MANILA, Philippines?With each brush stroke, 34-year-old painter A.G. Saño brings back to life images of bottlenose dolphins, thousands of which are slaughtered annually by fishermen in Taiji, Japan.

The dolphins in Saño?s murals do not breathe through their blowholes, nor do playful acrobatic flips they are known for. With his murals, Saño hopes to jumpstart a national campaign as part of a growing worldwide crusade to seek an end to the annual senseless killings in Japan of one of the most intelligent creatures on earth.

For 13 years, the artist had gone into a hiatus, focusing on his profession as an architect and his passion for photography. But viewing the 2009 Academy award winning documentary feature, ?The Cove,? which exposed the annual herding and brutal slaughter of some 23,000 dolphins in a hidden bay at a national park in Taiji drove Saño to retrieve his brushes and paint for a cause.

The butchered dolphins, according to the documentary, were ?rejects? in a selection process undertaken by marine park maintainers for performers in their aquatic shows. The meat, reportedly high in mercury content, are sold by Taiji fishermen in the Japanese market and is sometimes passed off as whale meat. But because of its toxic content, it was taken off the list of food items in Japan?s school feeding program.

The mass slaughter of dolphins was Taiji?s tightly-guarded secret until former ?Flipper? trainer and marine life activist Ric O?Barry and members of the Oceanic Preservation Society unveiled the carnage that has for years sustained an international multi-billion dollar industry.

?I thought that if I staged a protest at the Japanese Embassy or at the marine parks, my cause would easily be forgotten after I leave, so what use would that be? But murals stay until they fade. I could probably get my message across more easily,? Saño said.

Early start

Saño started painting at the age of 10 under the tutelage of Fernando Sena, an artist who taught art lessons at the University of the Philippines? Vargas Museum. Dropping out of art classes at 21, he concentrated on a career in architecture and photography.

When he decided to pick up his brushes again at 34, he thought of using as subject the preservation of whales. That was until he saw ?The Cove.?

So far, he has painted 12,200 dolphins in his murals around the Babuyan Islands, with the message: Respect the ocean and keep wild animals in the wild.

Saño is currently trying to complete his goal of drawing 23,000 dolphins for the schools of Metro Manila, encouraging children to paint with him to make them understand the value of life and the preservation of the marine eco-system.

He showed Inquirer several small dolphin silhouette cut-outs made from rubberized mats, which he gives to children as a small reward for participating in the activity.

Recently, he kicked off the Metro Manila leg of his campaign at the Quirino and at the Quintin Paredes Elementary Schools in Project 2, Quezon City, and Miriam College in Quezon City before proceeding to paint his biggest mural at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in San Juan. His next stop: Balanga, Bataan, on Aug. 26.

?What we should be concerned with is the ethical issue of using animals in business. By bringing children to marine parks, we teach kids to love the ocean, to love dolphins instead of killing them,? Saño stressed.

He cited O?Barry, who initially thought in the early 1960s that training dolphins by taking them away from their natural habitat was a method of encouraging respect for nature.

The former dolphin trainer admitted that he decided to undo an industry he helped create after Cathy, one of the five Flippers, committed suicide in his arms by refusing to breathe through her blowhole, a conscious effort for creatures in the cetacean family that includes whales and porpoises.

O?Barry said dolphins appear to smile, but this does not mean they are happy.

?When we see dolphins in shows, we are amused. We hug them or kiss them, but we are not informed of the brutality they go through when they end up in marine parks. It is one of the biggest hypocrisies. We take care of wild animals, but we hold them captive,? Saño pointed out.

?Cute creatures?

The artist emphasized that the people responsible for the slaughter, particularly the Taiji fishermen, chide activists for protesting the killing of dolphins, saying that their primary reason for protecting the cetaceans is ?because they are cute creatures.?

?It is not because the dolphins are cute. The slaughter must stop because it is wreaking havoc on the natural order in marine life. Dolphins are very intelligent creatures and are almost at the level of humans at the top of the food chain,? he said.

The Taiji fishermen in the film are taught that whales and dolphins are marine pests, and thus their numbers should be cut down because they consume a large share of smaller fish in the ocean that the fishers could otherwise have caught, the artist added.

?These fishermen also said dolphin slaughter is part of their culture. But what culture teaches disrespect for nature? That is definitely not a part of the Japanese culture I know,? he said.

Saño revealed that he timed his campaign before the annual dolphin herding season in Taiji, from September to March.

During this period, Japanese fishermen go to the ocean, dangle metal posts attached to their boats, then bang these to scare and drive thousands of dolphins to their deaths at the cove.

?What we must be concerned with is keeping balance in the marine eco-system. The rate of slaughter is higher than the dolphin birth rate which normally stands at 1:1,? the artist said.

Proactive

?The dolphins are killed by the thousands. Somewhere along the way, there will be a problem in dolphin population,? he added. ?If we love nature, we must be proactive and not wait until these animals are close to extinction. This is not only about the animals. This is about us.?

?The Cove? will be shown for free at the UP Film Center in Diliman, Quezon City, on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. to make more people aware of the importance of preserving marine life and sparing the dolphins from slaughter.