Save the Whales

This year alone, the Japanese government performed lethal so-called "scientific research" on nearly 1,000 whales. But if the Japanese are successful in their bid to reopen commercial whaling, the death toll for whales will climb even higher. That�s not only cruel and inhumane, it could send some endangered species spiraling back toward extinction.

Take Action >> STOP the Japanese Government from winning a majority vote on the International Whaling Commission in 2 weeks.

Write to the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua urging them to vote with the whales, not the whalers, at the upcoming IWC meeting.

Step 2: Read the letter we've provided. Feel free to edit it.

Dear Ambassador Salvador Stadthagen, H.E. Mr. Roberto Flores Bermudez, Ambassador of Honduras to the United States,

I am writing to share my serious concern about a looming threat to our ocean wildlife, and to ask you to do everything in your power to help avert this threat. Next week, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) will meet to decide the fate of the world�s whales.

Whales are an important and irreplaceable part of our ocean environment.  Just as you are an ambassador of your country, whales� intelligence, grace and beauty make them ambassadors of our increasingly endangered seas. Throughout the twentieth century, however, whales of many species were being driven to extinction by rampant and uncontrolled commercial whaling.  The IWC moratorium that brought an end to this whaling was a landmark victory for whales and a foundation of our global ocean legacy.  
  
Events at the 58th meeting of the IWC next week could place both that legacy and the whales themselves, at great risk. A coalition of pro-whaling nations threatens to take over the IWC, undermine its conservation efforts, and endorse the resumption of whale killing on a scale not seen in two decades. Like millions of people in my country and around the world, I care deeply about whales and abhor the resumption of commercial whaling under any guise.  I am thus deeply concerned to hear that your country may vote in favor of whaling and against conservation when it joins the Commission this month.

I urge your government to reconsider this decision.  Whaling is a brutal and unnecessary practice carried out with little concern for its impacts on whales or their environment.  While the global demand for whale meat has dwindled, the global demand for whale watching tours and other whale-related tourism has expanded dramatically.  As a country with no whaling industry, but a growing interest in tourism, you stand to benefit far more from saving the whales than from contributing to their deaths.

At the IWC next week, your country can choose to become a friend to whales, or a friend to whalers.  I urge you to choose wisely.

"Sincerely," and your name and contact information will be added to the end of the letter.

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Save the Whales

Step 2: Read the letter we've provided. Feel free to edit it.

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