Whales threatened by big powers

Project Jonah — The Inside Story

Turning magnificent, intelligent, ecologically critical animals into shoe polish, car wax, margerine and lubricating oil may be the ultimate nonsense of the modern world.

The killing of whales is particularly barbaric. A gunner blasts a 150lb 5 foot long steel harpoon deep into the whale's flesh. Inside the tip of the 3½ inch shaft there is a grenade with a time fuse and as this explodes inside the whale's body, swivel barbs are released which open up like an umbrella. The result is a brutal, lingering death as the whale is 'played' from the harpoon line. The animals terrified struggle can drag a 400 ton ship along with it. There is no doubt that this device is one of the most cruel and ruthless one could use on living creatures. It is an horrific way to die — a whale's nervous system is less susceptible to wound shock than a human's so it suffers intense pain all the time.

There are cheap and available substitutes for all uses of whale products. Human consumption of whale meat is declining, but the killing of whale and dolphins for pet food, chicken feed, cosmetics and fertilizer increases. The whaling industry is relatively minor, realizing about $150 million a year world-wide. Japan and the USSR are the big whaling nations, each killing about 40% of the world catch. The rest of the whaling is done by Australia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Panama, South Africa (members of the International Whaling Commission) and Brazil, Chile, Peru, Portugal and

Spain (non-members).

In view of it's profits and products it is a trivial industry. The destruction of an entire order of highly evolved, intelligent, gentle beings is not, however, trivial. Must it go on? At the present rate of slaughter, many species of whales will be extinct at the end of this century.

This is where Project Jonah comes in. It is an international organisation devoted to the protection and under' standing of whales, dolphins and porpoises. It's goals are to prevent the commercial and/or biological extinction of threatened species, to change international public and governmental attitudes regarding the commercial and military use of whales, dolphins and porpoises, and to encourage and conduct observational research with wild, free-living whales and dolphins.

Project Jonah is a member [unclear: organisat] that offers no member services. We do not have subscriptions or dues but rely on donations. We depend on members support for our programme, but have decided that we can either serve our members or save the whales and have decided to spend our energy and members money on the whales. However we do maintain a mailing list and do call on members from time to time to support us in letter writing campaigns etc.

People's support is essential now — because now is all the time we have.

If you are interested in further information write to: —