Sea Shepherd Loses Appeal for Charitable Status

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This decision is absurd!   When Sea Shepherd prevents a whale from dying, they are 'caring' for a whale. If preventing a whale's untimely and painful death isn't 'caring' for the whale, what is?! Apparently  Justice Gordon defines 'caring'  only as keeping  an animal alive,  caged or a captive in an aquarium.

For Sea Shepherd and many of us, caring for an animal is  doing whatever it takes to ensure the animal will survive, and whenever possible, live free. 

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Federal Court rejects Sea Shepherd bid for charitable status

ANTI-WHALINGcampaignerSea Shepherd has lost a bid to receive charitable status after the Federal Court ruled it does not provide care for whales simply by stopping their killers.

Sea Shepherd has been seeking endorsement to become a deductible gift recipient, arguing it met the definition of a group which provided short-term direct care to animals that were lost, mistreated or without owners.

The Commissioner of Taxation and Administrative Appeals Tribunal both refused its application, prompting an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court which today handed down a divided decision.

Justices Anthony Besanko and Michelle Gordon said Sea Shepherd did not meet the necessary definition because of the way in which it targeted the Japanese whaling fleet. "Taking steps to interrupt or prevent others harming animals in the wild, as Sea Shepherd does, is not the provision of 'short-term direct care to animals'," Justice Gordon said in her decision. "What Sea Shepherd attempts to do is to prevent the killing of whales. It does not provide care to any animal."

Justice Julie Dodds-Streeton disagreed, saying blocking the Japanese factory ships to stop dead whales being processed averted the deaths of nearby whales. "In my opinion, protection from harm by taking action to intercept or prevent the infliction of threatened injury or death is also a common place (rather than rare or arcane) meaning of care," she said.

SOURCE: Pia Akerman, The Australian, July 3, 203, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/federal-court-rejects-sea-shepherd-bid-for-charitable-status/story-e6frg6nf-1226673678064.