Take action against the new Wildlife Damage Prevention Act!

Habitat loss forces wild animals in Japan to migrate into cultivated areas where they invariably cause some damage.

Rather than trying to protect or restore their natural habitats, the Japanese Diet is debating a law which will declare as vermin any wild animal found on cultivated land. Communal workers with no previous experience or training but with an interest in hunting will be appointed by local officials to shoot or otherwise kill bears, monkeys, deer and other wildlife and destroy the eggs of wild birds. The animals or parts thereof may then be sold for profit.

We fear that this radical law will accelerate the decline of Japanese bears and other wild species and might lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems.

Please voice your concern by sending your appeal by 15 December to:

Sample:

Dear Prime Minister

I am concerned that the Wildlife Damage Prevention Act (Yuugaichoujuu ni yoru higaiboushi tokubetsusotchi houan) which you will be debating in December
will accelerate the decline in Japanese bears and other wild species and might lead to the collapse of entire ecosystems.
Rather than culling, please consider the following measures to control animal populations and prevent damage:

• improve the natural habitats of wild animals
• develop alternative damage prevention techniques and train personnel to minimize damage
  provide funds for the protection of wild animals
• make life in remote farming villages more attractive so they do not get abandoned, again leading to loss of habitat
• provide compensation to farmers who suffer damage

Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo
Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
2-3-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-0014
Japan
Fax: +81 3 3592 0179
Email: jpm@kantei.go.jp
via website: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment.html

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