whaler

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Activists Tangle With Japanese Whaler

Sea Shepherd up to its usual tricks; Japan not amused

(Newser) - It's whaling season in the Antarctic Ocean, which means the rotten-butter-wielding activists at Sea Shepherd were busy making life miserable for the Japanese whaler Yushin Maru No. 2 today. Activists hurled paint and butyric acid—found in the aforementioned rotten butter—at the ship, as well as ropes designed...

Japan Bribes Reps on Whaling Commission
 Japan Bribes 
 Reps on Whaling 
 Commission 
INVESTIGATION

Japan Bribes Reps on Whaling Commission

London 'Times' says it has video of officials who sold votes

(Newser) - Japan is marching toward a repeal of the 24-year-old ban on commercial whaling, momentum it's built largely by greasing the palms of the International Whaling Commission, reports the Times of London in an exclusive investigation. Japan denies impropriety, but the Times says it's got video of officials admitting Japan pays...

Japanese Whalers Injured by Acid-Firing Activists

Face, eye injuries claimed from rancid butter spray

(Newser) - Three crew members of a Japanese whaling vessel suffered face and eye injuries from acid fired by anti-whaling protesters during their latest clash in the Antarctic Ocean, their employers said today. The Sea Shepherd protesters said they shot butyric acid—which they maintain is nontoxic—produced from stinking rancid butter,...

Activists Vow to Bust Boat-Destroying Whalers

Sea Shepherd donations are pouring in after sinking

(Newser) - The head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says that if the Australian and New Zealand governments fail to arrest the Japanese whalers who sank the Ady Gil, he'll do it himself. Paul Watson—whose group has already filed piracy charges against the crew of the Shonan Maru and is...

Boat Destroyed, Whaling Activists Take to the Air

Whale war heats up after Sea Shepherd boat is destroyed

(Newser) - The anti-whaling group whose high-tech boat was destroyed by a Japanese whaler in Antarctic waters yesterday has continued to pursue their target by helicopter, and vowed to keep up the harassment. "We now have a real whale war on our hands," declared the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's leader,...

Whalers Sink Activist Boat
 Whalers Sink Activist Boat 

Whalers Sink Activist Boat

Crew safe after Ady Gil rammed by Japanese in Antarctica

(Newser) - An activist boat operated by the Sea Shepherd conservationist group has sunk off Antarctica after a clash with Japanese whalers. All six crew members were saved after the Ady Gil high-tech speedboat was sliced in half by the Japanese ship Shonan Maru, the Times of London reports. The boat was...

Dark, Whimsical Ledger Music Vid Debuts

Takes a stand against illegal whale hunts

(Newser) - Modest Mouse has debuted Heath Ledger’s whimsical-yet-dark video for the song “King Rat," the AP reports. In the video, which takes aim at illegal whale hunts, Dr Seuss-like animated whales and dolphins go on a bloody hunt for humans, notes Vanity Fair. Watching it might require a...

Japanese 'Frankenwhale' Experiments Slammed

Scientists say whale research is bizarre, useless

(Newser) - Scientists have reviewed the research Japan uses to justify hunting whales, and they've concluded that it is mostly useless—and very weird, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reports.   Researchers tried to fertilize cow and pig eggs with whale sperm, and to create test-tube whales from frozen sperm.  "It's totally...

Activists Hurl 'Acid' at Whalers
Activists Hurl 'Acid' at Whalers

Activists Hurl 'Acid' at Whalers

Action draws condemnation from Japan, Australia

(Newser) - In the latest clash between Japanese whalers and activists in Antarctic waters, members of a militant anti-whaling group threw bottles of a slick, foul-smelling rancid butter concoction onto the whaling fleet's flagship. Japanese officials said three sailors were injured when butyric acid, found in spoiled butter, splashed into their eyes,...

Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes
Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes

Whales Fall as Hunt Resumes

With Greenpeace gone to refuel, fleet harpoons 5 more

(Newser) - Japanese whalers have resumed their hunt in Antarctic waters, killing at least five whales when protest ships pulled back to refuel, the Australian News Network reports. Witnesses reported seeing the whales harpooned in the Southern Ocean after ships from Greenpeace and another protest group withdrew. In Tokyo, the Australian foreign...

Aussies Demand Whalers Release Eco-Warriors

Australian goverment moves to free men from belly of whaling ship

(Newser) - An Australian customs ship is steaming on it way to pick up two protesters being held on board a Japanese whaling ship, where they were lashed to a railing, CNN reports. The activists were seized by the ship's crew Tuesday after they boarded to deliver a protest letter saying that...

Judge Bans Japanese Whalers in Aussie Waters

Eco-warriors 'kidnapped,' tied to ship's mast

(Newser) - An Australian judge has banned hunting by Japanese whalers in a large section of their traditional grounds in Australian-claimed waters off Antarctica. The ruling came today just hours after crew members of a militant eco-ship boarded a Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean to deliver a protest note—then...

Greenpeace Ship Scatters Japanese Whalers

Hunt for 1,000 whales disrupted in sea chase

(Newser) - The Greenpeace pursuit of Japanese whaling ships continued yesterday after a ship operated by the environmental group earlier chased down and scattered a fleet of six Japanese whaling vessels in the waters off Antarctica. The Japanese fleet plans to hunt down 1,000 whales in what operators call a "...

Risky Showdown Looms as Eco-Ships Near Whalers

High noon on high seas as rival vessels battle to save mammoth creatures

(Newser) - Fears of a deadly battle increased yesterday as a Greenpeace ship began to close in on a Japanese whaling fleet intending to kill 1,000 whales. Also steaming through the Southern Ocean off Antarctica was a far more militant "eco ship," planning to ram the whaling vessels. "...

New Zealand to Japanese Whalers: Go Home!

'Deception' blasted as fleet sails for 'research'

(Newser) - As a Japanese whaling fleet churned to Antarctic waters, a furious New Zealand prime minister today blasted the "deception" of Japan's claim that the killing ships will conduct research rather than commercial whaling. It would be better "if the Japanese stayed home," said Helen Clark. The fleet...

This Seafarer Hunts Whalers, Not Whales

‘Sea Shepherd’ enforces own marine rules, ignores others

(Newser) - Paul Watson is far too radical for Greenpeace, the group he co-founded. His vigilante group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a roving pack of eco-saboteurs, trolling international waters for whalers—and ramming the offending ships. Watson usually operates illegally, and his theatrical and violent defense of aquatic life is credited...

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