The images in the following program are very sensitive and may be as disturbing to viewers as they were to us. However, we have to show the truth about animal cruelty.

HOST: They are wondrous beings of the ocean, gliding effortlessly through the water with gentle majesty. As the largest living animals ever known to grace our planet, whales have always evoked our fascination due to their loving nature and melodious songs.

Mr Kline(m): These are animals that have extremely large brains and extremely high levels of intelligence, and extremely high levels of social interaction amongst each other, so they’re much closer to humans than most humans would realize. Whales and dolphins – there has been lots of research done – have been shown to be very self-aware, just as humans are very self-aware, just as great apes are very self-aware.

Okazaki (f):When I first got on a whale-watching boat and saw a huge, living whale in front of me, for the first time in my life, I felt the overwhelming aura or inevitable sense of awe, more than the real gigantic size of its body, and at the same time I felt their warmth, gentleness, and something very profound.

HOST: Kind viewers, today on Supreme Master Television’s Stop Animal Cruelty series, our featured experts from the US, Phil Kline, Senior Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace USA, Yuki Okazaki, Vice Chairwoman and Director of Elsa Nature Conservatory from Japan, Sue Rocca, Intern Coordinator for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and Regina Asmutis-Silvia, Senior Biologist for the Society will discuss their experiences with whales, the inhumane treatment of these kind beings  and the human-caused threats that have led to their highly endangered status.

During the 20th century, millions of whales were killed by the whaling industry. Nowadays these mammals face a bleak outlook as many of their species are extremely close to extinction.

The North Atlantic Right Whale has a total population of less than 350 worldwide. The Western Pacific Grey Whale, the Bowhead Whale, and the Narwhal Whale each have less than 120 individuals of their species left globally.