Court Says Whales, Dolphins Cannot Sue Bush

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The world's whales, porpoises and dolphins have no standing to sue President Bush (news - web sites) over the U.S. Navy (news - web sites)'s use of sonar equipment that harms marine mammals, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.


A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, widely considered one of the most liberal and activist in the country, said it saw no reason why animals should not be allowed to sue but said they had not yet been granted that right.


"If Congress and the President intended to take the extraordinary step of authorizing animals as well as people and legal entities to sue they could and should have said so plainly," Judge William A. Fletcher wrote in an 18-page opinion for the panel.


The lawsuit was brought against Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf The Cetacean Community -- defined as the world's whales, porpoises and dolphins -- by their self-appointed lawyer, marine mammal activist Lanny Sinkin.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&e=2&u=/nm/20041020/sc_nm/environment_whales_dc

imho.

n/t

*ducking*

But the state of California and several others have fetal murder statutes. Ours is carefully worded not to give a fetus full human being status:

CALIFORNIA CODES
PENAL CODE
SECTION 187-199

187. (a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a
fetus, with malice aforethought.
(b) This section shall not apply to any person who commits an act
that results in the death of a fetus if any of the following apply:
(1) The act complied with the Therapeutic Abortion Act, Article 2
(commencing with Section 123400) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division
106 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) The act was committed by a holder of a physician's and surgeon'
s certificate, as defined in the Business and Professions Code, in a
case where, to a medical certainty, the result of childbirth would be
death of the mother of the fetus or where her death from childbirth,
although not medically certain, would be substantially certain or
more likely than not.
(3) The act was solicited, aided, abetted, or consented to by the
mother of the fetus.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not be construed to prohibit the
prosecution of any person under any other provision of law.

I always wondered what happened to the Christic Institute people...

The palila, http://audubon2.org/webapp/watchlist/viewSpecies.jsp?id=157 an endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper found only on the northwest slope of Mauna Kea sued the State of Hawaii because the state failed in their obligation to the Endangered Species Act to protect the palila habitat from feral sheep and goats. The palila won! I have been up to see the palila on the slopes of Mauna Kea, they are a beautiful bird. I think they had 'a little' help from the Sierra Club with their litigation.

You'll find a few of us kama'aina 'round these parts. Be sure to check out our Hawai'i state forum at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=147

Mahalo, and Go Palila!!!

Thanks KamaAina, the palila needs all the help it can get.

government agencies are making the oceans unliveable for many marine animals. THAT IS NOT RIGHT. Why should we destroy their world as well as ours. These are intelligent creatures...perhaps with more brain capacity than humans. And even if they were as dumb as GWB, these magnificent creatures do not exist for our amusement. They have an equal right to man to live on this earth. They are doing a better job than man...particularly Pugs. Sorry for the rant, but I hate man's dominion over the innocent inhabitants of the planet Earth.

From what I remember, Whales and Dolphins and other sea creatures were beaching themseleves to get away from the ultrasonics that the navy was using. I think their brains were being fried. Someone correct me if Im wrong....

It's sad we are doing this .

Have to limit who can join the club...

occaisionally they jump our of the water and flip around, but they can also fly through the ocean with the greatest of ease, and they chase away sharks!

They're often looking for fish or just playing around at some of the places I like to bodysurf. If there are dolphins you can be sure there are no dangerous sharks around.

but Shrub can sue his dog for growling at him? :)

I recall this from a philosophy course I took quite a while ago. As things stand, some harm has to be shown to a human being to allow a suit over environmental matters to go forth. A change in the law like this would allow a 'friend of the court' to bring suit on behalf of the entities in question for their own sake. The dolphins aren't expected to show up in court, regardless of how intelligent they may be.

The concept can even be extended to non-living things, such as a mountain, desert, or so forth. So, for example, strip mining a mountain might be disallowed because the action violates the integrity of the environment itself, not just because of harm to people whose homes, views, etc. might be altered.

It seems doubtful that this notion stands much of a chance in a capitalistic society such as the U.S. (or indeed, most of the world).

after Kerry wins the election.

How long ago did this begin? I recall reading an article about his some time ago in a CA paper - it is just now getting through the courts? From some generally checking it was used until 1998 and was to begin again in 2000:
http://rense.com/general28/groupssuetostop.htm
http://www.iwc.org/world_whale_news/2003/sonar_11_10.htm

Environmentalists note that within hours after the Navy deployed powerful mid-range sonar during a submarine detection exercise near the Bahamas in 2000, at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves. Scientists found hemorrhaging around the brain and ear bones - injuries consistent with exposure to extremely loud sounds. Eight whales died.

-----
The Navy sonar in question has not been used since 1998 in part because of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which in 1995 discovered the Navy using the technology off the California Coast. The group pushed for an environmental study, which the Navy agreed to do, NRDC Senior Political Analyst Michael Jasny said yesterday.