Help save Honey the dolphin
You may have heard the story of Honey, a bottlenose dolphin abandoned in a marine park that shut down outside of Tokyo, Japan. She was taken from the wild in 2005 and has been alone since January of this year. She's not alone, there are apparently 46 penguins in the facility as well that have also been abandoned.
I'm setting up this fund to do what I can to help. Specifically the plan is to raise money to purchase her and the penguins then to coordinate with other wildlife rescues to transport them elsewhere where hopefully they can eventually be released back into the wild. If they are unable to be released then transporting them to a permanent home where they will be cared for properly and not just left alone.
Who am I? I've been a volunteer at numerous wildlife rescues, most relevantly the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA where I assisted in taking care of seals and sea lions and have done numerous rescues around the bay area. I have coordinated dozens of wildlife rescues and transports over the years. I have already reached out to the Marine Mammal Center to get some expert advice on what to do here and hope to be able to post an update shortly. I also reached out to the Animal Rights Center , and Animal Peace who appear to have their own efforts going on, but I am unable to determine what actions they've taken to date. I currently live in Kyoto, Japan and plan to coordinate any and all logistics necessary to get these animals into a better environment. Voice NPO, the beneficiary of this fundraiser, is a non-profit that I run with the goal of assisting other non-profits. Rescuing a dolphin definitely does not fit into our mission statement, but this is a very troubling issue to me personally so I'm doing what I can.
The following is a video that shows both Honey and the stranded penguins in the enclosure to the bottom-right of the main pool. I did not take this video, but it is what made me aware of this and why I created this campaign.
What will the funds be used for? I'm not yet certain on the specifics. They might go to legal fees, veterinarian fees, transportation, boarding, purchasing the animals, or anything else necessary. If one of the other organizations pursuing the same goal is able to make more progress I'll forward all of the donations to them. At the moment I'm trying to work with the city and other interested rescue organizations to try and figure out a way to get these animals released without any legal hassle. If that fails, and it looks like it might because the city has its own agenda, my next step will be to hire an attorney to sue for custody of the animals. I'm not yet sure on the specifics here, however. I'll post updates when I have more specifics, but the goal is to get these animals to a safe home however possible.
