Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Japan: Shedding Crocodile (or Whale?) Tears!

The Japanese have been allowed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) a kill of 440 minke whales per annum, purportedly for “scientific purposes”. When challenged as to the need to kill so many of these whales for science, the Japanese argued that the minke whales are nothing more than pests of the seas, competing with fisheries for food source.. Besides, their slaughter should not affect whaling numbers as they are far too many.

Scientists from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (the type who don’t need to kill hundreds of whales in their research), proved that the Japanese have been lying in their claims that whales are competing for food with other fishes important to man.

Now, would you believe it, Tokyo has shed crocodile … eh … or should it be whale ….. tears!

The Japanese reckoned the minke whales are in danger – no, not from the Japanese, never.

No, these minke whales are in danger from their bigger and more delicious cousins, the humpback whales, who are out-eating those poor pests … eh … they mean…. endangered minkes.

The Japanese suggested that there were signs minke whales had diminished in its population in recent years. The conclusion, “scientific” of course, has been that these poor minke whales couldn’t compete with the humpbacks for the shrimp-like krill that is whales' main food. The fact that 440 (or even more) killed each year by the Japanese of course has nothing to do with its diminishing population - according to the Japanese.

The Japanese solution? Purely “scientific” of course.

They want to conduct some "biological sampling" – basically lethal research – to learn the truth. And of course, never one to waste, after the couple of minutes of slicing up the lab specimen, the whale meat shall go straightaway to the Japanese market and the Wakayama school lunches. Banzai!

In other words, the story has ended up where the Japanese wanted it to in the first place – the IWC will now be persuaded to approve the slaughter of nearly 1,000 whales, more than double the current IWC permitted numbers, and to include the delicious humpback whales, though the minke aren’t yet safe. The men from Nippon want to kill them too – I suppose, just to be fair and square.

The Humane Society International said:

"If they are so worried about minke whales, why are they planning to kill 936 a year? This is not credible science. It's an utter sham to prop up the Japanese Government's whale-eating position."

Australians, Kiwis and the Paicifc Islanders are furious at the Japanese whale of a hypocritical BS.

If the Japanese are worried about the minke whales, then I’ll kowtow at the Yasukuni Shrine.

Related posting:
It’s Official – Whales are FISH!


Japan: A Whale of a BS-ter

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