Posted on 01/19/2006 3:04:48 AM PST by HAL9000
A huge beached whale has been dumped outside the Japanese embassy in Berlin. in a Greenpeace anti-whaling protest.The controversial environmental activists hauled the fin whale to Berlin from the Baltic coast after finding it beached on a sandbank.
The dead whale measured 17 metres (56 ft) long and weighed 20 tons.
Activists are trying to demonstrate that there is no need to kill the mammals for research - as Japan does - because cadavers can be found.
Japan is expected to kill 935 minke whales in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary during the first four months of 2006.
The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan resumed whale hunting the following year.
Critics dispute Japan's claim to be whaling for scientific purposes, saying whale meat often ends up on restaurant tables.
A Greenpeace banner in Berlin read: "Science doesn't need harpoons! Stop the senseless whaling!"
The fin whale in Berlin - between 10 and 20 years old - is believed to have got lost in the Baltic while looking for herring. Its normal habitat is the North Atlantic.
The whale is due to be taken to Stralsund on the coast for scientific examination after the Greenpeace protest.
Haul it away. Track down the offenders and send them the bill for the cleanup. Then throw them all in jail for littering.
Scientific examination? What could be gained from studying Michael Moore's remains?
Have a link to any proof? I am not disagreeing, just want some proof.
LOL! What a great picture. Check out the guy's reaction standing next to the moped. I wonder if it's his bike?
"Because whales die acceidently, they shouldn't be killed."
Depends what you're killing them for. Research? I'd love to know what research their doing which requires the number of whales they kill. It's not like they're testing mass market products on the whales.
Food? Well then already-dead whales won't do. But supposedly food isn't the primary need.
I'll dig it up if I can (I know reports on this have been done in the past, where the whales after being "researched" showed up in the fish markets), but shear logic says you don't need to kill 935 whales per year to do research on the whales. BTW, what are they claiming to be researching anyway? Obviously, not the whales' migratory patterns or anatomy. New medicines made from the whales? So much for the so-called saving face.
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