Editorial:
Biologists remind public
"Death is
natural even for Whales"
The
winter of 1998-99 tallied the highest die-off of gray whales in 24 years.
Headlines, fed by environmental groups, blamed ocean temperature changes,
salt mine pollution, even cyanide-laced fluorescent dye used to mark sea-dropped
illegal drugs. Now, marine biologists dismiss the alarmist claims that
the whale deaths are the results of human-induced factors and point to
nature's life and death cycle as the cause.
Whale specialists from two Oregon-based locales, the Sea Grant Office in Newport and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, suggest "natural processes" are more likely answers to the gray whale deaths.. Sea Grant's Bruce Mate believes the reason may lie in the strain on gray whale s' Alaskan feeding grounds in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Grey whales rebounded from a 1946 low of a few thousand in the Pacific to 26,000 today, their estimated numbers prior to the days of unregulated industrial whaling. Gray whales are bottom-feeders who eat only during their summer stay in the North Pacific. In November and December they begin their 12,000-mile migration from Alaska to Baja, California. They mate along the way. In January and February, they give birth in lagoons at the tip of Baja. Sea Grant's Mate speculates that
they may have reached the carry capacity of their feeding grounds. NOAA
biologist, Dave Rugh suggests the die-off numbers may be in line with what
would be expected from a stock of 26,000. Some 65 gray whales were found
dead along Mexico's Baja Peninsula this winter. In March and April, 20
washed up along the California coastline. Seven floated ashore in British
Columbia. One indication that the die-offs are the result of the aging
process is the fact that half of the 65 corpses found in Baja were adults.
Normally, carcasses are of juveniles and newborns.
"Use it
or Lose it"
The
"Use it or Lose it" quotation comes from IWMC representative in Argentina,
Guillermo Adrian Puccio, on the Guanaco in Pantagonia, Argentina.
(SUMMARY) The Guanaco, an animal of the Lama family, produces one of the finest wools in the world. Until recently, the Guanaco was mainly as a source of food and a trophy for sport hunters. In ancient times, tribes used the animal for food, its hides for shelter, its wool for cloth, pelts for clothing and robes, bones for tools, and internal organs and glands as medicines. In order to use the animal in a sustainable and economical way, scientists are now suggesting the animals be sheared as they were when the Spanish explorers combed the new world. For further information on the article by Mr. Puccio, please browse to the IWMC web-site: www.iwmc.org under Newsletter History. For the full text of this this article: CLICK HERE CITES contemplates
listing commercial fish species,
CITES'
rivalry with the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) over which
entity has authority over commercially fished species appears poised to
move to a new level with word that Australia will request CITES Appendix
II listing of the southern blue fin tuna. FAO, whose authority extends
to worldwide food sources, contests the adequacy of CITES listing criteria
for commercial species.
Seeks comments on other COP XI listing proposals Officially, the CITES Secretariat
issued a request from the CITES Secretariat for range state comments on
three listing proposals slated for the upcoming Convention of the Parties
(COP XI will be held in Nairobi, Kenya April 2000). The Russian Federation
is seeking Appendix II listing for Panax ginseng roots. The United States,
with support from Australia, are asking for Appendix II status for seahorses
(Hippocampus spp.). And, the United Kingdom want the basking shark (Cetorhinus
maximus) included on Appendix II.
HSUS Lament
over Makah Whale Kill Backfires
The
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) continues to lament the resumption
of whaling by the United States' First People, the Makah. HSUS described
the gray whale taken by the Makah as "so trusting" that "a powerful bond"
had developed between "whales and humans" during the 70 year hiatus in
whale hunting by the Makahs.
Rather then serve as an argument against the Makah, it makes a point for a sustainable harvest of the bottom-feeding cetacean. HSUS could have been describing domestic cattle. Substitute the word "cow' for "gray whale" and HSUS' description aptly fit the domesticated source for beef protein. An identical bond of trust develops between cattle and farmers, but the cattle are eaten anyway. "Greenpeace
is no charity" says Canada
Greenpeace
failed for the third time to win charitable status after the Canadian Agency
charged with screening organizations claiming tax exempt status, Revenue
Canada, declared the controversial "green" NGO served "no public benefit".
Greenpeace Executive Director Peter Tabuns shrugged off the defeat saying
the decision "won't stop people from donating money" to the group.
"So what?" Greenpeace replies Founded in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1976, Greenpeace's international operations are headquartered in a $60 million office tower it built in Germany. Estimates by other radical environmental NGOs claim donations to the group run in the $100s of million of US dollars per year. Greenpeace cofounder turned critic, Paul Watson calls Greenpeace "the world's biggest feel-good organization." Watson now runs the rival Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Greenpeace's Canadian operations
held charitable status from 1976 until 1989 when the government decided
the group was "not a true charity." Reorganized as Greenpeace Canada Charitable
Foundation, the group landed tax exempt status only to lose it again in
1995 following a questionable flow of funds between Greenpeace Canada and
Greenpeace International in Europe. Yet another name change, to Greenpeace
Environmental Foundation, prompted the renewed bid for charity status.
The final denial came on May 31, 1999. Greenpeace's Tabuns says they will
not appeal.
Florida
Game & Fish Agency offers model Listing Plan
Labeled
an attempt to "protect jobs and animals" by the Florida press, the new
listing proposal by the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission is
drawing favorable attention as a potential model for other states and nations.
Following a series of conferences with stakeholders ranging from the Florida
Forestry Association to the Sierra Club, from the Florida Cattlemen's Association
to Defenders of Wildlife, the state wildlife agency offered a list of recommendations
designed to safeguard animals and humans alike. The new rules would clarify
definitions of "Endangered", "Threatened", and "Special Concern". Deadlines
for listing as well as formal processes to list, down-list or de-list species
are in the mix. Florida officials hope their proposal fairly balances sound
science with practical considerations of economic and socio-political needs
of humans.
(summary) For the full text of this this article: CLICK HERE Caught
A
German animal activist accused of swindling millions under an animal welfare
guise, but diverting the money to his own luxurious living in a villa and
yacht in Thailand, has been arrested by Thai police on charges of customs
evasion, trade in women and drugs and of money laundering, identified in
newspaper accounts merely as Wolfgang U., 55, he headed German Tierhilfawerk
(animal aid society) an organization of some 300,000 members who pay at
least $60 a year in dues. His former deputy, Wolfgang Jagel, is quoted
as saying "for him, the animal aid agency was a license to print money".
Others also are being sought in connection with possible embezzlement.
(Sandy Parker Reports, published by Sandford Advertising, Inc., 224 West
30th Street, 2nd Floor, New York 10001).
Sentenced
Two
Michigan men have been sentenced in a Windsor, Ontario, Canada, court for
their roles in the raid two years ago on Ebert's Fur Farm in Chatham-Kent,
when 1,500 pregnant mink were released and breeding records were stolen.
Gary Yourofsky, 28, was given six months in jail and ordered to pay more
than $94,000 (Cdn) in restitution to farm owners Bill and Tom McLellan.
He has vowed a 40-day hunger strike. His uncle, Allan Hoffman, 49, was
fined $6,000, has to make restitution of $34,000 and will lose $10,000
in bail money. Three others were sentenced previously. (Sandy Parker Reports,
published by Sandford Advertising, Inc., 224 West 30th Street, 2nd Floor,
New York 10001).
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