Open Letter to the Prime Minister, to the Presidents of both Chambers and to all members of the Parliament from Japan regarding the mass killing of the dolphins.
I am writing you these words to express my profound admiration and respect for your nation, but admitting at the same time, a deep pain and sorrow caused by the practice that still continues today in Japan: the mass killing of dolphins.
According to long-term studies conducted by the scientists, dolphins’ intelligence is highly developed. Dolphins are recognized to be the second most intelligent species on our planet, after Homo Sapiens. Just like us, humans, they are capable of forming complex social relationships. From ancient times, the history recorded many cases of drowning people being saved by dolphins. This implies not just a great conceptual power but also empathy, as it involves understanding that a being’s life is in danger, that the life of that being has an intrinsic value and it is worth saving, and even more, it deserves the effort of saving it. Dolphins have repeatedly demonstrated that they do this for us.
We, the humans, always find reasons for our actions based on philosophy and religious traditions. Buddhist Wisdom, for example, urges us to help the sentient beings if we can, and if we can’t, at least we should choose not to hurt them. Dolphins behave towards people as if they would follow these noble human morals. Another important source of morality is empathy. When we realize that another being is suffering, and we connect with it emotionally and support it, we have a more complete picture of his, her or it’s drama. Empathy renders distances, even distance in time, insignificant. Seeing the images of the massacres in the past years and the capturing of the dolphins these days, deleted the 9000 kilometers between Bucharest and Tokyo.
Every scream of fear and pain of the dolphins that are captured and killed is a sharp stab into my heart. Every bloodshed in the sea trickles like a burn onto my soul. Watching the news and the images on this subject, I could not help the tears and I wished so eagerly that I could hug all those dolphins and somehow ease their pain and save them. I am convinced that most people seeing these images of the slaughtered dolphins share the same unsettling feelings and emotions. And there are many millions…
I am writing this open letter as a citizen among those who that are connected by the invisible thread of the same compassion and pain caused by the suffering and killing of dolphins.
At the same time, I am writing you as a member of the Romanian Parliament, my country being probably the only country in the world that has the national coat of arms displaying two dolphins. I have recently announced the introduction in the Parliament of a draft law that aims at recognizing dolphins as non-human persons as a legal basis for strengthening their protection in the Black Sea.
The special relationship between people and dolphins in the Black Sea region is well known throughout history. About 2600 years ago, around the time of the first Emperors of Japan, the first city on the present territory of Romania was founded on the Black Sea shore. It was the famous ancient Greek colony called Tomis, where the great roman poet Ovid was exiled few centuries latter and wrote a large part of his work, and where the coins that were put into use by the ancient inhabitants were printed not with the image of some political figure, but with the images of dolphins.
Nowadays, the images of dolphins captured and slaughtered in Japan, are shuddering the planet. The dolphins suffered terribly, understanding that they are going to be killed. Some have seriously injured themselves until bleeding in their desperate attempt to escape. I have also noticed among them a rare albino baby, that was swimming terrified next to his mother. I think that the white baby dolphin will become a symbol for all those who call for a humane treatment for the dolphins worldwide.
I am convinced that you have received and you will receive many messages calling for a human and honorable solution to this problem. I sincerely hope with all my heart that you will take all these messages into account, and that the day when you put an end to such horrors is near. It is entirely in your power to stop the killing of dolphins in Japan.
Bucharest, January 22nd 2014
Yours sincerely,
Remus Cernea
Independent Member of the Deputy Chamber,
The Lower House of the Parliament of Romania
www.facebook.com/remus.cernea
remuscernea.ro@gmail.com
+40.727.583.594
SOURCE:
