Obama Where Art Thou? (A Cautionary Whale)

I'm going to be cynical here momentarily:

Some year and a half or so ago now, though it feels like a decade, I was left with the relatively easy decision of voting for the wealthy politician on the left or the wealthy politician on the right. I won't get into my personal views on politics, but suffice it to say that Palin's proposed legislation and cash incentives to promote aerial wolf hunting when she was governor of Alaska were enough to ensure I'd never take that circus sideshow of a President/Vice President nominee combination seriously (amongst the slue of other insults to my intelligence). Through my guarded optimism I still feel I made the right choice that brisk November 4th night in 2008, but no matter what, you have to stay on top of these people. An American President is a fragile thing that can easily be led astray. "We the People" must be ever diligent to keep these little mischief makers we call our leaders on the right path. So, here is what our good and benevolent President is doing now that is really, for lack/censorship of a better word, cheesing me off.


I'll give you the short of it:

On April 22 of this year (ironically Earth Day), The International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced a plan to lift the whale moratorium which has been in place for 24 years. The moratorium was put in place to make most of commercial whaling illegal outside of scientific research and subsistence (absolute neccesity). The decision to possibly legalize commercial whaling again stems from pressure from nations like Norway, Iceland, and Japan who have continued commercial whaling anyway, through loopholes in the IWC's whale moratorium (for example, Japan just claims all their whaling is for "scientific research," which isn't true and also incredibly obvious).

The possible lift of the whale moratorium has been received with harsh criticism (well justified in my opinion). While not perfect, the whale moratorium has undeniably saved the whale populations, particularly the humpback whale, in our oceans. Some environmentalists have even deemed the moratorium one of the great environmental achievements of the 20th Century. Hundreds of scientists have warned that the lift of the moratorium would be devestating to the whale populations (remember the spotted owl from Legs and Regs?) and have pleaded with the IWC to keep the moratorium in place. The wonderful nations of Australia and New Zealand have even gone so far as to threaten to take serious legal actions against Japan if they do not stop their facade of harpooning whales for "scientific research." But what is our fair president Obama doing in the midst of all this? SPEARHEADING THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT TO LIFT THE MORATORIUM!

One would think that with this whole BP situation already destroying uncountable wildlife, much of which on the shores of our own country, our president would be more concerned about preserving what balance of the oceans' ecosystems we have left. Nope, not the case, not at all, not even a little. Obama is currently negotiating terms with Iceland, Norway, Japan, and the IWC to lift the moratorium on commerical whaling for at least ten years and let these whaling companies basically descend on the whale populations with a free-for-all slaughter with no negotiations or plans to reinstate the moratorium after ten years. Basically the current presidency could very well go down in history for contributing in the destruction of our planet's oceans.

I voted for you!! Does it come down to the reality that my vote can only choose to support the salvation of one species and not the other?

But like I said, sometimes our misguided leadership just needs a push in the right direction. Therefore, you all should send this petition from the link below and get your friends and family to do it too (if you care, of course, no pressure, just, you know, 70% of the Earth's surface we are talking about here). I recommend the links to the articles on the petition page also. They are great pieces and far more eloquent than anything I have said in my angry yet reserved rant here (this is a school related blog after all). I hope you will sign this petition and tell others about it. After the recent IWC conference in Morrocco the whale moratorium is safe for another year, but who knows what the future holds, hopefully whales and a few oceans....





http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5154/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3471




P.S. On a similar topic. I hope you all go rent The Cove, a great documentary about a particularly heinous cestacian industry in Japan. Check out my earlier post about it!

The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome

The New York Times has a truly fantastic article about animal cruelty, animal cruelty laws, and why everyone involved in law enforcement should be paying attention and treating crimes against animals just as seriously as those against humans. The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome looks over several aspects of animal cruelty, and how animal cruelty can often be a sign of other issues and crimes being committed, from domestic violence, child abuse, gang related crimes, and many more. The article also discusses the ASPCA's new CSI mobile unit that can help process crime scenes when the victims are animals. The head of the unit also gives lectures to help teach local law enforcement and CSI officials how to preserve the evidence of animal cruelty cases.

Most importantly, 46 states have felony level crimes for animal cruelty, and states are passing laws that require veterinarians to report potential animal cruelty to authorities, mainly because it is so often linked to other criminal behavior. California is currently considering listing those convicted of animal cruelty on the same type of online registry as sex offenders or arsonists.

So what value is this article to us other than knowledge? It can give us a launch-point to urge New York City and New York to go a step further. NY currently shields veterinarians from Civil and Criminal Liability in reporting abuse. NY should take the next step and require reporting by veterinarians. NYC should work with the ASPCA officers and set up a special prosecution office solely for animal cruelty cases. A special prosecutions office would allow those cases to get priority in an office dedicated to them, rather than fall by the wayside as 'people crimes' come in and take priority. It is for these same reasons that offices like the SVU team have been set up.

This article sheds some light on why animal cruelty is absolutely inexcusable.

Allison Gill