Introduction

Hi, my name is Laurice.  I am an oral deaf professional with a doctorate.  I must admit that life has not been the same since my graduate school days due to the varied experiences that I’ve gained throughout the years.

Since my fields of study were not quite marketable as far as employment was concerned, I developed a number of personal interests.  One of them was in space exploration.  I was really intrigued with various robotic missions that explored parts of our solar system and spent many hours of my time in public outreach.  Since NASA was eager about the possibility of sending humans to our Moon and to Mars and had established some new exploratory missions to prepare for future human spaceflights, I found myself becoming disinterested in space exploration.  I questioned why gazillions of dollars would be spend on preparing and sending humans out to space while our own planet is in trouble.  Yes, there is so much strife here on Earth!  It is quite obvious through the environment, as well as through wildlife.

While signing online petitions concerning wildlife and the environment, I came across a petition that truly had a profound effect on me.  A couple of graphic photos of dolphins being killed in a ‘bloodbath’ off the coast of Japan truly got to me.  I decided right there that I would speak up on their behalf!  After firing a series of e-mails and letters to the United States and Japanese governments, I caught up with a bit of research so that I could learn more about the dolphins and other small cetaceans (porpoises and small whales), as well as large cetaceans (large whales).  I stumbled across tursiops.org, a comprehensive cetacean news site, while learning about Castaway, an offshore Atlantic bottle-nose dolphin that was rescued in November of 2006.  While becoming involved with tursiops.org as a volunteer news contributor, I developed a much greater awareness of the plight of wild cetaceans and their oceanic habitats through the forums.  I learned that their greatest threat lies with humans and their destructive activities.  I realized that this is one example of our planet Earth needing our attention.  From there on, I have been advocating on behalf of all wild cetaceans, other marine wildlife, and their watery environments through my spoken and written words.  Besides my involvement with tursiops.org, I’ve participated in other forums and websites that devote to the conservation of our oceans and marine wildlife.

As far as cetacean slaughters are concerned, I’ve been speaking against such atrocity for the last five years.  I would very much like to do more than just signing petitions, sending messages via e-mails, posting my write-ups in various sites, and increasing awareness through word of mouth.  Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd has been calling for volunteers to make the journey to Taiji – where the movie The Cove was filmed – to keep a watch over the small cetaceans – the dolphins – at the Cove.  Since this is something that I had always wanted to do, I’ve been weighing the possibility of going to Japan sometime this fall.

Even though I had traveled overseas in the past, especially to the Philippines, the trip to Japan, especially to Taiji, is going to be a totally different experience for me.  Especially being at the Cove where danger lies with the Taiji fishermen that perform downright cruel acts that cause the loss of lives of the most precious dolphins.  All kinds of emotions have been coming to me – from being so nervous to wanting to dedicate my time and efforts on behalf of special creatures that truly have the right to live in their own oceanic environment while swimming off the coast of Japan.

I could really use your encouragement and support during this time and would really appreciate your insights and suggestions as well.  Many thanks to all of you!

LAURICE