Not activists but militant protesters, willing to do anything...

[Guest guest]

Of note in this story is the oft-repeated lie: " In 1997, the effort was

cleared by the International Whaling Commission, which allocated the Makah

20 whales through 2004, a maximum of five per year. " The next post will set

out in some detail the truth of how the United States bent the rules to get

the Makah whales to kill.

 

Please visit the URL below for an in depth look at the history of the whale

hunt. And the URL for the Seattle Insider will take you to a poll on the

issue and, if you have the technology, show you video tape of last year's

hunt.

 

Dian

 

 

Stop Makah Whale Kill (http://stopwhalekill.listbot.com) -

http://www.stopwhalekill.org

 

http://www.seattleinsider.com/news/2000/04/17/whalehunt.html

 

 

Monday, April 17, 2000

Monday's whale hunt unsuccessful

KIRO 7 EYEWITNESS NEWS

 

NEAH BAY, Wash. -- The Makah Indian tribe's hunt for gray whales was

unsuccessful Monday, but a canoe will return Tuesday to the waters off Neah

Bay, on the northwest tip of Washington state.

 

A Makah family was issued a ten-day permit to hunt whales this spring, Makah

Whaling Commission spokesman Keith Johnson told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

 

Shortly after Monday's hunt began, the Coast Guard had arrested two

protesters and seized their 23-foot boat for violating a 500-hundred-yard

" exclusion zone. "

 

When the driver of the seized boat refused to stop, the vessel was bumped or

" shouldered " by a 21-foot Coast Guard boat, said Petty Officer Gino Burns in

Seattle. When that didn't work, a 41-foot Coast Guard boat bumped the

vessel, knocking down the two protesters on board, The Associated Press

reported.

 

One protester claimed to be injured in the confrontation, was checked by a

doctor for back pain and released, according to KIRO.

 

" These are not activists but militant protesters willing to do anything, "

Johnson said.

 

The protesters, calling themselves " The World Whale Police, " also tried to

interfere with last year's hunt, KIRO reported. A tribal whaling crew took

the Makah's first whale in 70 years last May 17.

 

Four families have been preparing to hunt as the spring gray whale migration

from birthing grounds in Mexico to feeding grounds off Alaska gets under

way. Protest groups -- mainly Ocean Defense International -- have been

monitoring the area by boat, AP said.

 

The Makah whaling tradition dates back thousands of years, but the hunts

stopped in the 1920s as commercial whaling decimated populations. When the

gray whale was taken off the Endangered Species List in 1994, the tribe

moved to resume the practice, citing whaling rights granted under their 1855

treaty.

 

In 1997, the effort was cleared by the International Whaling Commission,

which allocated the Makah 20 whales through 2004, a maximum of five per

year.

 

The hunt, supported by the federal government, has pitted allies of the

Makah against animal-conservation activists.

 

 

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