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September 28, 1997 <later entries on page 36>

Information sought on danger to residents from hunters

We are helping to collect evidence that present zoning laws do not adequately protect residents and their property (e.g. windows) from hunters' bullets. In some areas where rifles are permitted the "no shooting" zone around homes needs to be expanded to as much as three miles to accommodate the potential range of these weapons. We are helping to collect evidence that this is needed. Please send newspaper clippings with name of paper and date of publication to CPAPR, Box 26, Swain NY 14884. We can also use notarized statements describing personal experience. If enough evidence can be collected, there may be grounds for a lawsuit on the grounds that home owners are being deprived of the use of their property. Thank you if you can help

Gray whales for the killing September 14, 1997

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS SEPTEMBER 22

but send something anyway before October 15

The Department of Commerce has released a draft environmental assessment (DEA) on the effect of the Makah Tribe's request to resume

whaling for cultural and subsistence purposes after a 70 year hiatus. Full information, including entire DEA available from <BreachEnv@aol.com>

Address comments to: Hilda Diaz-Soltero

Director, Office of Protected Resources

U.S. Department of Commerce

NOAA NMFS

Silver Spring MD 20910

The Makah, whose land is at the northern tip of the Washington coast not far from a British Columbia tribe that also wants to resume whaling, want the U.S. government , based on a treaty, to support their proposal to the International Whaling Commission to kill up to five gray whales a year and "strike" (i.e. wound) up to 10 a year. If a wounded whale gets away, they would then be able to go after another one. They plan to

use cedar canoes and .50 cal. rifles which forebodes prolonged suffering before death takes place.

The DEA concludes that killing 10 whales a year would not adversely affect the whale population as whole. What it fails to take into account is that native tribes everywhere, with the encouragement of the Japanese and Norwegians, are likely to resume their whaling rights, and before we know it, commercial whaling will have been reestablished. It has already started with Japan's "studies" and Norway's openly admitted commerce in the bodies of minke whales.

The U.S. government , once a leader in the movement to save whales from extinction, has backed off from its once strong position. Vice President Gore actually supported Norway's resumption of whaling.

Captain Paul Watson Needs Your Help May 29, 1997

Captain Paul Watson was imprisoned in The Netherlands on April 2 because Norway, the country which has just sent out 37 vessels to slaughter minke whales illegally, had issued a warrant for his arrest. He had previously been arrested in Germany on the same warrant, but the German court saw through the false charges and released him.

At his extradition hearing on May 26, Captain Watson was cleared of two charges: entering Norwegian territorial waters and ramming a Norwegian naval ship. (Actually it was the Norwegian ship that did the ramming after firing four depth charges at the Sea Shepherd ship inflicting severe damage.) Fortunately there were media people present who recorded exactly what happened proving the Norwegian charges to be false.

The remaining charge concerns sending a false distress signal, an offense which usually incurs a moderate fine but not imprisonment. Watson has already served more than 60 days for this and the more serious charges dismissed by the Dutch judge.

The Dutch court has postponed a hearing on the remaining charge giving us JUST A FEW DAYS in which letters to Dutch authorities can influence the final decision. Even if you have done so previously, it is urgent that you phone, fax or write immediately urging that Captain Watson not be extradited to answer the remaining minor charge because the Norwegians have already shown that he won't be tried on what actually happened when he opposed Norway's illegal whaling.

There is a good chance that the Norwegian whalers will kill Paul if the extradition goes through on the false signal charge because his organization scuttled one of their ships in the past. and because he is the only obstacle standing between them and a lucrative Japanese market for whale flesh.

Phone ! Fax! Write!

Excellency W. Sorgdrager, The Minister of Justice

and Mr. Ruyters of the Bureau of Internal Rechtshulp

both at P.O.Box 20301

2500 EH The Hague

The Netherlands

Phone: 011-31-70-370-7911 Fax: 011-31-70-370-7900

See also Spring 1997 and Winter 1996-97 issues of "C-paper"

April 5, 1997

National Wildlife "Refuges" to promote fur trade

The April 1997 issue of "Animal People" (POB 960, Clinton WA 98236) reports that a memo to refuge managers from acting chief of Division of Refuges, Stan Thompson, urged support for the fur trade in its opposition to the European Community's twice-delayed ban against importing fur from countries like the U.S. and Canada that still sanction the use of particularly cruel leghold traps.

There is a strong push in Congress led by Alaskan members to make hunting, trapping and fishing the primary purpose of refuge management while practicing "conservation", a word that has come to have opposite meanings for those who want to kill wild animals for their own use or amusement and those who want to preserve habitat so that wild animals have at least some areas where they can maintain their population balances as they did for eons before humans decided to do it for them. Of the people who visit National Wildlife Refuges, 95% do not hunt or trap.There are vast tracts of land open for hunting and trapping: national and state forest lands, Bureau of Land Management lands, and even "game management" areas specifically managed for hunting. As more and more land is developed, it becomes ever more important to maintain some areas where natural wildlife populations are left in peace. Well aware of this, hunting organizations and the state and federal fish and wildlife departments they dominate are making a grab for as much hunting territory as they can get. This includes our National Wildlife Refuges, and even National Parks. Unless enough people protest they will succeed in subverting the rest of these lands to killing for the sport of it. Individuals can adopt a refuge near them, learn what is going on and establish communication with those in charge. They can also hold educational demonstrations to inform the public how their refuges are being misused. The best recourse for others is to persist in writing Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt ( 1849 C St. NW, Washington DC 20240) and sending copies to their Congressional legislators

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