Last week in concert with protests around the world, animal activists descended upon the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa and Vancouver to denounce the Japanese whaling fleet’s unprovoked ramming and destruction of the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil. Whale sounds and Maori chants were blasted through loudspeakers as a rallying cry for the almost 1000 whales doomed to be illegally slaughtered by Japanese poachers in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary, as sanctioned by the Japanese government.

Watch the video of the demos here:

On January 6, Japan launched an attack on the Ady Gil in Antarctic waters, mortally wounding this Sea Shepherd vessel and injuring a crew member.

Japan’s attack is also being denounced in mainstream media. Watch the powerful CNN interview with Sea Shepherd supporter and game-show-host legend Bob Barker at: www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/01/08/jvm.bob.barker....

Japan is in contravention of the 1986 International Whaling Commission moratorium on whaling, and is exploiting a loophole that allows lethal research as a front to sell whale flesh on the commercial market. This year the Japanese whaling fleet is targeting 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, and has threatened to add humpback whales.

In 2009 the Sea Shepherd crew witnessed and reported on the harpooning of a whale: “It was a heart-breaking experience watching the graceful, sentient, beautiful creature writhing in horrific agony for twenty-five minutes after the explosive harpoon was driven into her backside. And as this suffering whale screamed and rolled in her own blood, the whalers continued to pump high-powered rounds into her body.”

The objective of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is to sink the Japanese whaling fleet economically, and we activists around the world stand behind the Society 100%.

For more information on the Sea Shepherd campaign, please visit www.seashepherd.org.