Recently our local paper, "The West Australian," published a photograph of a humpback whale breaching, or leaping from, the water, with the sad comment that the whales are now returning to their feeding grounds in Antarctic waters, where they will face the harpoons of Japanese whalers for the first time in decades. These whales have developed such trust that they happily approach boatloads of whale watchers who annually enjoy these encounters. Soon their trust will be tragically betrayed as they die slow and agonizing deaths before being butchered.
I was one of the many Australians who helped to bring our whaling industry to a close more than 30 years ago. At the time those employed in the industry protested against the loss of their jobs and the damage to the local economy in the port of Albany. Now the whales bring in a greater bounty with tourism and the whale-watching industry. All that is now at risk.
The humpbacks, described by some as the "clowns" of the whale species, have rebuilt their numbers to a respectable level after a century of whaling. Please help us protect them.
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