Please take four actions for whales, sled dogs, wolves

PHOTO | Animals Australia, SSCS

Please click on and sign the following:

1. Stop the Japanese Whale Hunt — for Good!

2. Tell Target Corp. To Stop Supporting Cruel Iditarod

3. US Friends, Help Stop Illegal Whaling

International friends, please click HERE to send message

4. Help Us End Alaska’s Aerial Wolf Slaughter

Please remember that you must click “SIGN” after you input your information.

IMPORTANT: If you have not already, click on Please take action for wolves … and send message to email groups, there are now TWO lists, thank you.

1. BACKGROUND | From Animals Australia

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) enacted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan, together with Norway and Iceland, have since continued to brutally slaughter whales under the guise of ‘scientific research’.

Japan’s whaling fleet aims to harpoon around a thousand minke, fin and humpback whales in Antarctic waters each year, causing these majestic animals to suffer extreme and prolonged pain before they’ve finally bled to death. But new hope for an end to the Japanese whaling activities arises from the announcement by the Japanese Fisheries Minister that the 2011 whaling season was ended a month earlier than planned.

Please help us to make sure that Japan realises that the world wants to see a complete and permanent end to their whaling program by signing this petition to the Ambassador of Japan to Australia, Mr. Shigekazu Sato.

MESSAGE TEXT

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the hunting and killing of whales. We welcome Japan’s decision to end the 2011 whale hunting season a month early, and urge Japan to end whale hunting forever. We call on the Ambassador of Japan to Australia, Mr. Shigekazu Sato, to take this message from the Australian community to his government.

RELATED | Captain Watson thanks SSCS supporters

Vodpod videos no longer available.

2. BACKGROUND | From IDA

since that report, 35 more dogs have died in the Iditarod, bringing the total of dogs who died in the Iditarod to at least 142. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race’s early years and this count relies only on a reported number of deaths.  The 2011 Iditarod starts on March 5.  Please speak out for sled dogs. Sponsorship is the biggest source of revenue for the race. Please contact Target Corp., sponsor of the “Iditarod Teacher on the Trail” program, and request that they no longer fund this deadly and horrific event.

MESSAGE TEXT

Please stop promoting the cruel Iditarod. I’m referring specifically to your “Iditarod Teacher on the Trail” program, which teaches children to accept and even glorify cruelty in the name of entertainment.

Since the Iditarod race began in 1973, at least 142 dogs have died during the event. We don’t know how many dogs have died during training or immediately after the event, because no one is keeping statistics — however, news reports detail Iditarod mushers shooting, drowning, and bludgeoning to death their own unwanted dogs. Other causes of death for sled dogs have included heart attacks, hemorrhaging after being impaled on a sled, muscular arrest and strangulation. There are multiple claims that dogs have been beaten during the race when they were too tired or otherwise unwilling to continue running. And there are numerous examples of dogs suffering injuries, exhaustion and other illnesses.

I urge you to take a stand against the savage cruelty of the dog sledding industry and pull your sponsorship of the 2011 Iditarod immediately. No one should be cashing in on the suffering — and the all-too-often savage slaughter — of dogs forced to mush. As long as you continue to fund the Iditarod, the blood of these abused animals remains on your hands.

3. BACKGROUND | From NRDC

Help stop illegal whaling

NRDC and more than a dozen other organizations are calling on the Obama Administration to impose trade sanctions on Iceland for its escalating slaughter of fin and minke whales in recent years. Iceland continues to hunt and kill whales in defiance of an international moratorium on whaling. Urge Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take strong action and support trade sanctions against Iceland.

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS, PLEASE NOTE: This action is for U.S. residents only. Please do not attempt to take action without a U.S. mailing address. If you are not a U.S. resident, please click here to send a message to President Obama.

MESSAGE TEXT

I respectfully urge you to certify Iceland under the Pelly Amendment, and to encourage President Obama to impose trade sanctions for Iceland’s escalation of commercial whaling and trade in whale products.

Iceland’s whaling clearly violates the international moratorium on commercial whaling and defies the best available science.  Iceland hunts more than three times the number of fin whales that the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, considered the foremost authority on whale conservation, has calculated the population can spare to survive.

I strongly support the recent statement from Secretary Gary Locke condemning Iceland’s defiance of the commercial whaling ban, as well as the statement from IWC Commissioner Monica Medina expressing disappointment in Iceland’s refusal to cooperate in international whale conservation.

But despite years of efforts, similar diplomatic attempts to persuade Iceland to stop its illegal whaling and trade have not worked.

It is time for the U.S. to take stronger steps to put an end to Iceland’s expanding commercial whaling program and international trade in whale products.  I urge you to certify Iceland under the Pelly Amendment, and to recommend that President Obama impose trade sanctions.

Taking these actions against Iceland is consistent with the United States’ historic role as a global leader in whale conservation.

4. BACKGROUND | From Rainforest Site

Please remember that you must click “SIGN” after you input your information.

Sponsored by: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Since 2003, Alaska’s aerial hunting program has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 wolves. During these hunts, wolves are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank. Sign the petition below and urge Alaska Governor Sean Parnell to end the state’s irresponsible and cruel aerial wolf-killing program immediately.

MESSAGE TEXT

Dear Governor Parnell,

As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who cares about sound wildlife management, I strongly urge you to withdraw your support for the use of aircraft to hunt and kill Alaska’s wolves and bears.

Alaska is well known for its amazing wildlife and stunning natural beauty. It is appalling that your office and others in the state government continue to sanction the brutal aerial hunting of the state’s majestic wolves and bears in nearly 60,000 square miles of the state.

As I am sure you are aware, aerial hunting was outlawed by the federal government in 1972. Yet Alaska officials continue to skirt the law and permit aerial hunting, claiming that this terrible practice is necessary for wildlife management — an assertion that is not supported by available data on wildlife population numbers.

This unwarranted program often leads to inhumane deaths, with hunters in low-flying aircraft shooting down wolves from the air, or chasing them to the point of exhaustion, landing, and killing the animal at close range.

More …

• Animal Wrongs
• Compassion
• What Can I Do?

for all god’s creatures
actions to take
this is the only
decision to make
to fight this battle
however many cages
we rattle
to keep on going
never slowing
focusing on the
ultimate goal
to save our world
and enrich our souls

Karen Lyons Kalmenson