A small group of demonstrators from Campaign Whale, Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA), the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society (WDCS) and World Society for the Protection of
Animals (WSPA) – as well as a giant inflatable whale – will be
protesting whale hunting in front of Iceland’s London embassy today.
A statement from Andy Ottaway of Campaign Whale reads in part, “Iceland needs friends right now and the cruel slaughter of whales makes
you enemies, not friends. We are calling on the Icelandic government to
call off the whaling immediately.” Kate O’Connell from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society adds, “Iceland’s decision to resume large-scale commercial whaling is a
desperate attempt to secure income from whale meat sales to Japan. It
is a sad day for whales that they now become the latest potential
victims of the world economic crisis. We have not seen a hunt of this
scale in the North Atlantic since the 1980s. And there is still a ban
on whaling in place.”
Icelandic Ambassador Sverrir Haukur Gunnlaugsson supposedly met with some of the protestors today. No word yet on what the result of that meeting was.
The statement also points out that a recent opinion poll showed 82% of Brits against Iceland’s practice of whaling, with 64% saying they would boycott Icelandic products if whaling continued.