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Will nationalism trump conservation in a ‘post-truth’ world?

Will nationalism trump conservation in a ‘post-truth’ world?

Is the new US Administration’s apparent negative attitude toward environmental protection an open door for renewed Japanese commercial whaling? If you have read the WDC blog regularly, you will know that we have often discussed the issue of Japanese vote buying at the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Japan has even admitted to using overseas development…

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Time for the US to step up on whaling

Kitty Block, Vice President of Humane Society International has contributed to a piece in Livescience.com asking for the United States to give serious consideration to stepping up its game against commercial whaling ‘through a more aggressive foreign policy approach’. WDC supports this call, but also wonders if the US can do this without actually taking a long hard look…

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New (or should that be old?) species of whale discovered in California

US palaeontologists studying fossils recovered from the San Diego Formation in California have described a new species of baleen whale that would have lived between 3.5 and 2.5 million years ago.  Until now, the genus Herpetocetus (a genus of now extinct dwarf baleen whales) contained four recognised species, this new specimen – known as Herpetocetus…

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The ‘Pivot’ and the Whale

US Foreign Policy and the Future of Japanese Whaling Monday the 16th June marks the 20th anniversary of the coming into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Law of the Sea Convention opened for signature on 10 December 1982, only a few months after the International Whaling Commission…

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New York Times stands up for whales

Its good to see the press are still ready to question commercial whaling. Part of the strategy of Icelandic whalers has been to target tourists, but it seems that the Editorial Board of the New York Times are ready to stand up for whales both in Iceland and closer to home in the USA, Hawaii.…

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Death at SeaWorld by David Kirby

From the New York Times bestselling author of Evidence of Harm and Animal Factory comes DEATH AT SEAWORLD (St. Martin’s Press; July 17, 2012) a groundbreaking scientific thriller that exposes the dark side of SeaWorld, America’s most beloved marine mammal park. From the tragic death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, to other, less-publicized violent…

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Poll Reveals Americans Oppose Keeping Orcas in Captivity

WDCS, together with The Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Welfare Institute, released the first-ever nationwide opinion poll gauging attitudes about keeping orcas, also known as killer whales, in captivity for public display that shows more Americans oppose than support the practice. The poll found that only 1 in 4 people are…

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