122 Pregnant Whales Were Killed in Japan's Latest Hunt. Was This Illegal?
More than 120 pregnant female whales were among 333 killed during Japan's recent annual summer hunt off the coast of Antarctica, according to a new report.
The report, released by the International Whaling Commission this month, said 122 of the slaughtered minke whales were pregnant and 114 were considered immature.
The last hunting season in the Antarctic for Japan ran from Dec. 8 to Feb. 28.
Conservationists said the new report was further evidence that Japan was killing whales for commercial purposes under the guise of scientific research.
Whether the annual hunt is legal is unclear, as some federal and international laws are in conflict with one another.
Also at BBC and Smithsonian Magazine.
A Minke whale, after reaching maturity, ranges from 7-10 m in length and masses from 5-10 metric tons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @01:35AM (5 children)
I have to question the writing quality when the author finds it necessary to spell out the fact all the pregnant whales were female. What else would they be?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @01:41AM (1 child)
The whales could self-identify as males, despite being assigned female at birth.
Human society has jumped the shark. Oh, sorry, the shark self-identifies as an octopus. We've jumped the octopus.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday June 01 2018, @04:19PM
Actually, since mommy shark can decide to have babies without ever needing to do dirty unconscionable things with a daddy shark out of wedlock, humanity isn't jumping, but joining, the shark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @04:47AM
Remember that in seahorses, it's the male that carries the offspring to term, not the female. So technically the male seahorses are pregnant. (although there's probably a more specific technical term for it than 'pregnancy' in the mammal sense)
So with sea life it's not totally nuts to specify that it is the female that is pregnant, since not everyone will remember that whales are actually mammals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @02:19PM (1 child)
The Left everyone. "Boys can get pregnant too, BIGOT!" Also note the uproar, so Whale Abortion is wrong! But want to kill a Human fetus, that's fine by them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @04:16PM
You seem to not understand the concept of choice and fetal development. Nice to see ignorance is still in fashion.