As you read this the Makah have just murdered a California Gray Whale. The Gray Whale is California's State Marine Mammal!! IT IS BEING REPORTED THAT THE MAKAH MURDERED A CALF THAT WANDERED UP FOR SOME HUMAN CONTACT. At approximately 6:55 a.m. PDT the Makah whalers harpooned, then shot to death the whale in the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary. The gray struggled to escape, leaving behind a trail of blood in the water.
How sick is that, and when is this craziness going
to end, before more grays lose their lives?
It is time for all the American people to stand up to voice our overwhelming domestic and international opposition to this senseless crime against humankind and all we stand for! It is time for us to let them hear our sadness and show our anger and disguist!
In the last year of this century, the Makah Indian tribe are resuming an age old tribal tradition of hunting gray whales in the waters of Washington state.
The hunt stopped in the 1920's, driving the gray to an almost extinction. It has taken seventy years to regain the trust of the gray whales and the country had advanced to preserving whales. They no longer needed "subsistence" from the gray whales. But now the hunt is being carried out to re-instill pride and spiritual focus.
The U.S. Whaling Convention Act requires that, before it hunts a whale, an American Indian tribe must have a "subsistence need" for whaling that has been recognized by the International Whaling Commission.
The Makah failed in ther bid to gain that recognition from the IWC, as they do not meet the definition of a subsistence. However, the U.S. signed a treaty with the Makah in 1855 acknowledging their "right of taking fish and of whaling..in common with all the citizens of the United States." The international conservation agreement the U.S. signed on to 100 years later, and the subsequent federal statute, could be seen as effectively abrogating the long-dormant whaling clause in the Makah's treaty.
That was fine with the Makah. Now the Makah have been approached by Norwegian and Japanese whaling interests dangling the promise of a multi-million dollar industry should they choose to reactivate the forgotten 140-year old treaty right, unique to their tribe.
There are many groups of very dedicated people that are fighting to save the whales, not only from the Makah but from other people in this world that think they have to kill whales for profit. The Gray Whale numbers are decreasing almost daily, due to the oceans being polluted by commercial vessels and toxic dumping.
Many Grays are dying off the west coast of Mexico and the U.S.A. The exact cause of these mysterious deaths is still not answered....PLEASE..STOP THE KILLING!!..
.."The Thinking Man Must Oppose All Cruel Customs No Matter How Deeply Rooted In Tradition Or Surrounded By A Halo..We Need A Boundless Ethic Which Will Include The Animal Also"..
The Baby Gray Whale Shortly After Being Murdered !
MY LIST OF CONTACTS TO OPPOSE THE MAKAH GRAY WHALE HUNT
GREENPEACE ONLINE "SAVE THE WHALES PETITION
THE POPULAR PEOPLE'S RESOLUTION OF
INHUMANE SLAUGHTER OF WHALES
MAKAH REVEAL TRUE REASON FOR HUNT
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