Buddhist leader steps aside amid sexual misconduct allegations

An animal protection group says the death toll appears to be rising for a small whale species off the East Coast, raising concerns that the animals are falling victim to the same threats facing endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Tonya Wimmer of the Marine Animal Response Society said Monday that since early February about 14 minke whales have been found dead at sea or on beaches in the Maritimes, largely around northern New Brunswick. Others were found in the Bay of Fundy, off Cape Breton and off the eastern tip of P.E.I.

That’s up from the average rate of about 10 deaths a year for minkes, which are not considered at risk or threatened.

“With a species that is quite common, the thought is that they can sustain more deaths, but I think when we start to see numbers that appear to be a little bit higher than normal and clumped in a particular area, it does start to raise bit of a concern,” she said.

“We really need to pay good attention to this because there does seem to be more animal (deaths).”

Wimmer said many of the carcasses found off New Brunswick were badly decomposed or were floating offshore, which means the cause of death couldn’t be determined.

However, Wimmer confirmed that several of the other animals appear to have been killed by ship strikes or entanglements in fishing gear — the main causes of death for right whales.

Wimmer said it’s possible more deaths are being reported because there is increased surveillance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the wake of about 18 North Atlantic right whale deaths last year in Canadian and U.S. waters. Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, left, and his bride Princess Tseyang Palmo smile during their Tibetan Buddhist royal wedding ceremony in Halifax on June 10, 2006.

The spiritual leader of an international Buddhist organization based in Halifax is stepping back from his duties pending the outcome of an independent investigation into sexual misconduct allegations.

In a recent letter to the Shambhala International community, the office of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche says he fully supports a third-party investigation and wishes to provide the time and space for it to occur.

Members of the Shambhala leadership body are also stepping down, saying parts of the organization are broken and need to “dissolve” to make room for real change. Nine members of the Kalapa Council say in a letter they will “exit responsibly” and have hired Halifax law firm Wickwire Holm to investigates.

The upheaval within the Buddhist community comes after a report last month detailed sexual misconduct allegations against Mipham.

In the report, at least three unnamed women accuse the Shambhala leader of heavy drinking and using his attendant to “procure women students for his own sexual gratification.”