News Release
6 November, 2006

Buy back an Icelandic whale's life

Help us stop the suffering: buy a whale's freedom on eBay!

What price would you put on the life of a whale? Going by market value of the meat, an endangered fin whale would fetch in Iceland around £95,000 (NZ$255,514). And to spare its life the World Society Protection of Animals (WSPA) needs the public to help it raise this.

Bidding for the first auction starts on eBay via www.wspa-international.org/ebay on Friday, 3 November and closes on Sunday, 12 November (New Zealand time).

WSPA New Zealand’s Regional Manager, Kimberly Muncaster, said since 18 October, Iceland had killed five endangered fin whales. And this was just the beginning. Its hunting quota for the year permitted a further 30 minke whales and four fin whales to face an agonising death by explosive harpoon.

Despite worldwide condemnation, Iceland was refusing to end the hunt. Now WSPA wanted to show them just how much opposition there is to the cruelty of whaling, she said.

In a radical bid to make Iceland rethink its actions, WSPA wants to offer the Icelandic government the market value of one fin whale. In return, its life must be spared.

And WSPA don’t want to stop there. As the money adds up, it will add more and more whales from Iceland’s quota. The charity needs people to dig deep so it can attempt to buy the freedom of these magnificent creatures.

“Please help us to end this cruelty by making a £10 (NZ$26.90) donation towards the first fin whale's life. The more donations made the faster we'll add more whales to the list: our quota for freedom, said Ms Muncaster.

With some taking over an hour to die, there is quite simply no humane way to kill a whale at sea. Now the public can make a stand against this cruelty.

As a thank you for their support, WSPA will send buyers a certificate they can forward on to the UK Iceland Ambassador to demonstrate their stance against whaling.

If Iceland doesn't accept the money every cent raised will go directly to WSPA's anti-whaling campaign. These funds are essential in enabling WSPA to help local groups lobby their governments in whaling countries around the world.

--

Notes to Editors:

WSPA is the world's largest federation of humane societies and animal protection organisations, representing over 700 member societies in more than 144 countries. Through direct field work, campaigning, legislative work, education and training programs, WSPA strives to create a world where animal welfare matters and animal cruelty ends.

WSPA is a core member of Whalewatch, a global coalition of more than 140 non-governmental organisations in over 55 countries including the RSPCA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Humane Society International (HSI) and Campaign Whale.

ENDS

© Scoop Media