TV’s Heroes Save the Whales

AWI’s Susan Millward and the Whaleman Foundation’s Jeff Pantukhoff (fourth and fifth from left) joined members of the cast of NBC’s Heroes to launch the “Save the Whales Again!” campaign at a press conference in Los Angeles.

The 1970s “Save the Whales” movement spearheaded by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) was hailed as a pivotal moment in the history of environmentalism and succeeded in instituting a moratorium on commercial whaling. However, despite the ban, whale populations have still not recovered, and many species face an uncertain future because of other human threats, including entanglement in fishing gear, ship strikes, ocean noise, toxic pollution and climate change.

With these threats in mind, AWI has collaborated with our long-time colleague Jeff Pantukhoff, president of the Whaleman Foundation, to launch the “Save the Whales Again!” campaign. Our efforts kicked off this February in Hollywood, Calif. with a media event hosted by Hayden Panettiere, star of NBC’s Heroes. She was joined by her fellow cast members and AWI’s Susan Millward, who introduced the event.

The launch coincided with the conclusion of the Conference for the Normalization of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), held by Japan. Its topic was the declaration passed by a single vote at last year’s meeting, stating that the moratorium is “no longer necessary,” that the IWC should “allow controlled and sustainable whaling,” and that its functions require “normalizing.” Japan extended invitations to member nations that “share the concern for the current inability of the IWC to manage whale resources.”

The United States announced early on that it would not attend. However, in late December 2006, National Marine Fisheries Service Director William Hogarth—the newly appointed 3-year chairman of the IWC—decided that the United States would send a contingent to participate in the meeting. This confused other conservation-minded countries and served to legitimize the nonsensical event, while undermining the international whale management responsibilities of the IWC.

After making our views known to Dr. Hogarth, we were elated when the United States again proclaimed that it would not attend the meeting, turning the conference into nothing more than a gaggle of whalers. Now, the US IWC delegation must become real-life “heroes” for the whales at this summer’s Alaska meeting. To learn more about this issue and view Public Service Announcements by compassionate celebrities, please visit www.savethewhalesagain.org.