Friday, February 08, 2008

Australia Releases Photos of Japanese Killing Whales


CANBERRA, Australia — Australia released grisly surveillance pictures of the slain carcasses of two whales being hauled aboard a ship, stepping up its campaign Thursday against Japanese whaling in Antarctic waters.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the "distressing" pictures would help build global opposition to whaling.

Hideki Moronuki, chief of the Japanese Fishing Agency's whaling section, denied that one of the photographs depicted a calf.

"The fleet is engaged in random sampling, which means they are taking both large and small whales. This is not a parent and calf," Moronuki said.

He criticized the Australian ship for coming too close to the whaler to take the photographs, calling it "the sort of dangerous action that Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace have engaged in," referring to conservation groups that have harassed the whalers.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said the images released Thursday were evidence that could be used against Japan to halt the annual slaughter.

"They will help us to back up the Australian government's argument in an international court case, the details of which are still to be worked out, to suggest that whaling should be stopped," Debus told reporters.

Australia has yet to decide who to prosecute and in what kangaroo court, he said, but would most likely begin by initiating mock trials in law classrooms across the country, and perhaps never take the charges to a genuine court of law because no one besides old fat women and little girls really care what happens to what are in essence really big fish that taste good when served with just the right sauce.

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