STOP ILLEGAL WHALING SIGN THISPETITION!

---------Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Saving Nemo & Our Oceans
Date: Jan 1, 2009 1:05 PM


From: Jade says Stop Animal Cruelty
Date: 01 Jan 2009, 12:57


From: ~L*A*U*R*I*E~ & Her Furry Loveables
From: Phil
Date: Jan 1, 2009 3:41 PM


De : Lynn "Poetry In Ocean" Sea Shepherd
Date : 01 janv.
2009, 21:39


Stop The Horrific Slaughter Of Whales! Whale Death Facts

Myspace friends I really need your help on this issue. Please sign this petition to stop the horrific slaughter of our whales! We need as many signatures as we can get. This issue is one of the most important things you can do. Please take the time to read the below information and watch the video. This means alot to me and I thank you with all my heart. Just click this graphic and sign it will not take but a moment.
Thank You! Lynn Gladhill


SHUT ILLEGAL WHALING DOWN !

In response to Japan's escalating whaling program that now threatens to kill fin and humpback whales, Sea Shepherd Support Group recently sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M.Gutierrez, asking him to initiate a process that would allow President Obama to impose trade sanctions against Japan for their large-scale whale hunting in blatant disregard for the international ban on commercial whaling. While Japan's whale hunting is allegedly conducted for scientific purposes, its whaling program is a de facto commercial operation since the meat is sold on the open market.


The United States is in a unique position among IWC member nations, because the Pelly Amendment provides the U.S. government with a legal mechanism to apply economic sanctions against offending countries like Japan. Though the United States has maintained a firm policy against all commercial and scientific whaling, the USA has failed to take a strong stand against it. Tell the USA to step up and place the Pelly Amendment in place.


Modern day whaling activities give rise to serious animal welfare concerns. A number of factors inherent in current whaling practices render it unlikely that truly humane standards could ever be achieved. On grounds of animal welfare alone, therefore, all whaling operations should be halted.


It is likely that whales suffer more prolonged deaths than the current data suggest, but until a scientifically proven means of determining death in cetaceans is established, individual whales may be declared dead while they are still alive. In some cases, it is possible they may even die while being winched aboard a processing vessel. It is also possible that an individual whale could be paralysed by the harpoon strike and may initiate a physiological dive response, in an attempt to escape this attack. Such an animal would then present as ‘motionless’ and not breathing.


The methods used by Japan, Iceland and Norway for killing whales are very similar. In each case, whalers use a penthrite grenade harpoon, which is fired from a cannon mounted on the prow of a ship, as the primary killing method. The harpoon is intended to penetrate to about a foot (approx 30cm) into the whale and then detonate, creating sufficient energy to kill the whale either by the trauma or laceration, or by the generation of shock waves, causing trauma to the brain. Upon impact, spring-loaded claws are released by the harpoon and embed in the surrounding flesh when the line comes under tension. If the whalers determine that the first harpoon has not killed the whale, either a second penthrite harpoon is deployed or a rifle (of minimum calibre 9.3mm) is used.


When assessing the welfare potential of whale killing methods using accepted principles of humane slaughter, it is clear that current whaling operations have a low welfare potential, and are therefore likely to cause severe pain and suffering to the hunted whales.


Recent history indicates that man’s impact upon marine mammals has ranged from what might be termed malign neglect to virtual genocide. These animals including whales, porpoises, seals, sea otters, polar bears, manatees and others, have not only rarely benefited from our interest; they have been shot, blown up, clubbed to death, run down by boats, poisoned and exposed to a multitude of other indignities, all in the interest of profit or recreation, with little or no consideration of the potential impact of these activities on the animal populations involved.


(US Congress 1971).




CONCERNS:

• The adaptations of cetaceans to the marine environment may have significant implications for their welfare during whaling operations. Adaptations for diving may make it difficult to determine when these animals are dead.



• The current IWC criteria for determining death in cetaceans are inadequate.



• In many cases, current killing methods are not adequately adapted for the species being killed. Differences between species may greatly increase the margin for error in killing methods and may influence the time to death (TTD) and associated suffering.



• There are significant differences in the efficiency reported from different hunts and even the best statistics indicate that at least 20 per cent of whales killed for commercial purposes do not die instantaneously. Furthermore, in a practical whaling situation, instantaneously is likely to equate to at least 45 minutes after the harpoon strike.



• Recent data show that, for commercial and scientific whale hunts, the average estimated time to death is well over an hour.



• Struck and lost whales represent a significant welfare problem. Struck and lost cetaceans may suffer significantly in both the short- and long-term as a result of exhaustion and their injuries.



• Whalers attempting to achieve a fatal shot, either with a harpoon or rifle, often must do so at considerable range, and need to overcome poor visibility, rough sea states and vessel motion. The accuracy of the gunner (or marksmanship) will also impact on the ability to kill a cetacean swiftly.



• The exertion imposed on whales during pursuit may fall outside the species’ adaptive range. Pursuit during whaling activities has the potential to induce stress, which may manifest as a series of lethal and sub-lethal pathologies. The effects of pursuit may also be significant for cetaceans that are struck and eventually killed as well as for those that evade capture.




We are the #1 support team for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.


The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is the most aggressive and most successful Whale-Saving organization in the world. Saving whales is what the SSCS do best and what they are most noted for. The approach has been simple and straight forward.


In 1977, Sea Shepherd was established by Captain Paul Watson as an organization to intervene and uphold international conservation regulations protecting marine wildlife. We do not protest whaling - we oppose illegal whaling activities.


Our opposition are criminals engaged in illegal behavior.


Welcome Aboard

Join Sea Shepherd's Support Group/ http://seashepherds. ning. com

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