Animal Group Bids To Buy Whale's Life From Iceland

WHALES AHOY

Fin whales.

by Staff Writers
London (AFP) Nov 2, 2006
An animal protection group came up with a novel way of saving whales Thursday -- it is asking supporters to donate money on eBay to try to buy the life of one of them from the Icelandic government. The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is battling to raise 95,000 pounds (142,000 euros, 180,000 dollars), the rough market value of a fin whale. It will then offer Iceland's government the money in return for not killing one of the endangered animals.

And the group hopes to keep raising enough money to make the bids, which will be taken through online retailer eBay, a regular occurrence.

If the Icelandic government does not accept the money, the WSPA says it will put the cash towards its anti-whaling campaigns.

In October, Iceland announced it would resume commercial whaling despite an international ban.

The WSPA says Iceland has killed five fin whales since then and its annual quota permits it to kill another four.

Iceland insists that stocks of fin whales around the country are strong enough to sustain its whaling quota, despite the animals' inclusion on a list of species threatened with extinction drawn up by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Bidding in the first auction starts at www.wspa-international.org/ebay Thursday and closes on Saturday November 11.

Source: Agence France-Presse

WHALES AHOY

Twenty-Five Countries To Urge Iceland To Respect Whaling Ban

Paris (AFP) Oct 31, 2006
Twenty-five countries are Wednesday to call on Iceland to reverse a decision to resume commercial whaling in defiance of an international ban, the French foreign ministry said. All intend to "manifest their opposition to the resumption of commercial whaling and ask the Icelandic authorities to reconsider their policy in this field," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

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