greenpeace.org — Japanese police have arrested two Greenpeace activists for exposing a whale meat scandal involving the government-sponsored whaling programme. The two activists, Junichi Sato, 31, and Toru Suzuki, 41, are being investigated for allegedly stealing a box of whale meat which they presented as evidence.
Jun 20, 2008 View in Crawl 4
wakkyweedJun 21, 2008
I call the blow hole!
ulmanorJun 21, 2008
Stare at the story's title for long enough, and it just becomes a string of random words.Seriously.Try it:Outrage. Greenpeace. Whale. Meat. Scandal. Whistleblowers. Arrest.
ancientdinkoJun 21, 2008
wait a minute...whales eat stupid creatures
argaen21Jun 21, 2008
Ya, it does make them wrong. They are supposed to be part of the anti-whaling community, but in the name of "science" they are killing hundreds of whales for meat that goes straight to market. So yes, they are wrong. Either get out of the pact you made to not whale or stop being liars and live up to your part of the terms.
shekissesfrogsJun 22, 2008
We must protect the earth and it's inhabitants as well as humans. Animals enjoy their life as much as humans and it's just as precious. to them. The fallacy of your statement is assuming that the killing is humane. It is not. it is a disgusting spectacle. Shark fin is also the menu, and cutting off the fin and throwing the shark back is another one of thier humane methods, to give you an example. Go ahead and search for japanese porpoise killing. See if you can eat after you see what they do to them. We have to live on this earth together and any species or ethnic groups behavior should not endanger anothers. Just as Japan shouldn't be hunting whales, the US should not be polluting the earth, and attacking countries, and using DU bombs.
gidsrJun 24, 2008
When will the Japanese stop whaling - most of the Japanese people are against it; the only people who want it are some die-hard politicos that see it as losing face if they comply to international pressure.It's time for more economic pressure to be applied to put the last nail in the crime that is whaling.
hiiamucJun 26, 2008
Please note that Greenpeace activists "stole" meat that was already stolen. This meat was not on a way to official whale meat sales. Lot's of meat boxes were stolen by the ship crew and those were on a way to black market. This box contents were marked "cardboard" and it was shipped to a private address. Greenpeace tracked the box, it was intercepted and Greenpeace turned it over to the Public Prosecutor in Tokyo. Greenpeace only exposed that meat, that is property of Japanese tax payers, is stolen from the whaling ship. And this activity is happening with the knowledge of many officials.
veganimaJun 28, 2008
Yes they do, specially if it is a Government breaking his own law. The whole scene is called corruption and the whistleblower is the scapegoat.
motherlodeJun 30, 2008
Who are the criminals here? Best way to figure that is to look at motive - the Greenpeace guys didn't steal the whale meat, it was passed on to them by an insider from the whaling ship, sickened at the whalers' hypocrisy. What did they do with it? They first held a Press Conference to tell the Japanese public that they had yet more evidence that Japan's so-called scientific whaling programme is a scam, then they handed it over to the Tokyo public prosecutor for investigation.In my book there's obviously no indication of criminal intent. Therefore, no case to answer.
pattyjw59Jul 12, 2008
They ARE endangered, which is why it is illegal to hunt them. And Japan IS the only country still doing whaling on a regular basis. The other countries stopped years ago. Also, (to other responder) the reason that pigs are killed regularly is that they are quite plentiful. If they too were endangered it is doubtful you'd find pork chops at the market.
pattyjw59Jul 12, 2008
Excellent answer! It is amazing how many people will jump in the debate without doing their research. Sadly, it only serves to make them look ignorant, even though they may not be. You obviously have done your homework on this issue, as I have, and I applaud your comments.
pattyjw59Jul 12, 2008
Sorry, not true. Japan is not honoring the treaty; that is how this whole thing got started. They are pretending to kill the whales for scientific research. (How many whales must they kill for this purpose, and when are they going to make public what the research is for?) They violated the treaty the moment that they began smuggling the whale meat.
pattyjw59Jul 12, 2008
You must either be very young or very ignorant, and I do not mean that as an insult. Do you not understand that every time a link in the "food chain" is broken the other links get weaker and weaker as well? Different species' of plants and animals are getting permanently exterminated every day! Eventually the other links begin disintegrating too. That includes human beings. Here is a good example: India. When Rudyard Kippling wrote "The Jungle Book," he wrote it about India, a beautiful, lush rainforest teeming with wildlife. But over a period of time, the rainforest was destroyed, along with all of the animals that lived in it. India became a dry, desert wasteland, a dustbowl, incapable of producing even food for the humans that lived there. So back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, people in India were starving to death by the score. No trees + no animals = no humans. I shudder to think what future generations have to look forward to.
ladylilyofelvesMay 29, 2009
It actually wasn't illegal according to Article VIII of the Convention which provides that any contracting Government may issue a special permit authorizing the take of whales for scientific research and by Japanese law they must not waste any of the whale so they store whale meat.Sato and Suzuki broke into a private building and and removed a package of whale meat that was in a shipment from a crew member on the Nisshin Maru to a specific address in Japan. Even the Sea Shepherds say it was not a scandal but an attempt to make Japan look corrupt because their own people are committing theft and that Greenpeace is not doing its true job.