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International Fund for Animal Welfare  |  November 18, 2007 A Better World for Animals and People Stop This Crime Before it Happens   Please remind your Senators and Representative there's no need to kill whales in order to study them.   Dear JACK, Earlier today, the Government of Japan launched its whaling fleet for the waters of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary around Antarctica where it plans to kill more than 1,000 whales over the next several months. For more than 20 years, Japan has pursued this senseless and cruel slaughter in the name of 'science', openly defying an international ban on commercial whaling. This year, Japan has added 50 endangered humpback whales to its target list, blatantly ignoring regulations protecting this endangered species. These charismatic singers of the sea have been protected from commercial whaling for more than 40 years. The United States can help protect these whales and the time has come to act. Please take a moment to contact your Senators and Representative today and encourage them to support strong U.S. leadership in saving the humpbacks and other whales from needless killing. Unnecessary, Unlawful and Unspeakably Cruel Top scientists and legal experts around the world have condemned Japan's "scientific" whaling as unnecessary and unlawful. Just this week, an international panel of legal experts issued a new report calling for action to end Japan's illegal whaling. Whaling is unspeakably cruel it can take more than half an hour for a whale to die; many suffocate, struggling to free themselves, lashed to the side of a whaling ship. It is not necessary to kill whales to study them in the 21st century. The best science in the world today comes from IFAW scientists and others studying live whales in their ocean habitat. And whale watching now provides important revenue and jobs to coastal communities in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. Animals and people both do better when whales are seen and not hurt. Together we can end illegal whalng! Please join us and take action today! Sincerely, Fred O'Regan President and CEO P.S. Please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them to help put a stop to whaling.     IFAW 2007  |  This message was sent to: jbsuconik@aol.com All gifts to IFAW represent a contribution to IFAW's entire mission. Donations will be used where they are most needed to help animals. Worried about Donating online? I used to be too ... so I made sure our online system is safe, secure, and state-of-the-art. It also eliminates check-processing costs, so more money goes directly to saving animals. But if you prefer to donate by phone or mail, simply click here for address information. NOTE: To make sure you continue to receive further emails from IFAW, please add fred@ifaw1.org to your email Address Book. If you use a spam filter program, please assign this address a status of safe or trusted. If you have an AOL, Hotmail, MSN or Yahoo email address, this is particularly important as we receive many bounce backs from these email addresses. PO Box 193  411 Main Street Yarmouth Port, MA 02675 www.ifaw.org Please don't misinterpret this page as prejudicial, it is not to be construed as evidence of the immorality of the Japanese people, but is to be construed as the brutality, and immorality of their government. J.B.Suconik

. 3-7-2008

Activists claim captain was shot in chest after rotten butter attack
Japanese say no bullets fired
(CNN) -- Japanese whalers and anti-whaling activists clashed in the 
waters near Antarctica on Friday, with each side offering conflicting 
accounts of a confrontation with violent overtones.

Activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society hurl objects on 
to the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru.
The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said one of 
its members, captain Paul Watson, was shot in the chest but escaped 
serious injury because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

A Japanese Fisheries Agency official denied that guns were fired.

The official said a whaling crew member threw a device that explodes 
with a warning bang to discourage the activists. The crew member 
threw the device after activists threw a foul-smelling acid found in 
rotten butter toward the whaling ship, the official said.

Sea Shepherd has hurled rank acid onto whaling ships to try to 
prevent them from hunting whales. A few days ago, four whalers aboard 
a Japanese ship suffered injuries after activists threw acid onto 
their vessel, Japanese authorities said.

The episode on Friday started after activists threw acid at the 
whaling ships, Sea Shepherd told CNN. In response, at around 3:45 
p.m. local time, Japanese authorities threw flash grenades toward the 
Sea Shepherd's ship, the Steve Irwin, Sea Shepherd said in a statement.
Watson was shot, the group said, and two others were injured. A 35-
year-old from Australia hurt his hip trying to dodge a flash grenade, 
and a 33-year-old Australian received bruises after a flash grenade 
exploded near him.

An official the Japanese Fisheries Agency said the Sea Shepherd began 
throwing smelly chemicals toward the whaling vessel around 12:36 p.m. 
local time. About an hour later, the official said, a safety officer 
aboard the whaling vessel threw a ball that explodes to produce a 
warning bang.

"They might have mistaken that was a shooting sound," the official 
said. "We are not shooting a gun or anything at them."

Japanese ships crisscross the Antarctic Ocean each winter to capture 
and kill up to 1,000 whales. Whaling is allowed under international 
law when done for scientific reasons, which Japan cites as the legal 
basis for its hunts.

However, many in the international community -- particularly 
Australia -- believe that such hunts amount to needless slaughter. 
Critics say that calling it research is just a pretext for retrieving 
whale meat to be sold in markets and restaurants.