Marine biologist facing 20 years in prison for feeding whales
 

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet. A marine biologist is facing 20 years in jail for allegedly feeding some whales:

http://www.stopidiocy.com/2012/01/whale-feeding/

Oh, wonderful. Now they'll never leave...

Seriously though, why is this illegal?

Tyranny of 1000 cuts.

Thats not really the full story though... she clearly knew what she was doing was wrong (and illegal) because she then lied to the investigators and doctored video footage.

Whether you agree with the Marine Mammal Protection Act is another matter (personally, I don't think it goes far enough)

If feeding whales is illegal, how come McDonald's is still in business?

you know society is completely insane when murderers and killers and rapists get out of jail sooner than someone who feeds an animal...
it's sad how far the west has fallen in terms of common sense and perspective.

Liberals really do destroy everything they try to fix.

Nice! So you are in favor of ruining someone's life for taking a piece of free floating whale blubber, putting a rope through it, then putting it back in the water to try to observe eating habits of whales? You are a true paragon of morality! If only I had the ability to see so black and white about such evil illegal deeds!

Nice! So you are in favor of people only obeying laws that they personally agree with?

The fact that she allegedly lied about what happened only means that she was aware of the penalty for what they were accusing her of. She was looking at 4 years in prison and a $400K fine for "feeding" (if you can call it that) whales some blubber that was already in the ocean.

I don't know about you, but I think a lot of people probably would have done the same thing in her situation.

Right, it only means that she was aware of its illegality AFTER they asked her about it. Not that she was aware it was illegal at the time she did it.

Nope, but the post made it clear that the law wasn't going far enough. I disagree with such ridiculous penalties for such a minor offense. How would you feel about $100,000 littering fines?

So as long as you're not aware of a law, you're not subject to it. Is that your argument? :lmao:

Anyway, the article points out that the perp owns several whale watching services in the area. This is probably something she does on a regular basis--feed the whales and get them to do tricks for her customers, which gins up ticket sales.

Wingnuts make such awesome pawns... :)

No, my argument is the fact that she tried to cover it up doesn't prove that she knew she was doing something illegal at the time she did it.

This blog article actually isn't very good and is lacking in most of the details that are in the original news article. Apparently there is a law that ship captains are to stay at least 100 yards away from whales. This is to protect ships, their passengers and the whales from colliding into one another. Ships have been sunk by and whales have been injured/killed in whale strikes (or should that be ship strikes?). I'd imagine feeding whales would bring a ship or would draw whales into dangerous proximity of one another. Also, I'd imagine, if whales develop an association between ships and receiving food, they will learn to approach them, in which case other/all ships are jeopardized, as well as the whales themselves. This isn't like feeding pigeons. These are giants.

Now, whether her offenses warrant the same level of punishment as, say, committing second degree manslaughter, probably not. It's important to note that the punishments stated are the MAXIMUM possible punishments, so her actual punishments could be...and probably will be...significantly different.

I could have been a bit clearer... I'm not saying punishments for feeding marine mammals are too lenient but rather I wish there were similar laws for land mammals. I think if you start feeding a wild animal then you also need to assume full responsibility for it's welfare.

I'm going to guess that a marine biologist would be fully aware of the law regarding marine mammals

Wingnuts? Pretty sure Eric Holder can drop the charges much like he did the blacks outside of a Philly voting booth with billy clubs in 2008.

I'm pretty sure there is a choice to press the charges.

I'd be happier with stronger fines for littering. I hate dirty, filthy bastards who think the world exists solely for them to do as they please. Smokers are the worst...why is it acceptable to toss your butt on the floor?

I hate scummy, selfish farkers like that.

She should have become an architect or city planner instead of a marine biologist.

The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to return soup at a deli

I'll take that as a yes.

The actual news article linked in the blog posts clearly states that the twenty year maximum punishment is for lying to investigators and presenting investigators with an edited video, not for feeding the whales. Basically obstruction of justice. The maximum penalty for the illegal feedings is one year and one hundred thousand dollars per incident.

Baaahhh...what use have we for facts when there's hyperbole to be spread?

This was the first thing that came to my mind. That and I expected this to be the first response as well.

Obligatory:
http://www.chilloutpoint.com/images/...gigantic13.jpg


Seriously, exactly how does one feed a group of whales anyway? The total volume to feed even a small group is probably pretty big. I mean, you would literally have to be showing cows off the side of your ship, or something.

Where I live the whales congregate at Hometown Buffet.

Peasant! Golden Corral is where the highbrow fatties teem.

lol, thats a pretty funny idea.

I would just like to say that multi-quote sucks.

NM....

(don't want to offend)

Oh gawd...now I wana know what you were gona say!

Yup, kinda like how Billy Clinton was impeached for lying, not for the bj. :lmao:

You and other may consider adultery to be morally wrong or questionable, but obstruction of justice and perjury are both criminal allegations. It's exceedingly difficult to impeach a high-ranking government official even if he or she has broken pretty serious laws. It's practically impossible to do so because he or she has been "bad."

That's a pathetic argument for you. "Somebody else does it, so I can too" That's the justification I'd expect from a five year-old.

bingo.

the same people who complain about this law would turn around and complain if her ship had crashed into a whale and either the whale or people in the boat died. ok folks, lets turn on the neocortex before complaining.

That's not my argument and you are taking a cheap shot in characterizing it as such.
I expect better from a 5 year old.

The statements
Xygonn attempts to explain why he feels the fines are too strong and asks if "a non-specific person" would be fine with large fines for littering.
You chose to attack smokers in particular but did not bother to address his point directly - should heavy fines be commensurate with the damage done by the polluters of our air and water?
Not one WORD about the

Quote:

scummy, selfish farkers like that.

who are doing far worse than cluttering up the sidewalks with bits of paper and fiberglass.

The IMPRESSION was that you would JUST settle for stronger fines for littering, but IMPLIED you still didn't believe heavy fines for polluters would be appropriate - in agreement with Xygonn.
I may have gotten a wrong impression from your reply but that is the IMPLIED message of your post - that ciggy butts are horrible crimes against humanity but polluters are doing it for our own good.

My response was, if polluters are committing such minor infractions, and you do not support fining them for it in a manner which MIGHT change their behavior, then I am all in favor of fining ciggy butt chuckers in commensurate ways AFTER they start imposing heavy fines on people who do far worse damage to the public wheal than tossing a few flecks of nicotine and tar stained fiberglass on the ground and upsetting your visual esthetic.
Do both and we can both be happy to some extent.
Do nothing and you will have to look at my ciggy butts and I'll have to suffer from the various maladies being pumped into my body and YOUR body by said polluters - with the additional benefit that if you get ill before I do I will have to, in part, pay the cost of YOUR ill-health.
To the best of my knowledge my ciggy butts aren't causing your ill-health or mine, just an impairment to your esthetic happiness.

I think you should stop speaking through your stomach or let it do the thinking/talking for you.