Japanese government\u2019s websites, including the ones of the prime minister\u2019s office, Taji,\u00a0Wakayama Prefecture,\u00a0the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, have been cyber attacked by Anonymous, a group of \u201chacktivists\u201d (hacker-activists) who primarily hack websites to bring about social change.<\/p>\n
\u201cSTOP these slaughters IMMEDIATELY, or get ready to face the extent of our wrath,\u201d was the online message sent by Anonymous to the Japanese government.<\/p>\n
The group has given this warning to government officials in Japan to put an end to dolphin slaughter, the international press reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Anonymous has 22 Japanese websites on their hit list.<\/p>\n Every year, Japanese whaling ships catch and often times brutally butcher up to 17,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises (known collectively as smaller cetaceans) that are found along its coastlines, according to the international press. More than one million cetaceans have been killed in Japan\u2019s waters in the past 70 years.<\/p>\n Despite the international criticism regarding Japan\u2019s whaling method, the country says its whaling habits are a matter of tradition.<\/p>\n