The Japanese are still insisting on whaling in the southern ocean adjacent to Australia's Antarctic Territory. Their excuses for this appalling slaughter of whales are nonsense.
They claim they kills whales for scientific purposes, yet there are no scientific publications of any consequence resulting. One whale maybe, but certainly not a thousand.
They claim it is a traditional activity and that they like to eat whale meat. This is a direct contradiction to the first excuse, and it is also false. The Japanese have no traditions of eating whale meat, and have only recently engaged in large marketing campaigns in Japan to get people to eat more.
The Japanese do not need to kill or eat whales. This barbaric activity must stop.
A Japanese escort ship has just rammed and sunk the Andy Gill, one of Sea Shepherd's boats attempting to prevent them whaling. This is a deliberate and hostile action that could easily have resulted in a loss of life.
The Australian Government (Peter Garrett and Kevin Rudd) must take immediate action to enforce international law regarding the protection of whales, and they must send a ship to the Southern Ocean to ensure that peace is kept and no deaths result.
As individuals we can also boycott all Japanese goods and products until they stop the whaling
2 comments:
Sorry Peter but when you look at the numerous footage of the Ady Gil collision, she was at fault, and this has been also confirmed by Commander Norman MacMillian (retired) of the the Australian Navy.
It appears that the skipper of the Ady Gil was either not paying attention to the location of the Japanese ship, or deliberately decided to cause an incident by crossing its bow.
From numerous footage, the Japanese ship was veering to port in moderate seas to avoid a collision, while everybody on the Ady Gil appears (by their footage) to be just having a good time, and not paying attention (ie. not taking due care).
If it goes to a maritime court, who would have to handle any legal action, I believe that the skipper of the Ady Gil would be held accountable for the loss of his ship, possible being ordered to pay for any damage to the Japanese ship.
The Australian Government would have also been advised the above, so they will run a small inquiry, partially release the results, and quietly apologise to the Japanese, which has probably already been done (under the table for political reasons).
On the issue of whaling, although I do not agree with it, I believe that the Japanese should just drop the research bull, and state they are harvesting for food. Is it much worse than shooting thousands of kangaroos each year leaving many to die of their wounds, shooting hundreds of camels in central Australia each year, also leaving many to die of their wounds, or killing of seals by Eskimos by clubbing them to death. I suggest that each culture has their own gruesome way of getting meat / sea food, and whaling is only one of many that could be quoted. Eg. when was the last time you went to an abattoir to see how your lamb chops, steaks, sausages were obtained. You would probably still be throwing up a week later.
Grant, I have to disagree. From the video footage I have seen the Japanese ship changed direction to target the Ady Gill and game in with the clear intention of ramming it. They had their water cannons going in attack mode too.
Kangaroos, seals and elephants are all different issues.
I think it is clear that whaling is cruel, barbaric and totally unnecessary.
It seems that some Japanese (not all) are recalcitrant and dishonest about their whaling.
It is very disappointing that Rudd, Garrett and Gillard are all doing nothing effective to stop this.
But then I guess they support logging old growth forests too.
I have killed sheep, rabbits and fish in my time, and have visited abbatoirs so I have a very good idea about what I eat and how it got to my plate.
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