Boat Destroyed, Whaling Activists Take to the Air

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, as the group offloaded fuel and other potential pollutants from the Ady Gil, a futuristic trimaran, in anticipation of its sinking, the AP reports.

Each side blamed the other for the collision that sheared off the bow of the Ady Gil, the most serious run-in in the decade-long Antarctic whaling conflict. "The series of sabotage acts by the Sea Shepherd were very dangerous and risked the life and safety of the Japanese crew members," the Japanese government declared. "These acts should be strongly condemned."
(More Sea Shepherd Conservation Society stories.)