You know what’s fucked up? Whaling. That’s what. The ABC has this afternoon published a seriously disturbing report accompanied by the release of video captured by conservationist group Sea Shepherd depicting the findings of Operation Relentless: five Japanese whaling vessels – one with four dead minke whales on board – caught poaching in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for the first time this whale hunting season. Sea Shepherd’s Australian chairman and former Greens leader Bob Brown describes “this grotesque and cruel destruction” thusly:
“There’s three carcasses on the ship; a fourth carcass has been cut up. There’s blood all over the place, meat being carted around on this factory ship deck, offal [and] innards being dumped in the ocean. [It’s] just a gruesome, bloody, medieval scene which has no place in this modern world.” Brown has called on Environment Minister Greg Hunt – he who uses Wikipedia to discredit climate change’s role in causing bushfires #smdh – to live up to his pre-election promises and appoint a Customs vessel – either a plane or a ship – to monitor the fleet in the Southern Ocean.
Brown continues, “[As a] minimum, keep that election promise, have the surveillance… do what the Labor government failed to do: when you get the footage put it out to the world and let the world see what a disgusting operation this is.”
Presented below, here is an example of that footage. Warning: it’s pretty graphic. Which is to say, it’s fucked up.
