Judge grants anti-whaling ban against Japan in Australian-claimed waters

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Judge grants anti-whaling ban against Japan in Australian-claimed waters

From Associated Press

January 14, 2008 11:11 PM EST

SYDNEY, Australia - An Australian judge on Tuesday banned the company that

conducts Japan's whale hunt from killing the animals in a large part of its

regular hunting grounds off Antarctica.

 

The ruling was unlikely to bring about an immediate end to Japan's whale kill,

but could strain ties between Tokyo and Canberra if the whalers ignore the ban

and Australian is compelled to try to enforce it.

 

Japan does not recognize Australia's declaration of the whale sanctuary in

Antarctic waters, and has said previously it would ignore an injunction in the

case if it was granted.

 

The Humane Society International sought an injunction in Australia's Federal

Court against Japanese company Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd. to stop it whaling

inside Australia's exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles

from Australian-declared territory in Antarctica and in the southern Pacific

Ocean.

 

Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha operates the ships used by Japan's Institute of Cetacean

Research to conduct its annual hunts, under a program the organization insists

is for scientific purposes but that critics say is an excuse to kill whales.

 

" The court orders that the respondent be restrained from killing, injuring,

taking or interfering with any Antarctic minke whale, fin whale or humpback

whale in the Australian whale sanctuary, or treating or possessing any such

whale killed or taken in the Australian whale sanctuary, " Federal Court judge

James Allsop said in his ruling.

 

 

“The Earth is not dying - she is being killed. And those who are killing her

have names and addresses.†— Utah Phillips