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Dear Jack,
I’m sure you’re appalled, as I am, that the Obama
Administration has been spearheading negotiations
for an international deal that would legalize
commercial whaling -- the killing of whales
for profit.
We need
your donation right now to help mobilize America
and demand that the White House oppose any deal that
would legalize the return of commercial whaling --
and call off the harpoons once and for all.
Time is short. The International Whaling
Commission (IWC) will be meeting next month to vote
on this whale-killing deal. In the weeks
ahead, we must raise a powerful outcry that the
Obama Administration will be unable to ignore. But
to do that, we need your help.
Administration officials claim that the IWC deal
would be a “step forward” for whales because it
could rein in Japan, Iceland and Norway, which have
killed thousands of whales since 1986 by exploiting
loopholes in the whaling ban.
But, in fact, this new deal is a giant step
backward. It rewards those three nations for
years of defying international law.
It does their bidding by suspending the whaling ban
for 10 years. It opens up the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary to whaling. Worst of all, the deal
gives moral cover to the absurd notion that we can
save whales by killing them -- instead of
banning their slaughter.
Donate now to stop the slaughter.
Today’s methods of killing whales are unspeakably
cruel. Whalers fire grenade harpoons that literally
explode inside a whale’s body. If that fails, they
finish off the whale by riddling it with bullets.
Death can take long, painful hours.
Prior to the moratorium on commercial whaling, an
average of 38,000 whales were killed every year.
Under the moratorium, the number of whales killed
has been reduced by more than 95% -- down to an
average of 1,240 a year.
Even that level of whale killings is still too high.
The Obama Administration should be throwing its
weight behind a plan to end commercial whaling once
and for all.
But with the IWC vote just weeks away, we need to
reach millions of Americans who would adamantly
oppose the legalization of whaling if only they knew
how imminent it is.
With your help, they will soon find out!
NRDC is arming the national media and the public
with the truth: that this deal will breathe new life
into the whaling industry and perpetuate the
slaughter of our planet’s most magnificent
creatures.
Help us generate a message loud and clear to the
Obama Administration: Americans will not
accept the slaughter of whales for profit. Not now.
Not ever.
Please make an emergency donation and help “Call Off
the Harpoons” today. You can be sure your gift
will enable NRDC to defend the environment and
wildlife in the most effective way possible.
And thank you for your support in the face of this
terrible new threat to whales.
Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
P.S. Hurry, we’re counting on your
emergency contribution to help us mobilize
America and demand that the Obama
Administration help call off the harpoons!
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