Date: 25 February, 2008
More than 1-million say NO to whaling
Whales Revenge has signed up more than 1-million names in a petition to stop whaling.. and it’s not showing any sign of slowing down.
The ambitions campaign which started two years ago has attracted support from all over the world.
The concept started out simply as an arcade-style game called Whales Revenge where you are a whale, dodging harpoons and trying to sink the whaling ships with air bubbles. The idea was simple: Play the game, Sign the petition and Send it on to all your friends.
The website received a setback last month when a cyber attack forced it to shut down, however 24 hours later it was back and has gone from strength to strength.
This past weekend saw the 1-millionth name added to the constantly growing petition. Warrnambool man Nick Abrahams, was ecstatic when he realised that he had become the million-name-man.
Website founder, Patrick Bonello says “support for the site has been mind-blowing, but I was even more excited to know that someone from Warrnambool had been the landmark name. The coastal town is Victoria’s whale watching capital and people in the area are very passionate about saving these wonderful animals.”
Ultimately Patrick wants to present the petition to Prime Minster Kevin Rudd and his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark. He has been in contact with both government media departments and is hopeful of locking in a time to arrange meetings.
Mr Bonello says he would be very surprised if either PM would turn their back on more than one million people named in the petition. He also added “it’s not too late to add your name, as far as the petition is concerned it doesn’t end till the whaling stops. I reckon we can now aim for 2-million”.
Patrick is available for interview.
Phone: +61 3 5368 2434 Mobile: 0419 338 473
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for a hi-res photo for publication
Website: www.whalesrevenge.com
---------------------------------------- MEDIA RELEASE ----------------------------------------
Date: 26 January, 2008
Whale Petition Back After Cyber Attack
The biggest anti-whaling petition in history fell victim to a cyber attack that forced it to shut for nearly 24 hours, but support from friends has got the site back online and on track to 1-million names!
Nearly 900-thousand people have signed the ambitious on-line petition WhalesRevenge.com, a one man campaign by Patrick Bonello to raise awareness about Whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Patrick says he was devastated by the cyber attack which happened yesterday (Friday). “I can’t understand why someone would do this, I was absolutely floored. All I could think of was that two years of hard work had been wasted - and what could I say to the hundreds of thousands of people who have supported the site.”
His website was bombarded by what can only be described as an ‘email attack’. The site was flooded by tens of thousands of emails, crashing the server and forcing the site to shut down.
“There is no question this was a malicious attack by someone intent on bringing the site down.”
“I’m just a one man show, I’m not affiliated with any environmental groups, I just wanted to be able to take a petition of 1-million names to the Australian and New Zealand government’s and the International Whaling Commission to show them that average people want Japan to stop killing whales”.
Mr Bonello says that friends came to the rescue; “I’m so lucky that a business associate and friend Adrian Mullan came to the rescue. He worked with my hosting company Oz Servers to track down what was causing the site to crash.”
“At the end of the day I just work from a small home office in country Victoria, I don’t have the resources or money to put into solving a problem like this to get the site back up” says Patrick.
To date 889,893 people from around the world have signed the Whales Revenge petition, but that number is increasing every minute now that the site is back up.
“I’m just looking forward to the day when I can hand the petition with one-million names to Kevin Rudd and Helen Clark! I also want to thank all the people who have emailed and supported the website. We’re in the home stretch and so close to reaching our goal.”
Patrick is available for interview.
Phone: +61 3 5368 2434 Mobile: 0419 338 473 Website: www.whalesrevenge.com
Background (Previous media release)
From small beginnings, big movements can grow – especially in the age of the internet.
Patrick Bonello, set up the Whales Revenge website, with the aim of gathering 1 million signatures on an international petition to stop whaling.
The site has reached a landmark - the number of signatures has exceeded three-quarters-of-a-million and it’s still growing.
Patrick was moved to start the campaign by the graphic footage shown on Australian television of Japanese whaling ships killing whales in the Southern Ocean – on Australia’s doorstep.
Like many viewers, he was horrified by the slaughter and frustrated by his apparent powerlessness to stop it. Unlike most of them, he did something about it.
Aware that, in these days of information overload, he would need to provide an incentive for people to visit his site, he created the Whales Revenge game. Reminiscent of the original ‘Space Invaders’ game, Whales Revenge has the player trying to sink whaling ships, while trying to avoid harpoons.
It has obviously worked, as the word has so far spread to more than 200 countries and has even attracted attention from Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund.
Patrick says the aim of the petition is, first and foremost, to stop whaling, but a secondary aim is to show people that united, individuals can be a force to be reckoned with on the big issues.
He encourages anyone with a concern for the environment – or who enjoys playing a fun game! – to visit www.whalesrevenge.com, play the game, sign the petition and tell all their friends to, as well. The sooner we get the million signatures, the sooner we can make our voices heard!
Patrick is available for interviews and/or photo ops and can be contacted at the addresses and numbers below.
Phone: +61 3 5368 2434 Mobile: 0419 338 473 Website: www.whalesrevenge.com
Click
for a hi-res version of this image
(For publication and reprinting of this image please contact Patrick)