In a recent press release posted by JiJi Press, the Japanese Whaling fleet returned back from the Southern Atlantic Ocean with a total of 267 dead whales. Of those caught and killed, 172 whales were pregnant.

When you think of it, it is at best an outrage. Japan’s press release was that it was a “successful catch,” when in truth, whale meat is being stockpiled for people who eat it only as a luxury. The fact is, less than 2% of the Japan’s population eat whale meat.

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Although a great family movie, the Big Miracle misses the big picture.

Although for some it is very old news, I saw the film “Big Miracle”, based on a true life story about three endangered Pacific Grey Whales trapped in Alaska and the rescue efforts to save them. The unfortunate thing is that the real message was watered down and overlooked!

As is usual with scriptwriters, the story was “much to do with Hollywood” and altered from the real story. The movie, although moving and portraying the mindsets of the people and cultures affected by the “whales plight”, did touch but touch upon the realities of current Inupiat life and the lust for power by oil barons.

The only ones not really represented or understood were the ones the story was really all about – whales! Read the rest of this entry »

Justice is really blind, now that a U.S. Federal Court Judge, Richard A. Jones, is willing to listen to a frivilous lawsuit filed by the Japanese to stop the Sea Shepherd from its activities to hinder the Japanese from their so called "scientific research".

In a recent Associated Press release, The Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean (Whale) Research along with a few other countries are seeking to get a U.S. federal court to order the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to cease disrupting its whaling activities in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

What is amazing to me that a U.S. federal judge is willing to hear Japan’s whaling argument or even allow it into the federal court system. Why? Consider the fact that our own President was supposed to take the side of anti-whaling, based on his initial campaign promises.

But, as we have seen, no sanctions – other than a letter – have been written and authorized by the President – and sent to the Faroe Islands, which somehow is supposed to tell them to “stop whaling”.

It is kind of like the recent spy plane recovery. A several trillion dollar spy plane is downed in Iran. Instead of destroying or recovering it, Obama felt that we could just get it back by asking for it. Well, it will be returned – in pieces!

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Some times I amazed at the press and their PR antics.

You see this all too often. Sensationalism done for notoriety's sake.

Earlier this week, a YouTube video caught the eyes of people all over the internet world. The video captured two things if you look closely: the creation of a ‘bubble net’ used by Humpback whales to corral fish they are about to eat, and then the actual surfacing, or breaching, of Humpback whales between two kayakers and a woman on a paddle board.

It was a rare shot and actually a good one. But then the Press loves controversy:

“Woman Almost Swallowed by Whale!”

Well, sort of. Nearly doesn’t really say that she was swallowed. But anyone reading the headline bites the proverbial lie and goes to the site where such an untruth has been dealt. Read the rest of this entry »

The onslaught of endangered whales continues, while Japan ignores the real truth

It is time once again for Paul Watson and his group of merry men (and women) to brave the Antarctic seas in an attempt to disrupt and delay the extinction of a race.

I am talking about whales.

The Japanese to date have fabricated the need for whale meat, when giant frozen stores lie untouched in Japan. Why? Because less than two per cent of the Japanese population eat whale meat. Some don’t even know it is still being sold.

So why are whales being hunted by the Japanese and being killed? Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent blog from the New York Times, a “cushioned warning” has been recorded about whales,

made by President Obama against Iceland.

The warning is tantamount to saying how much the budget was cut, when in reality nothing was really “cut”.

This is a portion of the blog regarding whaling is what I want to focus on:

In a move hailed by conservation activists, President Barack Obama initiated potential diplomatic sanctions against Iceland this week for its commercial whaling activity. The sanctions include six measures ranging from possibly limiting cabinet-level visits to Iceland to limiting cooperation with Iceland in the Arctic region. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend of you and I asks your help.

Many of you who have read my ongoing blogs, know how I feel about the taking of life from sentient animals, especially whales.

My main concern has been endangered whales, but I do include dolphins, simply because I have had many wonderful opportunities to know and be with dolphins.

What I have come to realize is not the death of these animals I want to focus on – as far as Taiji is concerned – but it is only the rebirth of man’s awareness regarding his responsibility to his own environ.

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Today I read an article about a recently approved hunt of a Bowhead whale in Alaska.

The whale was hunted and killed, using a license issued through the Canadian Government.

The meat of the bowhead being cut up by an Inuit. Wait just a minute...is that a "Yamaha jacket" she's wearing? What about the "igloo cooler" in the background, and the Coleman stove? Wow! Tradition at it's height...PHOTO COURTESY APTN

Bowheads have not been hunted in one hundred years. The Inuits state that it is their right and part of their cultural heritage to do so. Some of the reasoning explained by members of the Inuit nation is that one whale can feed many people; the cost of normal meat or poultry is far more expensive. Besides, the Bowhead population is now at a sustainable level where at least eighteen Bowhead can be killed yearly. Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent article this week on ecorazzi, Pierce Brosnan took on center stage for whaling concerns:

Pierce Brosnan, photo courtesy Ecorazz1

Pierce Brosnan seems to be getting into his latest role, animal and environmental advocate. He is calling for an end to Iceland’s whale hunt.

The actor has teamed up with the National Resources Defense Council and is leading their campaign to stop Icelandic whaling. In a recent post on OnEarth, Brosnan said “Last December, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups filed a petition to stop Iceland’s rogue whaling. In response, the U.S. Commerce Secretary recently declared that Iceland is defying the international ban on commercial whaling. That declaration started the clock ticking on a 60-day period during which President Obama must decide whether or not to impose trade sanctions on Iceland.”

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In a recent article in the Huffington Post, the Faroe Vikings are at it again.

Captain Paul Watson and a few f his crew of the Sea Shepherd. Photo courtesy Fotopedia

” Paul Watson, captain and marine activist arrived in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessel, The Brigitte Bardot, to Torshvan harbor earlier in the week, creating a media frenzy in the small Nordic village bound by the cruel custom of killing in the name of culture. Local villagers showed up to oppose Sea Shepherd’s presence by offering local whale meat to the little girl and bystanders. However, the youngster refused stating, “No thank you. I don’t eat my friends.”

“Later in the week, members of the Sea Shepherd crew unveiled a mass underwater dumping ground of whale carcasses, further pointing to the large amount of waste that surrounds the sporadic hunting episodes of the socially complex marine mammals, which are listed as “strictly protected” under the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, also known as The Berne Convention. Read the rest of this entry »