Japan might kill worlds only white whale

[Flashermac]

Australians fear that the world's only known white humpback whale could be slaughtered as Japan's whaling fleet prepares to embark on its annual hunt in the Southern Ocean.

 

The unique male whale, named Migaloo - an Aboriginal word for "white fella" - has become a celebrity in Australia since being spotted for the first time in 1991.

 

Each year Migaloo - along with thousands of other humpbacks - migrates from the icy seas of Antarctica to the warm shallows of the South Pacific and the Great Barrier Reef.

 

The arrival of 45ft-long Migaloo - believed to be the only completely white humpback in the world - is keenly anticipated by whale watchers along Australia's east coast.

 

He has been hailed as modern day Moby Dick, even though the creature in Herman Melville's 1851 classic was a sperm whale.

 

Conservationists fear that Migaloo is so accustomed to whale watching and fishing boats, that he will be easy pickings for Japanese hunters.

 

...

 

The Fisheries Agency in Tokyo refused to rule out killing Migaloo today, with officials offering a blunt "no comment" to media inquiries.

 

Instead the agency called on Australia and New Zealand to ensure that the Japanese fleet would be protected from anti-whaling ships operated by a militant environmental group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

 

Last year Sea Shepherd threatened to ram the Japanese fleet with a ship fitted with a bulldozer-type blade. The group has been branded environmental terrorists by Tokyo.

 

Link

[Barry]

I think they need reminding of Ausgust 1945.

[Flashermac]

Frequently! Of course, the Japanese mostly believe the evil Brits and Yanks forced that war on them and that they were the victims.

 

 

 

[Torneyboy]

Crazy..and wrong