WWF

[Guest guest]

Please go to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action.htm to see what

results have been achieved by sending petitions thru WWF

 

Better still, please go to http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to send

petitions online for impt issues.

Current petitions are as follows:

 

Stop Shark Finning - Sharks in Trouble

Stop Bosques S.A. - Globally Outstanding Rain Forest Threatened

Save the Everglades - Last Chance for the Everglades?

Strong POPs Treaty - Pollutants Threaten Marine Mammals and Human Health

Protect ANWR - Save the Arctic Refuge

Create New Monuments - Protect Two World Class Natural Areas

Impose Sanctions - Stop Japanese Whaling

[Guest guest]

Hi Peter,

 

I just checked their website to find out their goals. WWF want to save

species and habitats from disappearing - not individual animals from

suffering. In a word, they're a conservation organisation, not an animal

welfare organisation.

 

Sometimes, people talk as if animal rights is part of a broad,

left-of-centre, progressive coalition. I don't think that that's the

case. Just because you value the planet's genetic diversity doesn't mean

you value the welfare of individual animals. To make a broader point,

just because you're vegan doesn't mean you're out of mainstream

politics; I know a vegan LibDem councillor, several Labour vegans, and

of a vegan Tory. I could go on picking any two 'left of centre' causes.

 

I do agree it's inconsistent for them not to be promoting vegetarianism

as a way of habitat protection, though. I suspect it's because they're

quite a conservative (small c) organisation, with quite a lot of shire

Tory members.

 

Peter wrote:

>

> They go on about wanting to help the environment, but do nothing whatsoever

> to promote vegetarianism, let alone veganism - they make a few veiled

> references to organic farming being a good thing, but don't seem to worry

> too much about the effects of meat eating.

>

> They are quite happy to use one species of animal as bait / food to catch

> and tag endangered species, just so they can keep an eye on numbers. I don't

> see how killing animals can be considered to be helping the environment.

>

> Not what I call an environmentally friendly organisation!

>

> BB

> Peter

>

>

> To send an email to -

>

[Guest guest]

The fundamental problem with WWF is that it was founded by a

bunch of captive bird shooters, trophy hunters, & whalers, whose

chief interest in wildlife was in perpetuating opportunities to shoot

rare species after the former British colonies against political

independence and tossed the hunting industry out of their nations --

as India and Kenya eventually did.

 

The WWF " conservation " philosophy is based on " sustainable

use, " which presumes that humans have a right to exploit every other

species, but tries to mitigate the harm done by exploitation by

taxing it.

 

WWF was hardly the first organization to advance this

approach. Here in the U.S., the Wilderness Society, National

Audubon Society, and National Wildlife Federation had all been

pushing the same ideas for decades before WWF showed up.

 

However, WWF did manage to become the biggest of the lot.

 

Most of the WWF founders are now deceased, but the " good "

that WWF does is as much linked to the notion of " sustainable use " as

ever.

 

" Sustainable use " does not change the basic relationship

between humans and animals. It does not teach that animals may not

be harmed because animals are also sentient beings capable of

suffering. The " sustainable use " philosophy does not even allow WWF

to criticize eating meat.

 

The WWF Living Planet Report 2008, for example, included

many transient mentions of the ecologically damaging effects of

either raising or hunting animals for meat, but even though it

recognized that no other human activity does more harm to animals and

habitat, it did not recommend eating less meat to reduce the human

ecological footprint.

 

If the biggest organization is unwilling to directly address

the biggest problem, does it deserve to be the biggest?

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

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