clipped from www.independent.co.ukThe North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered mammals, is in danger of extinction because the Bush administration has, so far, refused to impose measures to protect the creatures from being hit by ships near busy US ports.
Plans for a speed limit on shipping during the whales' migration season are bogged down in bureaucracy, which environmentalists say Vice-President Dick Cheney's office is orchestrating.
Only 350 or so right whales remain in existence.
Between 2002 and 2006, 17 right whales – six of them adult females – were hit by ships and died. Since then, several calves have been killed by ships or becoming entangled in fishing gear.
But Ms Cornish argued: "What they are saying is, the faster the ships go, the sooner they are in and out of the way. So why not have speeding cars in front of a school, so they are in and out of the way before they hit a child?"
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