry boat was washed on top of a house, and what didn’t get destroyed by the wave quickly caught fire. We were stuck on this hill because the road at the bottom on either side was completely gone.
The worst thing I experienced was this womyn who was sitting on a roof of something getting washed out to see and we did everything we could to try and save her for hours, we even stole a fire truck that was left on the hill and had the one Japanese girl who was stuck with us radio for help and use the loudspeaker to call for help. We had nothing, no boats, and we listened for hours as she screamed for help. When a local fishing boat finally did hear our loudspeaker, he looked for her, but as far as we know he didn’t find her, she stopped yelling.
We spent the night in our rental cars, we had a local Japanese girl with us named Iuka and we gave her power bars, water and she slept in the warm cars with us, and in the morning we got up and started seeing the dead bodies, a womyn hanging from a tree, the wave left her there, people in cars, total devastation. It took us an entire day to walk out of the town, rubble doesn’t even describe it.
The only way I can describe it, would be if a giant scraped up the entire city in his palms, crumpled it up and sprinkled it back down onto the ground. Hundreds of cars crumpled, folded in half, any wooden houses were either reduced to matchsticks, or they had floated whole into parking lots, on top of other buildings, some where upside down. There wasn’t one thing left standing, it looked like a nuclear wasteland.
Amidst all of this the locals helped us and gave us food, and we offered our extra water and blankets. There were small camps set up with survivors cooking rice, their dead loved ones lined up under blankets. Everywhere we looked there were people carrying bodies. We finally made it to safety after walking over burning rubble that was melting the bottom of our shoes, propane tanks were exploding around us.
One thing that was creepy was the sea life everywhere, fish octopus, scallops, all washed onto the shore. We all got video footage and pics but we have to wait to post them because of legal reasons I guess, have to copyright it all, but I assure you when you see them it will blow your mind.
Since the earthquake there have been constant aftershocks, literally every hour or so we get woke up by shaking, not nearly as big as the original, but this place is just rumbling. Thank you everyone so much for your support, the entire time we felt so helpless because we were totally fine but we couldn’t let anyone know. THANK YOU!
http://eloramalama.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/a-post-by-marley/Cove Guardian Marley, after many hours of fear and courageous attempts to save a women... more
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After four days of rough seas and rain that kept the banger boats secured in the harbor, today was a day for the Taiji dolphin killers to replenish their freezers with mercury-laden meat. A pod of around 30 striped dolphins were driven and ruthlessly slaughtered in the killing cove.
Read the entire report on the attached link.
http://www.seashepherd.org/dolphins/report-from-taiji-february-25.htmlAfter four days of rough seas and rain that kept the banger boats secured in the... more
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Feburary 9th 25 bottlenosed dolphins were driven into the cove, and killed. Read Cove Guardian Libby Katsinis' report on the listed link.Feburary 9th 25 bottlenosed dolphins were driven into the cove, and killed. Read Cove... more
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Teen Animal Activist Elora West sent out a call for action -for Dolphins being transported from Taiji, Japan, in a truck that is stuck in a blizzard. Animals are in wooden crates. Truck has been stuck for 7 hours. Cove Guardians, Nicole and Andy, who were following the truck, are on site.
EMERGENCY! Call to Action!
30 JAN 2011
by Elora Malama West in S.O.S Save our Seas, Taiji, Japan
UPDATE: Cove Guardians, Nicole & Andy, are still following the truck with three captive dolphins on it. They began their journey in Taiji yesterday morning & have been on the road for nearly 24 hours. They hit a blizzard & the truck containing the dolphins clipped a guardrail & has been stuck in the snow for over seven hours. Nicole & Andy are on the side of the road with the truck.
Everyone! Hit the phones! We need to bombard the embassies and everything else we can! This is beyond horrible! Start writing and calling! It’s been seven hours… in a blizzard! Dolphin’s lives are on the line here!
Far fast and deep,
Elora Malama West!
PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN
Prime Minister Naoto Kan
Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8914 JAPAN
+81-3-5253-2111
MINISTER OF FISHERIES
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Masahiko Yamada
1-2-1 Kasumigaseki
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. 100-8950 JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-3502-8111
Fax: +81-3-3502-8220
EMBASSY OF JAPAN IN WASHINGTON D.C.
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki
2520 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington D.C. 20008-2869
Tel: (202) 238-6700
Fax: (202) 328-2187
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL MEDIA (TV, NEWSPAPERS AND RADIO): In order to spread the news about what is happening in Japan, we need to get media coverage.
Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers
Call TV and radio stations to ask them to cover this important news
Refer your local broadcast and cable TV stations to Sea Shepherd to get a free copy of our Susan Sarandon "Save the Dolphins" Public Service Announcement (PSA)Teen Animal Activist Elora West sent out a call for action -for Dolphins being... more
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Libby Katsinis, 30, (on right) is a Birch Bay resident who is living in Japan for three months working for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stop the annual massacre of thousands of dolphins.
LIbby Katsinis:
I’ve always been a dreamer. Perhaps it’s my inner artist but I’ve always lived very much in my head and have always desired a life rich with travel, change and downright awesomeness. But things don’t always work out the way we wish and I’ve spent the majority of my years fighting to turn my life into something I can be proud of.
Since I was a very small child, I’ve harbored a passion for marine life; dolphins and whales in particular, and I’ve longed so strongly to somehow protect them that it’s nearly a physical hurt. But the “American Dream” digs its claws in deep and I found myself working a full time job, paying bills that nickel and dime me to death and feeling trapped within my own skin. I have always lived a life that does not suit me, a life that I felt I had to live in order to be considered responsible, yet all the while struggling internally with the need to do something more, something great, something to change the world.
I am now living proof that if you dream passionately, sometimes those dreams do come true. Now, with my 30th birthday only a month away, I am living in Japan and working as a Campaign Leader for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. My objective is to put an end to the annual slaughter of nearly 23,000 dolphins. Every day I’m up before dawn to head to the Cove, location of the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove, in order to document and therefore share with the world the brutal and barbaric massacre of entire dolphin pods.
Every day, I witness death on a mass scale. I see horrible acts of inhumanity with my own eyes and each day I write my thoughts and the events of the day and publish it on the Sea Shepherd website. I am here as a volunteer and I lead a motley crew of other volunteers from around the world called Cove Guardians. We are truly Guardians of the Cove and ensure that the 26 men that slaughter dolphins in the coastal town of Taiji, Japan cannot hide their shameful act from the world.
I am a photographer by profession and have given up my career in Bellingham to serve as Campaign Leader for Sea Shepherd because it is something that I strongly and truly believe in. I have a husband, a mortgage, two car payments, etc. and yet I put my life on hold to live in Japan for three months and experience harrowing heartache and severe feelings of helplessness. However, the work I’m doing here is by far the most rewarding experience in my life as of yet. I am here, fighting to change what I believe is wrong and I can see that my actions are making a difference. I hope to spread the word to others, to women in particular, and prove to them that it is possible to follow your dreams. I want others to be inspired by my story and find the courage they have been seeking to do what their heart desires.
Here is a link to the Sea Shepherd website where you can read my daily updates:www.seashepherd.org/dolphins/cove-guardian-reports.
Spread the word. Raise awareness. Speak out.
For the Dolphins,
Libby Miller Katsinis
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Taiji, Japan Campaign Leader
More about dolphins
Scott and Elora West, from the Cove Guardians, will present “Dolphin Capture, Slaughter and the Entertainment Industry: 90 days in Taiji” at 3 p.m. Friday, January 21, in Western Washington University’s communications facility, room 120.
The event is free, open to the public and is part of the WWU Huxley College of the Environment speaker series.
The Wests will be discussing the current situation of dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan. Many became aware of the hunting in the region after the production of the documentary film, “The Cove.” In an effort to end dolphin hunting, the Wests were commissioned to start an ongoing campaign in the region, and became known as the Cove Guardians. The presentation will focus their efforts and how the dolphin entertainment industry has provided economic incentive for the hunting to continue,
For more information on this presentation, contact Patrick Buckley, an associate professor of Geography within WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment, at 360/650-4773 or Patrick.Buckley@wwu.edu.Libby Katsinis, 30, (on right) is a Birch Bay resident who is living in Japan for... more
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Report from Taiji: January 20
There’s never much of a respite from the killings that happen in this little fishing village called Taiji. While yesterday we were fortunate that the killers came back empty-handed, today, neither the dolphins, nor us, were fortunate at all.
Approximately five Risso’s dolphins were savagely torn from life on this planet. While that is not a mass slaughter numerically speaking, it is slaughter nonetheless. Even if a single dolphin were murdered, it would be a heartbreaking tragedy that I would fail to understand.
I’ve never been able to grasp the thinking of my own species, and I often wonder what it is that makes some of us passionate about animal rights and some of us not at all care about the welfare of animals. I am baffled as to how a human being can sever a dolphin's spinal cord, club a baby seal, skin a cat alive for its fur, or even take the life of another human without necessity. Cruelty is a concept that I do not understand and do not find a need for. Humans are the cruelest of all species; not only to creatures that we feel are beneath us, but to other humans as well.
We call our race superior because of things we’ve accomplished and granted, and although indeed we have accomplished an impressive amount, look at what we’ve destroyed in the process. Look at what we continue to knowingly destroy for the sake of progress. We are mutilating this planet and even though we realize this fact, we still won’t stop ourselves…why? Why are there so few people in this world that genuinely care about our planet, and furthermore, why do those people get so much flak from others and get labeled with such terms as ‘tree-huggers’? I’ve encountered people that enjoy making fun of those of us who care about the planet, and for some, not recycling and not caring about animal welfare is almost a matter of pride for them. It is such insensitive people who will be the downfall of this world as we know it. But to all of my fellow animal rights activists out there, I ask for you to continue this fight with me and many others who care, there is hope, especially in numbers. Continue to stand for what you believe in despite what others say and continue to be passionate enough to act. We are making a difference.
Spread the word. Raise awareness. Speak out.
Dolphin Base: From the United States, dial 81-0735-59-3514 or send email to info@dolphinbase.co.jp
Here is your opportunity to become a Cove Guardian. To join us in Taiji (voluntarily, and completely at your own cost and risk), write to us at coveguardian@seashepherd.org. We will get back to you, but please be patient. We cannot keep an eye on the Cove and answer e-mails at the same time. Contributions to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to keep our official presence here are needed and welcome. These contributions cover the costs for transport, telephone, equipment, supplies, food, and lodging for the official Sea Shepherd representative. We will remain here through the end of March and will return for the next season in September 2011.
Thank you to the citizens of Japan who are weighing these issues and beginning to take a stand to solve them. Thank you to everyone who is on the frontlines of this war. This is a war to save ourselves from ourselves. Without your calling and writing Japanese embassies and your own governments, there will be no change. Keep it up! Every time dolphins are pushed into the Cove, let them have it. Every time there is blood in the water, let them have it. Make good consumer choices. Inform everyone you know about the tragedy here and how it is linked to the captive dolphin trade. All who patronize a dolphin show have blood on their hands.
For the dolphins,
Libby Katsinis (Sea Shepherd Cove Guardian)Report from Taiji: January 20
There’s never much of a respite from the... more
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Sea Shepherd representative Libby Katsinis is keeping watch on the killing cove of Taiji, Japan. Recently she has watched Dolphins throw themselves on coastal rocks and die of suicide rather than be killed. You can read her daily reports with photos and video on our Cove Guardian page.
http://www.seashepherd.org/dolphins/cove-guardian-reports/Sea Shepherd representative Libby Katsinis is keeping watch on the killing cove of... more
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