Japanese whalers kill 122 pregnant animals 'for research'

Hunters killed one in three whales that they spotted
Tim Watters/Sea Shepherd Australia/AP
Sophie Williams30 May 2018

Whalers in Japan killed 122 pregnant females during their annual “research” hunt, a report has revealed.

During the 12 week hunting period in the Southern Ocean last summer, hunters killed a total of 333 Minke whales. Ninety-five percent of the females killed were pregnant.

Two Japanese ships hunted the whales for 12 hours a day.

According to a report to the International Whaling Commission, only eleven whales managed to escape, by moving to areas of the ocean that had a high density of ice.

The report found that the whalers killed one in three of the protected animals that they spotted.

Japan argues that the hunt is for scientific research. However in 2014, the international court of justice put a temporary halt to the hunt claiming that it was not for scientific purposes.

It was restarted two years later after Japan agreed to reduce its catch quota by a third.

The new report claims that the whales were killed to obtain data on the “age, sexual maturity and body length of the whales.”

Australia has described the results of the report as disappointing.

The country’s Federal Environmental Minister Josh Frydenberg said: “The Australian Government is deeply disappointed that Japan continues to under-take the so-called ‘scientific whaling.’

“The Government has made representations at the highest levels to Japan – and will continue to do so.”

It is understood that Japan intends to catch about 4,000 whales over the next 12 years, and ultimately plans to resume commercial whaling.

In a statement, Alexia Wellbelove, Senior Program Manager at Humane Society International said: “The killing of 122 pregnant whales is a shocking statistic and sad indictment on the cruelty of Japan’s whale hunt.

"It is further demonstration, if needed, of the truly gruesome and unnecessary nature of whaling operations, especially when non-lethal surveys have been shown to be sufficient for scientific needs."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in