{"id":112169,"date":"2018-06-04T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=112169"},"modified":"2018-05-31T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T15:48:54","slug":"japanese-hunters-kill-120-pregnant-minke-whales-during-summer-months-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/06\/japanese-hunters-kill-120-pregnant-minke-whales-during-summer-months-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Hunters Kill 120 Pregnant Minke Whales during Summer Months \u2013 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conservationists call for end of \u2018abhorrent\u2019 whaling programme that Japan, deceitfully, argues is conducted for scientific purposes.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Japan resumed whaling in 2016 under a revamped plan and with reduced quotas.
Photograph: Glenn Lockitch\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

30 May 2018 – <\/em>More than 120 pregnant whales were killed during Japan\u2019s annual \u201cresearch\u201d hunt in the Southern Ocean last summer, a new report has revealed.<\/p>\n

Of the 333 minke whales caught during the controversial 12-week expedition, 181 were female \u2013 including 53 immature ones. Figures show that of the 128 mature female whales caught in the hunt, 122 were pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparent pregnancy rate of sampled animals was high (95.3%) and no lactating animal was observed in this survey,\u201d said a technical report<\/a> submitted to the International Whaling Commission.<\/p>\n

Conservationists seized on the document as further evidence of the \u201cabhorrent\u201d whaling programme, which Japan<\/a> argues is conducted for scientific purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe killing of 122 pregnant whales is a shocking statistic and sad indictment on the cruelty of Japan\u2019s whale hunt,\u201d Alexia Wellbelove, a senior program manager at Humane Society International, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014, the international court of justice ordered a temporary halt<\/a> to the annual slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean, finding that the Japanese programme known as Jarpa II was not for for scientific purposes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The blood-stained deck of the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru in January 2014.
Photograph: Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

But Japan resumed whaling in the region two years later under a revamped whaling plan<\/a>, that included reducing its catch quota<\/a> to about a third.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch effort began 60 minutes after sunrise and ended 60 minutes before sunset, with a maximum 12 hour per day,\u201d said the report, prepared by representatives of the Institute of Cetacean Research \u2013 a whale research agency that is associated with Japan\u2019s fisheries ministry. It was co-written with authors from the fisheries processing company Kyodo Senpaku and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne or two minke whales were sampled randomly from each primary sighted school using harpoons with a 30g penthrite grenade,\u201d it said, referring to an explosive material.<\/p>\n

\u201cSampled whales were immediately transported to the research base vessel, where biological measurements and sampling were carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report said 11 targeted whales managed to get away before being hit, mainly because they had moved into an area where sea ice was dense.<\/p>\n

Wellbelove called on Australia and other anti-whaling countries to send \u201cthe strongest possible message to Japan that it should stop its lethal whaling programs\u201d.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

More: <\/em>Japan to replace whaling mother ship in sign hunts will go on–<\/a><\/em>
\n–– Officials say they need a faster ship to evade anti-whaling activists<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 May 2018 – Of the 333 minke whales caught during the controversial 12-week expedition, 181 were female \u2013 including 53 immature ones. Figures show that of the 128 mature female whales caught in the hunt, 122 were pregnant. Conservationists call for end of \u2018abhorrent\u2019 whaling programme that Japan, deceitfully, argues is conducted for scientific purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":112170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-rights-vegetarianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}