New Zealanders show massive support to save whales, not whaling
© Greenpeace/ Marty Melville
The rally was organised by WSPA, Greenpeace, Whale Watch Kaikoura, Forest and Bird and Project Jonah.
WSPA New Zealand’s Country Manager, Bridget Vercoe, says for 53,000 people to sign this petition it sends a clear message to the Government to uphold New Zealand’s long tradition of whale conservation and welfare.
More than 200 people attended the ‘Save the Whales’ rally to demonstrate their support for the Government to negotiate a deal to save whales, not whaling when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets later this month. The IWC will be considering a proposal which, if passed, would effectively lift the commercial whaling ban giving the green light to the slaughter of 1,400 whales next year.
The New Zealand Government must continue to work with other whale conservation nations to fight for a phase out approach ending with no commercial whaling.
This deadly deal cannot be allowed to go ahead. Whales are not simply ‘stocks’ to be ‘harvested’ like wheat or rice – they are individual, sentient animals with a capacity for both physical and psychological suffering. They deserve our protection.
WSPA along with New Zealand’s other whale conservation and welfare groups are meeting with Foreign Minister, Hon Murray McCully, on 9 June 2010 to discuss the issue in more depth.