[Fwd: Help protect endangered whales from new sonar assault]

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Help protect endangered whales from new sonar assault

" Frances Beinecke, NRDC BioGems "

<biogemsdefenders Tue, January 10, 2006 7:03 pm

stfpare

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Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,

 

There is an emerging threat to whales that demands your immediate action.

 

The U.S. Navy wants to put a testing ground for lethal mid-frequency sonar

along the migratory path of highly endangered northern right whales, off

the coast of North Carolina.

 

Please act today to protect the whales and other marine life of this

offshore refuge from a year-round barrage of deadly, ear-splitting noise.

 

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/whales/takeaction.asp?step=2 & item=53246

and urge the Navy to consider less sensitive locations for its sonar

training range.

 

As the site of more than 160 exercises annually, the Navy's proposed

testing range would create a 500-square-mile hub of year-round sonar

activity and other intense underwater noise. The range would lie along

the migratory route of endangered right whales, fewer than 400 of which

are believed to exist today.

 

Just one year ago, 37 whales of three different species beached themselves

on the shores of the Outer Banks, near the proposed testing range,

following Navy sonar exercises in the area. Scientists have linked the

use of high-intensity sonar to numerous other mass strandings of whales

around the globe, from the Bahamas to the Canary Islands to Japan. Yet,

incredibly, the Navy's analysis of its proposed testing range does not

even mention, much less thoroughly examine, this stranding.

 

Beached whales have been found bleeding around their brains and ears after

encounters with this lethal technology.

 

Military sonar may also be interfering with the ability of these majestic

creatures to locate food, avoid predators and mate.

 

Please go to

http://www.savebiogems.org/whales/takeaction.asp?step=2 & item=53246 and

tell the Navy to carefully consider all the alternatives before proceeding

with sonar exercises in this spectacular whale habitat.

 

Or, to make an even bigger impact, compose your own letter -- using the

points in our standard letter -- and mail or fax it no later than January

30 to:

 

Keith Jenkins

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic

Mail Code EV21KJ

6506 Hampton Boulevard

Norfolk, VA 23508

Fax: 757-322-4894

 

Thank you for helping to protect endangered whales from the lethal effects

of military sonar.

 

Sincerely,

 

Frances Beinecke

President

Natural Resources Defense Council

 

.. . .

 

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1172331

 

 

 

--

Sally

www.pareeste.org

www.dogsdeservebetter.org