The whale hunt

The annual Japanese whale hunt technically started a couple of days ago, with the Japanese hunting boats leaving harbour in Japan.  They’ll travel south to waters near Antarctica to hunt, and they’ll stay there until the hunt ends next April.  This hunt is different from other years… this year, the hunters will be killing 50 humpback whales, normally a protected species.  They’ll also hunt about 1000 smaller whales.  They say they’re hunting the humpbacks for “research”, i.e., “you can’t understand them until you dissect them!” It’s a huge lie, it’s all about money and the price of whale meat, and I think it’s disgusting.  The humpback whales can live for over 100 years, and they live in family pods their entire lives.  The Japanese say that killing 50 whales won’t disrupt anything because there will be plenty of whales left, but it will sure disrupt the whale pods where death occurs.  Can you imagine if someone came along to your home, gunned down a few members of your family, and then said it didn’t matter because there were “still plenty of humans left”?!

Greenpeace will be out at the hunt with their own boats, causing trouble and disruption.  I applaud them.  IFAW sticks to less radical but still effective protests by taking battles to international courts and whaling unions and the places where this hunt can be banned by people Japan will listen to.  They’ve been extremely effective, and recently Iceland announced it would stop hunting whales, but Japan is still a battle left to win.  If you care to mention the hunt on your blog, you can send your readers to the Song of the Whale Blog to find out more.  That blog will also let them sign up for text messaging alerts about the hunt.  And hey, I’m writing most the entries for NaBloPoMo, so come by and help save a whale or fifty!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/20 at 02:32 AM

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  1. Another very important organization combating the Japanese whale hunt is Sea Shepherd (http://www.seashepherd.org/).  They’re a bit more radical and hands-on than Greenpeace, but they’ve had really good results in the past.

    Posted by Charlotte  on  11/20  at  10:10 AM
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