Japan Accuses Animal Planet of EcoTerrorism Prior to “Whale Wars” Premiere
Prior to Friday’s premiere of the new Animal Planet series Whale Wars, Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research has accused Animal Planet of ecoterrorism.
The show will chronicle the exploits of an anti-whaling group who takes their quest directly to the front lines, trying to stop Japanese whaling vessels from succeeding in killing whales.
Planetsave editor and contributor Alex Felsinger recently previewed the exciting series. In short, it chronicles how the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society stopped Japanese whalers from killing at least 300 whales last winter by using harsh, combative tactics.
The Society is not afraid to unleash their fury. The show depicts hostage situations, gunfire, the attempted destruction of whaling boats, and the throwing of powerful smoke bombs on board ships. It’s not surprising given that the leader of the group, Captain Paul Watson, co-founded Greenpeace. Supposedly Watson left Greenpeace because they weren’t aggressive enough for his tastes, although other sources claim he was kicked out.
So whether or not Animal Planet is being rightly accused of supporting eco-terrorists is unclear. In addition to accusing Animal Planet of supporting ecoterrorism, the Institute of Cetacean Research has also accused them of helping the crew of the Sea Shepherd to “stage” an attack on the crew’s boat with gunfire, an event they claim never really occurred.
Personally, I find Japan’s defiance and disregard of the international whaling ban to be the true crime. They claim that they do whaling for scientific purposes, even though whale meat is sold and consumed in Japan as a delicacy, even in schools. This occurs despite recent evidence that whale meat contains toxic mercury levels.
Japan doesn’t even want to play nice after other countries tried to do so at this year’s annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Their response after other countries tried not to take any offensive actions was to say: “We are witnessing the death of the International Whaling Commission.”
If you are reading Planetsave, then you are probably as fired up as we are to watch the premiere of Whale Wars. Feel free to leave your thoughts about the show in our comments section.
Photo Credit: Animal Planet
I don’t believe it for one second!
Attacking whaling ships(when you are not given orders by the military) is crossing the line. Japan should place soldiers on those boats so they can shoot the protesters that throw smoke bombs and other extreme things.
If you want change, and don’t have a real army, then tough luck.
I hope Japan wins there case
I think that the show is going to be amazing and Japan is just being a bunch of pussys. “Research” my ass. I’m glad animal planet is doing what there doing and I’ve been waiting very unbpaitaintly to see the new series. Its just a bullying tactic Japan thinks its going to use to get us to stop kicking there asses because there coming into OUR territory and killing wales… pshhtt…. (I know I cant spell)
I’m pretty sure whales feel that Japan is the real terrorists.
I’m pretty excited about this series.
So, I need to clarify that this isn’t whale killing, this is whale hunting. They don’t leave them dead in the ocean, they consume the meat and other organs, fat, etc.
I agree, that there needs to be a conservation of endangered species, but not to this extent.
Such actions dismiss validity of international laws, and other boycott measures that can be taken against Japan.
Japan is right. By supporting extremists, you are an extremist.
Animal Planet supports terrorists.
I don’t expect every web site to make a print version of a page available, but please, at least make it possible for people to at least print out what has been highlighted/selected… your formatting makes this impossible.
Such a shame, I know people hate PETA and everything. But the time for animal rights has come - it’s time for people to start taking this seriously and stop pushing it aside just because you hate some group that campaigns for its cause.
The cause is becoming ignored because of people’s hate one of the most eccentric groups campaigning for the cause.
People don’t realize how much bad they’re doing. For one thing donating to cancer research groups contributes to animal torture. People don’t see this link, but what they need to know is that these cancer research facilities test on animals in some of the most disgusting and horrible ways imaginable.
nasty business. killing animals for food. no?
whats worse, killing a cow or a shrimp? no difference?
how about killing a horse or a shrimp?
how about your pet dog or a shrimp?
do you find any of those are ethically better or worse?
if no, then i guess the only thing we can argue is the value of making sure a species doesnt get wiped out.
if yes, i would argue that whales are the highest of the mammals - in sentience, intelligence and awareness. so i would argue that it is indeed worse to kill a whale than a cow (not by much) and definitely worse than a chicken or fish.
as a lifelong vegetarian, i find eating meat AMAZINGLY cruel. i find people who get choked up about the family pet getting ran over and crying at mcdonalds hypocrites in the highest sense of the word.
i dont eat meat for health reasons or ethical reasons. but seeing those beautiful animals get blasted with rocket powered harpoons and dragged up into boats, or the whole scale dolphin slaughter in the japanese bays just tears me up quite a bit.