Wetpixel

Japan slaughters 122 pregnant minke whales

Whales on Wetpixel
(Image credit: Australian Customs and Border Protection Service)

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that International Whaling Commission has reported (pdf) that the Japanese whaling fleet killed 333 Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) during last summer’s hunt. 122 of the whales killed were pregnant and 114 were immature. Japan justified the killings by claiming that they needed lethal sampling methods in order to sample age, size and stomach contents.