Archive for January, 2011

Extremists Renew Attacks on Japanese Whaling Fleet

Radical animal rights group Sea Shepherd is back in the news. They’re now in the waters near Antarctica, attacking Japanese whaling ships:

The video clip above was filmed from the deck of a Japanese whaling ship. It shows a little Sea Shepherd boat speeding around in front of the ship. At one point, one of the people on the boat throws a bottle at the ship. The Japanese cameraman comments on how extremely dangerous it is for them to be bringing their speedboat so close to the front of a moving ship.

Japan’s fisheries agency said that Sea Shepherd used a small boat to throw ropes and bottles at whaling vessels, according to the Kyodo news agency.
“The repeated obstructive behaviour against legitimate research activities is extremely dangerous action that threatens the vessels and the lives and property of their crew members,” the fisheries agency was quoted as saying.
The activists said the clashes involved several high speed chases and near collisions among jagged ice floes, and alleged that the whalers turned water cannon and hoses on their crew.
“Sea Shepherd responded with some rather unpleasant foul-smelling substances,” they said in a statement, adding that there were no injuries.

Judging from past attacks by Sea Shepherd, the bottles probably contained butyric acid, a rather harmful chemical.

The whaling ships are carrying out Japan’s annual Antarctic whale hunt. The hunt, which is strictly regulated by quotas, catches about 900 minke whales and 50 Fin Whales each year. The quotas are small enough that it would be hard to argue that the hunt has any significant impact on the population of either species.

Sea Shepherd justifies has justified its attacks on Japanese whalers by arguing that the whaling takes place in the International Whaling Commission’s Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. It sounds good in a press release, but conveniently ignores the fact that International Whaling Commission rules allow Japan to conduct small scale hunts within the sanctuary.

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New Year Bunny Chimpanzee

Happy 2011, everyone! Here’s a clip of Japan’s favorite chimpanzee, Pan-kun, doing a photo shoot for New Year’s greeting cards:

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