Willie Nelson

URGENT: Please Ask Your Representative and Senators to
Support the 2008 Whaling Resolution

Dear Humanitarian:
On May 14, 2008, House Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick Rahall (D-WV) and eight of his colleagues introduced a whaling resolution in the House of Representatives. H. Con. Res. 350 proclaims that the United States should use all appropriate measures to uphold the moratorium on commercial whaling – such as ending special permit and continued commercial whaling, closing loopholes that have allowed tens of thousands of whales to be killed in the past two decades, and opposing the creation of any new categories of whaling. A similar resolution, S. Con. Res. 86, was introduced in the Senate by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on June 3, 2008.

The United States successfully proposed a whaling ban at the inaugural International Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, which in turn led to the global moratorium on commercial whaling instituted by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1986. The moratorium has since saved many thousands of whales and prevented some species from certain extinction.

Unfortunately, despite the ban, the member nations Japan, Norway and Iceland have continued to whale for commercial gain, exploiting loopholes in the IWC. Since the moratorium came into force, these nations have killed more than 25,000 whales, including over 11,000 killed under the guise of “scientific research.” Just this week, Norway and Iceland also resumed the trade in whale meat with Japan, in flagrant defiance of an international ban on such trafficking.

The very future of the IWC is now in jeopardy because these countries, through recruitment of allied nations, have succeeded in convincing IWC members that the body is unworkable and at an impasse. Once stalwart pro-conservation countries are currently on the brink of capitulation, and they are in desperate need of leadership.

Although the United States has a history of standing up for the whales, most recently, it has not exercised its leadership position – and has, in fact, reportedly been initiating deals with the whalers. This resolution serves to put the United States back on track and reaffirm its historically strong position in support of the whales As chair of the next IWC meeting in Chile, it holds a very important role and must do all it can to refocus the body toward its important conservation aims.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please contact your Representative and Senators TODAY to request that they show support for the respective House and Senate resolutions by becoming cosponsors. Be sure to include some facts from the letter above in your requests.

Letters to your Representative should be addressed to:

The Honorable
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Letters to your Senators should be addressed to:

The Honorable
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

To find your Members of Congress and email them through our Compassion Index website, please click here. Otherwise, you may call the Capitol Hill operator at (202) 224-3121 and request to be connected to their offices. Whether you write, email or call your legislators, please be sure to provide them with your name and mailing address, and as a constituent, request a response on this issue.

Please share our “Dear Humanitarian” eAlert with family, friends and co-workers, and encourage them to contact their legislators, too. As always, thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss

President
www.awionline.org
www.compassionindex.org

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