REYKJAVIK: Is it a blue whale or not? The slaughter in Iceland of what is claimed was a member of the endangered species has triggered outrage and left experts puzzled about its true identity.
“There has not been a blue whale harpooned by anyone for the last 50 years until this one,” Sea Shepherd, an international non-profit marine conservation movement, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The group, which published photos of the mammal being butchered for export at an Icelandic whaling station on the night of July 7, said the fishermen “posed for photos next to and even on top of the whale in a sign they knew very well this was a rare blue whale.”
But Icelandic experts are not completely certain whether it is indeed the world’s largest leviathan, which the International Whaling Commission has been protecting since 1966.
They’re also not sure if it could be the endangered fin whale, the second largest animal on the planet, which can only be legally hunted in Iceland despite an international moratorium on whaling.
Kristjan Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf, the whaling station which slaughtered the animal, said they did so believing it was a fin whale.
Most of the fin whales killed are exported as meat to Japan.
“We see blue whales all the time and identify them by their blowholes...but we leave them alone,” he told AFP.
For Gisli Vikingsson, a scientist at the Marine and Freshwater Research Institute in Reyjkavik, the butchered whale’s characteristics are similar to both the blue and fin whale.
“There is a large dorsal side with a small dorsal fin like a fin whale...this explains perhaps why it was hunted as such,” he told AFP, adding its “size and markings on the side are like those of a blue whale.”
He added the whale could even be a hybrid species resulting from cross-breeding between the fin and blue whale, which is a rare phenomenon.
Since 1987, five such animals have been observed in Icelandic waters and they are known to be infertile.
All killed whales in Iceland undergo DNA tests after the hunting season and the results are released during the fall.
However, due to the controversy surrounding this particular case, a test will be done earlier than planned and the results are expected at the end of July.
But Sea Shepherd said the fishing crew which butchered the animal mixed its parts with previously caught fin whales, making “it difficult or impossible to locate during potential inspections by the authorities.”
“This shows how inaccurate and imperfect this hunting is and there is no need to continue it,” Sigursteinn Masson, Iceland representative for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told AFP.
Should the killed whale be confirmed as a hybrid, then things could become even more complicated as there are no laws to protect them.
“Hybrids are much more rarer than the blue whales,” Masson said.
Outrage as Iceland fishermen kill rare whale
Outrage as Iceland fishermen kill rare whale
- The fishermen “posed for photos next to and even on top of the whale in a sign they knew very well this was a rare blue whale.”
Japan’s beloved last pandas leave for China as ties fray
TOKYO: Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbors fray.
Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao are due to be transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.
“Although I can’t see them, I came to share the same air with them and to say, ‘Hope you’ll be OK,’” one woman visiting the zoo told public broadcaster NHK.
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month during a diplomatic spat that began when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalized diplomatic ties in 1972.
Their repatriation comes a month before their loan period expires in February, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates Ueno Zoo.
Japan has reportedly been seeking the loan of a new pair of pandas.
However, a weekend poll by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 70 percent of those surveyed do not think the government should negotiate with China on the lease of new pandas, while 26 percent would like them to.
On Sunday, Ueno Zoo invited some 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery to see the pandas for the last time.
Passionate fans without tickets still turned out at the park, sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to demonstrate their love of the animals.
China has discouraged its nationals from traveling to Japan, citing deteriorating public security and criminal acts against Chinese nationals in the country.
Beijing is reportedly also choking off exports to Japan of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
However, China routinely removes pandas from foreign countries and the latest move may not be politically motivated, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and an expert in East Asian international relations.
“If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts,” and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
Other countries use animals as tools of diplomacy, including Thailand with its elephants and Australia with its koalas, he added.
“But pandas are special,” he said. “They have strong customer-drawing power, and... they can earn money.”
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