Kaj vam je polepšalo dan? II.del

Please join me in doing all you can to support IFAW?s whale campaign and encourage strong U.S. leadership in the fight to protect whales worldwide. ? Actor Goran Visnjic

Dear Katja,

As someone who cares deeply about the fate and future of our planet?s great whales, I ask you to join me in supporting IFAW?s critical campaign to stop the cruelty of whaling before it?s too late.

You may be as surprised and horrified as I was to learn that whales are still being hunted and it?s just as cruel as ever.

Since a global ban on whaling in 1986, Japan has continued to kill whales in the name of ?scientific research.? Yet legitimate scientists agree: there?s no need to kill whales to research them.

The ugly secret of Japanese whaling you?re not supposed to know?

Harpoons using the same explosive grenade heads employed fifty years ago are being used by Japanese whalers to slaughter whales illegally in an international marine mammal sanctuary.

Often, the first blast isn?t enough to kill the poor whale. Japanese whaling ships were recently filmed hoisting live whales up the side of their huge industrial ships by the tail, leaving the whale?s blow hole underwater. The helpless whale can only thrash against the side of the ship, desperate for air, until it slowly drowns.

How can Japan get away with killing whales like this?

Japan is able to continue hunting whales in such a sickening fashion because it abuses a loophole in the international ban that permits killing whales in order to conduct scientific research.

Under international rules, any meat taken from killing whales for ?research? must be sold. Japan openly sells the whale meat in markets and restaurants: despite the fact that whale meat is often extremely toxic from pollutants and dangerous to eat.

This isn?t about killing whales for science, it?s about profit

Japan recently announced plans to double the number of whales it will kill in the next several years, adding two protected species, fin and humpback whales, to its target list. Japan is also using fisheries aid to buy the votes of countries in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to help pass its pro-whaling agenda.

Unless you can help me stop them now, Japan will launch a return to full-scale industrial whaling; the last of which once drove whales to the brink of extinction.

Only the tremendous resources and clout of the United States has a chance to stop Japan from destroying the world?s whales ? if the President acts today.

I need your help right now to save whales before it?s too late

FIRST: Sign the Petition to the President urging him to oppose Japan?s permanent membership on the UN Security Council. IFAW will collect the signatures in a nationwide media campaign showing that the American people will not rest until Japan?s whaling program is stopped.

SECOND: Please contribute $15 or more to help me mobilize Americans against whaling. With your support, IFAW will alert the American public to this outrage and send a clear message to President Bush that the United States must step up to protect whales for generations to come.

I urge you to join forces with me now ? before Japan manages to change the international rules to allow whaling on a massive global scale. With the next IWC meeting arriving in June, it?s critical that we act now.

I know I can count on your support.

Sincerely,
Goran Visnjic

P.S. Your contribution will enable IFAW to promote alternative whale watching programs around the world ? investigate legal options to stop Japan?s scientific whale hunt ? perform safe, non-intrusive research on whales ? and prevent cruelty and suffering for more animals around the world.