‘SLOWLY STARVING TO DEATH’: Whale trapped in nets in Japan for two weeks, evil authorities will not rescue
HSI: The whale has become increasingly distressed and agitated, ramming the nets and deep diving in an effort to escape. Time is running out for the whale who will be getting weaker by the day.
JUSTIN MCCURRY: Animal rights campaigners have demanded the immediate release of a minke whale that has been trapped for more than two weeks in nets in Taiji, a town on Japan’s Pacific coast known for its annul dolphin cull. Japanese media reported that attempts were being made to free the four or five metre long whale but fishermen claimed its size and strong tidal currents were making it difficult to guide it into open water. Ren Yabuki – an animal rights activist who has been filming the whale with a drone every day since it became trapped on Christmas Eve – said fishermen had made only one brief attempt to release the animal, adding that its fate appeared to have been decided…
Georgie Dolphin, animal welfare programme manager at Humane Society International [HSI] in Australia, said the whale had become “increasingly distressed and agitated, ramming the nets and deep diving in an effort to escape”… “We fear time is now running out for the whale who will be getting weaker by the day. Intentionally subjecting these leviathans to prolonged suffering is inhumane and unjustified. HSI is hoping the Japanese authorities will insist on the immediate release of the whale.”
The Japanese fisheries agency told HSI that it had asked the prefectural government to release the whale if it was possible and safe to do so. “We gather the fishermen are claiming safety issues and concern over the tides but we fear the delays could cost the whale its life,” HSI said… “It is difficult to guide the whale out of the nets and they don’t want to remove the nets as that would disrupt fishing and allow a large number of fish to escape, so my feeling is that they are going to kill it,” said Yabuki, campaign director of the Life Investigation Agency. If they slaughter the whale, fishermen would be able to sell its meat after taking a DNA sample, Yabuki added. SOURCE…
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