Japanese government suspends whaling. Thanks to the efforts of organizations such as Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Japanese government has announced it will stop its whale hunt for an undetermined amount of time. Every year, during the whale hunting season, Sea Shepherd activist ships inhabit the same waters as the whalers to protect the marine mammals from being caught and ultimately killed. In an interview with Supreme Master Television, Captain Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd, who has also been honored with a Shining World Hero Award from Supreme Master Ching Hai, comments on the sentient nature of these gentle giants of the sea. 

Captain Paul Watson – Founder, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Shining World Hero Award laureate, Vegan (M): I’ve been involved with opposing whaling operations for 40 years and certainly the whales over the years I’ve seen that have been killed are in extreme agony. These are very highly intelligent, sensitive creatures and there’s certainly no doubt about it; we’ve heard them scream. It’s probably one of the cruellest slaughter of any wildlife species on the planet because it takes so long to kill a whale.

VOICE: Although there has been a commercial whaling moratorium in effect since the 1980s, an exception to the law allows for the hunting of whales for research purposes, which often leads to exploiting the animals for meat.

Captain Paul Watson (M): All we have to do really is to uphold international conservation law. We have all the rules, regulations and treaties we need to protect whales, but we have a lack of economic and political motivation on the part of governments to uphold those laws. So that’s why non-government organizations are forced to go in there and do the job that governments refuse to do.

VOICE: It is possible that more than 850 minke whales will be saved this season by the halt in whaling. In a recent interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network, Captain Watson stated the group’s mission very simply as he said, “Every whale saved is a victory to us.”

We offer our gratitude and respect to Captain Watson and the other brave and resolute members of Sea Shepherd Conservation International for your efforts that have preserved the lives of these precious, intelligent, and sensitive sea mammals. May the day come soon that a complete and permanent ban on whaling is enacted throughout the world. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_whaling_2 http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3141069.htm http://www.hsi.org/issues/whaling/facts/iwc_moratorium.html
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-bytes/animalia/eumetazoa/coelomates/deuterostomes/chordata/craniata/mammalia/cetacea/endangered-whales-fs.htm