In the last few days Sea Shepherd (www.SeaShepherd.org) has been making international news, including many front pages, on two counts: The Canadian government handed the organization a wealth of publicity when it stormed and seized the group's ship, the Farley Mowat. And the Japanese Whalers are ending their hunt with half as big a kill toll as they had hoped; they blame the activists.

This Sea Shepherd story is in the Australian, The Age, and in the UK's Independent, Tuesday, April 15, where it is headed "Japanese whalers blame 'sabotage'." (pg 24)

It tells us:

"A Japanese fishing fleet is expected to return from its latest expedition having killed just over half its target number of whales.

"The 8,000-tonne Nisshin Maru factory ship and five other whaling vessels were due to dock in Japan last night after returning from the Antarctic laden with the meat from 551 minke whales caught during a four-month 'research' voyage which was repeatedly targeted by animal rights activists.

"The catch was far below the target of 935 set by the Japanese authorities, which in turn blamed the campaigners, the American-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace, for reducing the amount of time it could devote to hunting for 'scientific purposes'".

We read that "Activists on board a vessel from the Sea Shepherd group repeatedly clashed with the Japanese fleet as it plied the Southern Ocean looking for minke whales and the much larger fin whales." And we have the following quote from a spokesman for Japan's Fisheries Agency: "Sabotage by activists is a major factor behind our failure to achieve our target. We did not have enough time for research because we had to avoid sabotage."

You'll find that article on line at http://tinyurl.com/3hemdr and can send a letter to The Independent at letters@independent.co.uk. The paper advises, "Letters for publication in the newspaper must include the sender's name, postal address and daytime telephone number."

Again, if the story appears in your local media, please take the opportunity to send a letter to the editor.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read advance reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals" and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.