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The Yushin Maru - Source: Reuters -
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A cartoon whale is urging kids to help stop the killing of his
real-life brothers and sisters - and has a swimming star spreading
his message.
Australian Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Leisel Jones launched
the new Save Bubbie - Save A Whale anti-whaling campaign at
Sydney's Darling Harbour.
The campaign, aimed at children, features Bubbie the wise-cracking
blue whale from The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack.
The cartoon, which had its Australian television premiere two days
ago, follows the adventures of Flapjack, a young sailor who
befriends Bubbie.
Jones said she leapt at the chance to join the campaign.
"Initially I was always very passionate about anti-whaling, so I
guess this was just a fun way of getting our message across," she
said.
Jones said educating children about whaling was a high priority of
hers.
"It was raised to me as a child, when I was in primary school, and
I've been passionate about it ever since," she said.
"I think that's what this cartoon is going to get across to them is
that we need to look after our environment, we need to
recycle."
Jones, who attended the International Whaling Commission meeting in
Portugal last month, said she found out how drawn-out the
bureaucratic process can be.
"It was really good to see what goes on every year and how
difficult it is," she said.
"It was hard, we've been going on for years and years and can't
come to an agreement."
She reiterated federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett's message
about the economic value of whale and dolphin conservation.
"I think most Australians are on the same page, we want to conserve
our marine life," Jones said.
"We love our marine life, we love our dolphins, we love our whales
and people can appreciate it with whale watching."
The Marvellous Misadventures Of Flapjack is showing on the pay-TV
channel Cartoon Network.
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