U.S.Military Base Okinawa threatens Dugongs habitat - The Petition Site

U.S.Military Base Okinawa threatens Dugongs habitat - The Petition Site: "Habitats of endangered animals can not be disturbed. The U.S. Military should know this and act accordingly. The survival of the dugong is more important than anything else ! They have the power to help or destroy them... people all over the world count on it that this Military Base will not be responsable for their extinction and save their habitat !"

The U.S. and Japanese governments are planning to destroy the best remaining habitat of a unique and critically endangered marine mammal, the Okinawa dugong. This dugong, a relative of the manatee, is a rare marine mammal that feeds in the seagrass beds and coral reefs of Okinawa's Henoko Bay. Fewer than 50 individual dugongs remain in an area described by the United Nations Environment Program as "the most important known dugong habitat in Japan." If the U.S. military proceeds with its Camp Schwab construction plan this exceptional, rare animal will lose the best habitat it has left and begin its last slide toward extinction. Of particular concern are proposals to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base from its current cramped location on one part of the island, where it is surrounded by civilian development, to an offshore site. The base, which supports helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, is home to more than 4,000 Marines and sailors. The primary problem is that the new home of the airfield would be literally right on top of and next to a coral reef. The reef area provides he most important remaining habitat for the rare dugong ! The Okinawa dugong is a protected "national monument" under the Japanese "Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties". However, at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in March, Justice Department lawyer Charles Shockey said any actual development at the site is years away. Nevertheless, if they get their ways, it will be done...http://www.mongabay.com/external/okinawa_dugong.htmUntil then, the dugongs will go about their business, oblivious to the fact they may once again face a military assault from the United States, or that their fate may be in the hands of lawyers and judges thousands of miles away. If we do not act, their habitat will be lost and they will get extinct...Also sign the change.org petition :http://www.change.org/actions/view/us_military_base_in_okinawa_threatens_rare_dugongsWatch the Greenpeace movie about this problem :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwYE0ixR9Z0

U.S.Military Base Okinawa threatens Dugongs habitat - The Petition Site