Extended Canadian seal hunt kills fewest seals since 1993

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland–Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail
Shea on May 11, 2010 announced that the close of the 2010 Atlantic
Canada seal hunt would be extended to the end of May.
The sealing season was lengthened to give sealers an
“extended period of time to take advantage of potential market
opportunities,” said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a
prepared statement. Earlier, Shea increased the sealing quota to
330,000, from 280,000 in 2009, even though the European Union in
July 2009 banned imports of seal products.

Sea Shepherds count a success, despite loss of racing yacht Ady Gil

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder
Paul Watson considers the 33-year-old
organization’s most costly campaign yet an
unequivocal success.
The $3 million bio-diesel-powered racing
yacht Ady Gil lies on the ocean floor about 180
miles from the French Antarctic research base
Dumont d’Urville. Rammed by the Japanese harpoon
boat Shonan Maru #2 on January 6, the Ady Gil
sunk on January 8, 2010 after a failed towing
attempt by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
ship Bob Barker. “Fortunately, all fuel and
lubricants had been removed from the Ady Gil
hours earlier,” the Sea Shepherds e-mailed to
media.

Sea Shepherds trying to catch whalers

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

HOBART–The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flagship Steve
Irwin returned to Antarctic waters on December 31, 2009, after a
60-hour resupply and refueling stop in Hobart, Tasmania.
Tailed and harried by the Japanese harpoon ship Shanan Maru
#2, the Steve Irwin and the high-speed trimaran Ady Gil failed to
locate the factory ship Nisshin Maru and the whale-catchers Yushin
Maru #2 and #3 during the first six weeks of the self-declared
five-month Japanese “research whaling” season. The whalers hope to
kill nearly 1,000 whales this winter, but have fallen far short of
their quota in each of the past three winters.
The Sea Shepherds were optimistic after the Shanan Maru #2
returned to the rest of the fleet to meet a refueling vessel and was
seen by yachters who reported its position.

Editorial feature: 21st century began with 10 years of hard-won gains

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:
Most ANIMAL PEOPLE readers are probably buried lately in a
blizzard of appeals reviewing the deeds of animal charities during
the past year and decade. Recipients will be cheered by recaps of
“victories,” no matter how transient. Some may notice, though,
that “defeats” are seldom mentioned.
Comprehensive assessments of progress tend to be fewer–and
can be discouraging, in view of frequent contradictory indicators.
But the animal cause does not advance primarily through obvious
“victories,” or fail through the unmentioned defeats, which most
often result when legislation is proposed before sufficient
groundwork is done to pass it, or when resources are inadequate to
achieve an ambitious goal.
Fundraisers and campaigners like to evoke imagery suggesting
that at some point a cause will “triumph,” perhaps after someone
blows the right horn to bring all obstacles tumbling down. This is a
tried-and-true appeal format, but reality is that if any “war”
metaphor is appropriate to advancing the cause of animals, it is
that of trench warfare.

BOOKS: Oceans: Exploring the hidden depths of the underwater world

October 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2009:

Oceans: Exploring the hidden depths of the underwater world
by Paul Rose & Anne Laking
University of California Press (2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley,
CA 94704), 2008. 240 pages, illustrated. $34.95 hardcover.

“Four fifths of all life on Earth is found below the waves
and there is still much to be discovered,” say authors Paul Rose and
Anne Laking of their year-long journey circling the globe. Sailing
with a crew of 25, and supplies including a shark cage, they
crammed a lot of research into a relatively short time. They found
“underwater caves that preserved the remains of lost civilizations,”

Gangetic dolphins in zoo?

October 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2009:

NEW DELHI, PATNA–Created to protect the Ganga River and
tributaries, the Ganga River Basin Authority debuted on October 5,
2009 by declaring Gangetic dolphins the Indian national aquatic
animal, on a motion by Bijar chief minister Nitish Kumar. The
action gives Gangetic dolphins status equivalent to tigers, the
national animal, and peacocks, the national bird. As few as 1,500

SeaWorld theme parks pass from brewery to entertainment group

October 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2009:

SAN DIEGO–The private equity firm Blackstone Group and
Anheuser-Busch InBev jointly announced on October 7, 2009 that
Blackstone will buy the 10 theme parks belonging to the Busch
Entertainment Corporation for $2.7 billion–including the SeaWorld
marine mammal parks in San Diego, San Antonio, and Atlanta, the
Discovery Cove swim-with-dolphins attraction in Orlando, and the
Busch Gardens zoos in Florida and Virginia.

Film spotlights Taiji dolphin killing

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:

TAIJI, Japan–The Cove has not stopped the annual Taiji
dolphin massacres– not yet, anyhow. But the award-winning film did
appear to slow down the killing at the start of the 2009 “drive
fishery” season, and–even before release in Japan–is bringing the
massacres to the attention of the often shocked Japanese public as
nothing before ever has.
“Moviegoers who have seen The Cove, directed by Louie
Psihoyos, said they were stunned by the cruelty of the killings,
captured by concealed cameras. Many newspapers have blasted the
traditional coastal whaling practice in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture,
which is not subject to the International Whaling Commission’s ban on
commercial whaling,” summarized Toshihiro Yamanaka for Asahi
Shimbun. The second largest newspaper in Japan, Asahi Shimbun
reaches about 8.2 million readers daily.
“When I found out, I cried,” Osaka resident Keiko Hirao
told John M. Glionna of the Los Angeles Times.
Director Louis Psihoyos, a former National Geographic
photographer, has pledged to keep the spotlight on Taiji by making
The Cove available in Japan as a free download, if he fails to
secure a commercial distributor. The Cove has won more than a dozen
awards, including the audience award at the 25th annual Sundance
Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and has aired widely in other
parts of the world, but despite much media notice in Japan, has not
yet been screened there.

Namibian seal hunt proceeds despite E.U pelt import ban & only buyer’s attempt to sell out

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

BRUSSELS, WINDHOEK, CAPE TOWN–The European Council of
Ministers on July 28, 2009 voted 24-0 to implement a ban on
importing seal products into the European Union within nine months.
Approved by the European Parlia-ment on May 5, 2009, the
ban will take effect before the next sealing season in Atlantic
Canada, but might not be enforced in all European Union nations
before the end of the 2009 Namibian sealing season.
“The ban was approved without debate,” wrote Constant Brand
of Associated Press, “although Denmark and Romania abstained from
backing the measure, which Ottawa is protesting as an unfair trade
restriction. Austria also abstained because it wanted an even
stricter ban.”

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