Whale schnitzel?

Endangered Fin Whales like this one will die without your help.

Demand for whale meat is so low in Iceland, merchants have resorted to creating new products like whale schnitzel to try and sell it.

So then why has Iceland decided to cruelly hunt 150 endangered fin and 100 more minke whales? It just doesn't make sense!

Write to the Icelandic Fisheries Minister and tell him whales are worth more alive than dead!

Commercial whaling has been banned for more than two decades, yet Iceland continues firing harpoons into these gentle creatures for products that nobody needs. It is cruel, unnecessary and unsustainable.

No method exists to kill whales instantly or humanely. It can take up to an hour to kill a whale, which is first mutilated by an explosive harpoon and then shot with rifles or prodded with an electric lance.

Tell Iceland that even a small increase in the number of whale watching tourists will create and secure more jobs and money than the cruelty of whaling ever will.

The meat from endangered fin whales is not even traditionally eaten by Icelanders, but exported to places like Japan. Yet Japan already has thousands of tons of unsold whale meat in frozen storage.

The successful whale watching industry offers a humane, sustainable and financially lucrative alternative to whaling, bringing in approximately £10m a year. Our friends at the Icelandic Whale Watching Association are worried that killing the whales will also spell the end of their businesses. In a bankrupt country and a global recession, now is not the time to kill whales they depend on for tourism.

Please send an email to Iceland's Fisheries Minister urging him to call off this cruel and unnecessary hunt.

I need you to speak out for these magnificent animals. We still have time to act before the killing starts.

Thanks for all you do,

Fred O'Regan IFAW President P.S. Iceland's government should look to tourism, and in particular whale watching, as a means to rebuilding the economy - not the cruel killing of endangered whales. It just takes one simple click to help protect these amazing animals.