On Monday, September 13th, a shipment of 13 metric tons
of beluga whale meat arrived at the Hakodate seaport from Russia under a
deal to provide Japan with 200 metric tons of the small whale which
inhabits waters off the Russian eastern pacific coast. The agreement,
which was announced earlier this month, was immediately the concern of
the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Greenpeace, The World Wide
Fund for Nature and Russia's Marine Mammals Council who all urged the
Russian government to reconsider the deal.
On Wednesday, September 15, the Russian government
announced that it was canceling the arrangement with Japan. High level
Russian cabinet members reached the conclusion that this was bad
environmental policy, that the commercial hunting of beluga whales was
not a sustainable enterprise, that it threatened the beluga population
and set a dangerous precedent for the trade in small whale species.
Animal Rights Online congratulates the Russian
government for coming to their senses on this matter and salutes the
IFAW, Greenpeace, the WWF for Nature and the Marine Mammals Council for
their work in aborting this plan. We also urge Japan to listen to the
opinion of the rest of world. Please stop killing hundreds of whales
each year for your appetite. Whale hunting is an outmoded, barbaric,
unnecessary endeavor, fueled only by your taste for a creature who
possibly above all others deserves the right to live.
Just because Buddha said �Life is suffering� doesn't
mean you have to inflict it. Wise up.
To express your concerns about the continuing Japanese
slaughter of whales please write to...
The Honorable Kunihiko Saito
Ambassador of Japan
Embassy of Japan
2520 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 202-328-2187
To thank the Russian government for their concern about
whales please write to...
His Excellency Yuli M. Vorontsov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW 20007
Fax: 202-298-5735
Go on to Pets Pay The
Price
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