Press Release: SA Protest Against Whale Slaughter

South Africans add their voices to the international outcry over the violation of the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary

There is no escape for the whales of the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. Flaunting the resolutions of the International Whaling Commission, the Japanese whaling boats set sail in the middle of last month for an orgy of killing. The Japanese, contemptuous of world condemnation, intend killing a thousand whales, including some endangered species – under cover of the lie that it is "scientific research".

The waters declared an international whale haven, which were almost free from blood-and-profit lusting humans, are being violated. The sea turns scarlet, as the giant mammals thrash in their death agonies. Explosive-tipped harpoons embedded in their flesh tear their bodies apart. Death comes slowly. The bloody horror recalls Ahab's final scream to Moby Dick: "From Hell's heart I stab at thee!"

Japan has invaded Australian Antarctic waters but the new Labour government in Canberra has reneged on its election promise that it would stop the whale killing by sending in the navy. It has maintained a stony silence in response to pleas for help.

Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, an organisation for the protection of marine animals, is risking his life, the life of his crew and the destruction of his boat, the Steve Irwin, in an attempt to save the whales and to record the killings. But he and his crew are alone out there in the vast Antarctic Ocean.

Greenpeace the international environmental organisation (of which Watson was a founder, in 1972) has not responded to his plea that it send a ship to join his in Antarctica.

Angry South Africans will add their voices to the international outcry over the killing of the whales at a protest on 20 December, outside the Japanese embassy, in Pretoria. They can complain to the prime minister of Japan at http://whales.netfirms.com/alert/japan/letter.html

For more details contact:
Beauty without Cruelty Anne van Vliet: 082 7750711 mwvliet@mweb.co.za
Earth 2 Anastasya Eliseeva: 072 638 0064 www.earth2.co.za
Animal Rights Africa Michele Pickover: 082 253 2124 www.animalrightsafrica.org
Earthlife Africa Warwick Humphris: 072 235 823 cwfh2007star@gmail.com
Friends of the Cat Joan Norman: 083 643 9720 friendsofthecat@wol.co.za

Issued by United for Animals