Let them live

The Dominion Post takes a stand against Japan's plan to kill more than 1000 whales

UNWELCOME MESSAGE: An official from the Japanese embassy receives the anti-whaling letter from The Dominion Post.

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A national campaign to halt the slaughter of more than a thousand whales in the Southern Ocean has been launched by The Dominion Post.
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Sparks flew yesterday when editor Tim Pankhurst kick-started the newspaper's campaign with an attempt to deliver a letter to Japan's ambassador to New Zealand, Toshihiro Takahashi, calling for the cessation of its annual whaling campaign.

Mr Takahashi was unavailable to accept the letter, but moments after handing the correspondence to an embassy official and explaining the campaign, Mr Pankhurst and three editorial staff were ejected from the embassy's Wellington headquarters by security staff, who objected to the taking of video and photos.

Police were called to the incident but no action was taken.

Mr Pankhurst said the Japanese Government and the people it represented were on a collision course with Australia and New Zealand over whaling.

"It is time to up the ante," he said. "Japan must be left in no doubt their actions in the Southern Ocean are deeply offensive and must be resisted on every possible front."

If there were sufficient outcry, Japan might concede its cultural imperialism was illegitimate and unsustainable, he said.

Japan plans to kill about 935 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales, under the guise of scientific research, but the issue causing the most annoyance around the world is the intention to kill 50 threatened humpback whales for the first time in decades.

The charismatic species is a favourite of the billion-dollar whale-watching industry.

The Japanese fleet is understood to be close to Antarctic waters and could begin whaling in a matter of days.

New Zealander Karli Thomas, expedition leader of Greenpeace's Esperanza ship, which is preparing to set sail for the Southern Ocean, said adding endangered and threatened whales to the hunting list was shameful. "Common sense just tells you how wrong it is. There is a reason why these species have been listed and to start hunting them is just madness.

"That's something we really want to communicate with the Japanese public - harvesting sustainable resources is putting huge additional threat on species that are already listed as being in danger," she said.

Meanwhile, in Australia a customs vessel armed with machineguns may be deployed to the Southern Ocean as part of beefed-up federal government monitoring of the Japanese whale hunt.

The 105-metre Oceanic Viking is fitted with two deck-mounted 0.50 calibre machineguns and carries a full civilian crew.

- © Fairfax NZ News