Humpbacks face a slow death by explosives; Japan LYING about whale kills [View All]

Humpbacks face a slow death by explosives (Sydney Morning Herald)

Andrew Darby in St Kitts
June 19, 2006

HUMPBACK whales will suffer lingering deaths in Japan's scientific hunt, where they will be harpooned with equipment little different from that used on much smaller minke whales.

Doubts about the humaneness of the humpback hunt emerged when Japan refused to release details of its trial kill of fin whales to the International Whaling Commission meeting in St Kitts in the Caribbean.
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The little evidence publicly available about Japan's current minke hunt shows that fewer than half the whales die instantly, and some can take more than half an hour.
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Mike Donoghue, of the New Zealand Department of Conservation, said Japan had withheld information on its plans for killing the larger whales, even refusing to say what killing method would be used if the harpoon failed.
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"It's obvious the Japanese are hiding this because their killing methods are appalling," said Mick McIntyre, Australian director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
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more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/humpbacks-face-a-slow-death-by-explosives/2006/06/18/1150569211575.html

WOW, what an appalling article. Japan seems to have no good reason for hunting whales, but wants to 'scientifically' kill members of an endangered species, even in violation of international law. It's trying to bribe the other members of the whaling commision with economic aid, withholding information, and outright lying. All for the sake of hunting wild animals which have been virtually wiped off the face of the Earth. Is whale hunting to the Japanese (or their power elite) like bullfighting to Spain, a tradition around which they have built so much of their national self-image that they are blind to the senseless, wanton cruelty of it?