Dear Friend,
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Southern Resident orcas are just one major oil spill away from extinction. Donate $27 now and help protect orcas and the planet before midnight tonight!
If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
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Marina the matriarch.
Playful, spirited Cappuccino.
Young Ripple -- a symbol of hope.
All dead.
That leaves only 73 Southern Resident orcas left in the wild. They are starving, grieving, and growing weaker every day. Yet Big Oil is pushing forward with two megaprojects that could very well wipe out Southern Resident orcas forever -- and one has already been approved. That’s why orcas need you to act URGENTLY. Help protect the remaining 73 Southern Resident orcas and our planet before their fate is sealed: Donate $27 or more now and help us reach our $4,630 goal by midnight tonight!
Southern Resident orcas function in close-knit, sensitive family communities known as pods. When they lose a family member, their chances of survival plummet as their grief pushes them further into starvation. The loss of Cappuccino and Marina was incredibly devastating. But now, their pods are again mourning with the recent loss of young Ripple -- whose birth once sparked hope for their survival.
Southern Resident orcas are facing many challenges right now. A chronic lack of food. Constant grief. Debilitating stress. They are just one major oil spill away from extinction. But Big Oil and the shipping industry are driving forward two devastating megaprojects through delicate orca habitat. If they succeed, that’s as good as putting the last nail in the coffin for Southern Resident orcas, Friend. We can’t let it come to that.
Don’t let Southern Resident orcas grieve another death. Donate $27 and help us reach our $4,630 goal before midnight tonight.
If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Southern Resident orcas are the only endangered species of killer whales in the United States. Once thriving in the waters of Washington and British Columbia, this precious species has been on the decline since 2006.
One key contributor is food availability. Orcas rely on Chinook salmon as their main food source. While these fish were once abundant in their ecosystems, they’ve substantially declined in the last decade. In fact, many Chinook salmon runs are now threatened or endangered themselves.
Struggling to find food, orcas are being driven to starvation. They’re under extreme stress and even enduring miscarriages. Big Oil and Big Shipping’s megaprojects would amplify these threats -- and would ultimately devastate the remaining Southern Resident orca population.
The proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline would increase oil tanker traffic in Southern Resident critical habitat SEVEN-FOLD. This means going from one oil tanker a week through these waters to one per day! Worst of all, it will also be pumping millions of gallons of toxic tar sands oil per day -- the dirtiest kind -- through this already delicate orca habitat.
The Roberts Bank T2 shipping terminal project would significantly increase cargo ship traffic and disrupt Chinook salmon migration patterns. That would drive them further away from orca habitat. The noise pollution from the ships will also disrupt the killer whales’ sonar hunting methods, preventing them from finding the few salmon left in the region. And now, the worst has happened: this shipping terminal has recently been approved by the Canadian government. But we can still fight back!
If we let Big Oil get away with their reckless plans in pursuit of profit, it could be too late for Southern Resident orcas. Between the chronic lack of salmon and the disruption of their hunting methods, orcas will starve to death and be driven to extinction. We have to show Big Oil and the shipping industry that we will not allow them to put corporate profits over the lives of precious wildlife and the ecosystems that rely on them.
We can’t let Big Oil push vulnerable orcas further toward the brink -- the time to fight back is NOW. Rush your $27 donation today.
If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Did you know that orcas play a part in the air you breathe? That’s right, Friend. Orcas release vital nutrients for phytoplankton, which in turn provide half of the oxygen we breathe. But their impact doesn’t stop there. They absorb hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon each year. This flow of nutrients promotes healthy ecosystems and a functioning planet, which is why we must protect these orcas at all costs.
But orcas are just one oil spill away from extinction. And we know that oil spills are not a matter of “if,” but rather “when.” Proposed Big Oil megaprojects like the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline could be fatal. Orcas can’t detect oil spills. When the next oil spill occurs, they may swim through toxic tar sands oil, leading to infection, suffocation, and death. Even the fumes alone can knock out and drown a full-grown whale.
Friend, how long will we let Big Oil and the shipping industry further endanger vulnerable Southern Resident orcas? Your membership support today will go a long way toward stopping these reckless megaprojects that have the potential to wipe out the remaining 73 orcas and protecting our planet.
Orcas are at a tipping point -- and if we don’t act soon, we could lose them forever. Friends of the Earth is doing everything we can to fight against greedy corporate interests and save these precious whales and our planet. But we can’t do it without your help. Please, Friend, join us in this fight and rush your $27 contribution today before the clock strikes midnight and we lose any more of these majestic creatures.
Don’t let Big Oil and corporate greed exploit our oceans for profit. Donate $27 now to stand up for orcas and our planet and help us reach our $4,630 goal.
If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
Standing with you,
Marcie Keever
Oceans and vessels program director,
Friends of the Earth
