NEAH BAY — The Makah have volunteered not to issue any whaling permits until next Friday while a federal appeals court considers activists’ requests to temporarily stop gray whale hunts.
Attorneys representing 17 groups and individuals who oppose whaling filed an emergency motion for an injunction against whale hunts on Thursday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Tacoma.
If granted, the injunction would stop Makah whaling until judges could consider the merits of an appeal on a U.S. District Court order denying a preliminary injunction.
The Makah have not issued any whaling permits this year.
District Court Judge Franklin D. Burgess on May 17 denied the activists’ request for the preliminary injunction, saying the Makah’s right to hunt whales through an 1855 treaty with the United States outweighs any hardships the plaintiffs might face from whaling.
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