But whaling baron Kristján Loftsson, 80, will not go down without a fight REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Iceland minister of food, agriculture, and fisheries Svandis Svavarsdottir on February 4, 2022 indicated in a guest column for the newspaper and news web site Morgunblaðið that she may pull the plug on the nearly moribund Icelandic whaling industry. But Kristján Loftsson, […]
Black humane history found in great-grandpa’s attic near a town called Ark
Letters and a map document humane & racial justice movements that pointed the way for Martin Luther King Jr. ARK, Virginia––Bus driver Alan Lemon, 59, hoped to find antiques that might be sold online in 2018 when he and a friend decided to explore the attic of his great grandfather John W. Lemon’s long abandoned […]
Marine mammal activist Ben White, 53, dies of abdominal cancer
Long problematic career Ben White, 53, died on July 30, 2005, in Friday Harbor, Washington, after a six-month struggle against abdominal cancer. White “cut open dolphin-holding nets in Japan, scaled buildings to hang anti-fur banners, jumped in front of naval ships in Hawaii to stop sonar tests, and slept atop old-growth trees to protest logging,” […]
COVID-19 brings no net gains for marine life––except in Iceland
“There is no market,” but fish, shellfish, seals, & whales are all still hunted WESTERLY, Rhode Island; HONOLULU, Hawaii; REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Restaurant closures ordered because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have economically crippled the U.S. commercial fishing industry from Long Island Sound to Hawaii, and have hit the fishing industry worldwide, but––except in Iceland, where a case […]
Fire & ice puts Australian koalas and Icelandic horses at urgent risk
Songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1982 recommended “50/50 fire and ice” as the best response to a crisis. That isn’t working for either Icelandic horses or koalas. REYKJAVIK, Iceland; SYDNEY, Australia––Eco-disasters afflicting Icelandic horses and Australian koalas starkly illustrate extreme and contrasting effects of global warming as 2019 comes to an end. Hundreds of Icelandic […]
Whaling harpoons Icelandic tourism & the whole nation suffers (UPDATE!)
Iceland suspends whaling after ANIMALS 24-7 exposes how killing whales wounded a whale-watching industry that brings in twice as much money REYKJAVIK, Iceland––The two remaining Icelandic whaling companies, Hvalur, killing fin whales, and IP Útgerð, killing minke whales, on the afternoon of June 27, 2019 jointly announced that they will not go whaling this year, […]
Drone video moves Russia to halt orca & beluga captures
Drone found 90 belugas & 13 orcas allegedly held pending sale to China VLADIVOSTOK, Russia––Responding to international outrage over drone video showing 90 belugas and 13 orcas in small holding pens in Srednaya Bay near Nakhodka, just north of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, the Russian government in 2019 will prohibit whale captures, reports the […]
Revenge-seeking Icelandic “Ahab” denies killing the great blue whale
“Blood feud” with anti-whalers began when Sea Shepherds sank two of his ships in 1986 REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Kristján Loftsson, the “Captain Ahab” of the North Atlantic, has furiously denied that the 22nd of at least 27 whales killed by his ships in June and July 2018 was the first endangered blue whale harpooned by whalers since 1978, […]