===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== A BRIEF STATEMENT FROM THE WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 18, 1999 Since yesterday's tragic killing, we have been overwhelmed by requests from people wanting to subscribe to this list. To briefly inform these new members, our frequent updates consist of press releases from the protest groups in the Alliance, news reports, and information on how you can prevent any more whales from being killed in Washington state waters. We ask you to share the information on these updates with AS MANY people as you possibly can. It is time for our voices to be heard! Together, we will succeed in preventing any more whales from being executed in the waters of our state. We must fight NOW so our children will not have to. Thank you, Dan Spomer Washington Citizen's Coastal Alliance ***** FROM SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAKAH WHALE SLAUGHTER WIDENS Second shot & harpooned whale found on Washington beach May 18, 1999 When the Makah Indian tribe started dancing on the back of the Gray whale that they killed and towed into their Marina on Monday, it was in fact the second victim of their "cultural revival." The first one had already washed ashore a few miles south, unnoticed, two days earlier. Sea Shepherd has learned that the body of a 20-foot long juvenile Gray whale was discovered seventy miles south of Neah Bay, near the town of Pacific Beach, Washington, the day after the Makah first began hunting on Saturday. The whale had been harpooned and shot with a heavy-caliber bullet. A vacationing minister and his wife from Portland, Oregon, came upon the body near a former Naval radar station while walking on the beach shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday. Upon examining the body, the minister discovered a "v"-shaped wound consistent with a harpoon strike about two-thirds of the way down the body from the nose, along with rope-burn marks. A single two-inch long bullet entry wound was visible on the whale's right flank just below the spine, with an exit wound "about the size of a soup can lid" exiting on the left side in a nearly flat trajectory. The minister's wife took his picture standing next to the whale. A local resident told the couple that government officials had been out to examine the whale the day before. A firestorm of public criticism in both the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Northwest has landed on the heads of the U.S. Coast Guard, state and federal officials, and the Makah since the images of a whale being killed on live television were first broadcast Monday. In subsequent re-broadcasts, the footage has been edited to avoid showing the most disturbing images. Sea Shepherd and other activist groups and private citizens had successfully blocked the Makah hunt with a flotilla of boats and watercraft since last October, before the Coast Guard effectively seized most of the activists' boats this week and moved to crush all public protest on the water. "Our phones have been ringing non-stop since Monday morning with people who are enraged or in tears or both," said Sea Shepherd International Director Lisa Distefano. "The horrific images from the evening news woke a lot of people up. They want to know what they can do about this, and we ask them if they've called Vice President Gore and asked him to revoke the Makah's illegal Dept. of Commerce hunting permit. We ask them if they've told their Congressmen that we are at the beginning of the 21st century, not the 19th, and it's time to amend the whale-hunting clause in the Makah's 1855 treaty accordingly. "But then they want to know what they can possibly tell their children by way of explanation as they watch people pumping bullets into a whale, in America, on TV. We tell them we don't know the answer to that question." ***** THANK YOU BRITISH COLUMBIA! --------------------------------------------------- ``We will not sign any agreement nor entertain any discussion about going back to the past and allowing any whale hunt in British Columbia by aboriginal peoples.'' British Columbia Premier Glen Clark ***** FROM SEA DEFENSE ALLIANCE -------------------------------------------------- It is with great grief that we at Sea Defense Alliance announce the death of a gray whale. We apologize to all who have helped us in so many ways. We failed to save her and are so very sorry. Sunday night was a frantic race against death. After losing our two ships to the Coast Guard, Captain Jonathan Paul and Captain Paul Watson, along with crew, made a wild and and valiant trip to Friday Harbor to pick up more boats to throw into the fray.They worked all night and hoped to return at first light when they knew the murderous thugs would be active. Crews waited on the dock all night long.They got the boats and they almost made it back in time. Almost. Rest gently, Spirit of a creature called a whale, the betrayal is past and your suffering over. You swim, safe forever, in the ocean of our tears. Now you delight the Eye and Heart of God ***** FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE: THINGS YOU CAN DO TO EXPRESS YOUR OUTRAGE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Below is come contact information for agencies directly responsible for allowing the juvenile gray whale to be shot to death yesterday. PLEASE call and tell them what you think of their complicity- and remember, these people work for YOU- the American taxpayer! U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Office, Seattle tel: (206) 220-7235 - Tell them to release whale activists' boats and drop the charges! U.S. Senator Patty Murray tel: (202) 224-2621 - Tell her you want whale hunting out of the Makah treaty! Vice President Al Gore tel: (202) 456-1111 - Ask him how he's enjoying his personally authorized whale hunt! Don't forget to tell him you hold him responsible for this illegal hunt, and will remember his cowardice on election day. One other contact that you may wish to call is Democratic candidate Bill Bradley. He is presently the major candidate opposing Al Gore in the 2000 election. You should call him and ask him to OPPOSE this hunt, and ask him to ensure that any more Al Gore-approved killing is not forced down the American people's throat! Take a stand on this issue, Mr. Bradley! Bill Bradley contact information: Bill Bradley for President, Inc. 395 Pleasant Valley Way West Orange, NJ 07052 973-731-2100 888-643-9799 One thing to remember: We are all deeply upset and saddened by the death of the juvenile gray whale yesterday, but DON'T FORGET THIS HORRIBLE FACT: Al Gore's back-door deal with the Makah tribe allows them to kill TWENTY gray whales through the year 2002. If Gore gets his way, we will be forced to endure NINETEEN more tragic days like yesterday. We can not allow this to happen! CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATOR! Demand that this slaughter be stopped immediately! We are receiving a staggering number of request from citizens wishing to contact their representatives in Congress about the outrageous Makah whale hunt. To contact your representative and senator, please follow these links: http://www.hsus.org/forms/search_reps.html or http://www.berkshire.net/~ifas/activist or http://www.popularis.com ***** LAST ITEM ----------------- We need to issue a correction on a correction! The web-site mentioned in earlier updates is actually http://www.safepassing.org *****