Fishermen have killed a minke whale off the Japanese port of Taiji – 19 days after the juvenile became trapped inside set fishing nets owned Taiji Fisheries Cooperative. It’s been reported that a rope was tied around the whale’s tailstock then attached to a ship, meaning the whale was held upside down with its head submerged in the water, causing its death.
Since becoming trapped, the whale would have been in prolonged distress, and global pleas to the International Affairs Division of the Japan Fisheries Agency urging for the marine mammal to be released were sadly ignored. Japanese NGO Life Investigation Agency who had been documenting the situation daily said there had been only one half-hearted attempt to free the animal, before the fishermen, claiming its size and strong tidal currents made it difficult to guide the whale back into open water, took its life.
In a final callous and inhumane act towards this magnificent whale, it is now to be butchered and its meat sold in local markets.
Photo Credit: Ren Yabuki/Life Investigation Agency
