This year, the Japanese whaling fleet plans to kill more than 1,000 whales, including 50 endangered fin whales. This is the biggest hunt since the moratorium on commercial whaling began over twenty years ago.

This is both a tragedy and a sham. Japan's annual Southern Ocean whale hunt is conducted under the guise of science, even though killing whales is completely unnecessary for research purposes and the whale meat is sold in Japanese groceries across the country.

New Zealand, Australia, and Europe have all called on Japan to stop the killing. But instead of standing up to Japan's illegal and unnecessary whaling, the U.S. State Department made a weak statement conceding that Japan has a legal right to whaling.

Take action! Tell the United States to do all it can to put pressure on Japan to stop whaling and save the whales!
UPDATE: As of Dec. 21, the Japanese government has taken beloved humpback whales off of their list of whales to hunt. This is a great success, but we need to keep fighting to protect all whales!

Dear Secretary Gutierrez, Condoleezza Rice,

On behalf of whales everywhere, and humpback whales in particular, I am writing to urge the United States to do all it can to put pressure on Japan to stop whaling and to save the whales.

Specifically, I am urging you to:

1. Make no deals with Japan on their whaling, and advocate that other countries do the same;

2. Ensure a strong presence of anti-whaling countries at the International Whaling Commission meetings;

3. Enforce existing whale protections, most urgently, and put an end to all whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary; and,

4. Expand whale protections by building support for the creation of a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary.

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