US court grants Japanese whalers injunction against Sea Shepherd

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Adam Westlake in Features, National with 102 Comments
US court grants Japanese whalers injunction against Sea Shepherd

In a bizarre twist in the war between Japan’s whaling industry and the activist group Sea Shepherd, a court in the U.S. has granted an injunction to the Japanese fleet, restraining the environmental extremists from any attacks during this seasons hunt in the Southern Ocean. Paul Watson, the renown leader of Sea Shepherd, said the result was “astonishing,” after the decision was handed down from the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday.

Alex Kozinski, the chief judge on the appeal to an injunction that was denied earlier this year, stated the ruling that Sea Shepherd, Watson, and anyone else representing them, were ordered to refrain from physically attacking any vessel operated by the Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese body that carries out Japan’s lethal whaling under the banner of scientific research.

The court’s order also stipulates that any person or vessel is prohibited from navigating in a way that would threaten the safety of the whaling fleet. Sea Shepherd is not to approach Japan’s ships any closer than 500 yards while at open sea. As Japan is currently engaged in a case against Sea Shepherd in Washington State, the group’s headquarters, this injunction is to stay in effect until a court there decides on its merits.

In his response, Watson rightly pointed out how complex such a ruling is, seeing as how Sea Shepherd’s fleet is made of ships registered in Australia and the Netherlands. He added that it was surprising a U.S. court could assume jurisdiction over non-U.S. ships when they are in international waters. According to Watson, Japan’s whaling fleet hasn’t yet departed on their hunt yet, instead leaving port and remaining in territorial waters. The Sea Shepherd captain believes the ships were just waiting for this court order before departing, but the injunction won’t stop the group from standing in the fleet’s way and preventing any whales from being killed.

[via WA Today]

Correction: December 19th, This article has been updated to state the correct name of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court chief judge is Alex Kozinski.

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  • Nigel Marsh

    Having mucked up the Northern Hemisphere Now Japan want so muck up our Southern Hemisphere

    Kill your own whales and leave our alone

    • ddpalmer

      They aren’t your whales and Japan has been whaling there for over 60 years. Where has your outrage been before now?

      • SoleConsensus

        yes, they are our whales as much as anyone’s, and we don’t want out whales to be killed. Japan has a traditional whaling industry..where have all their whales gone?

        • ddpalmer

          Well if they are as much your’s as anyone else s (which isn’t true, try talking to the UN) then doesn’t everyone have as much to say about their use as you do? And aren’t the Japanese part of everyone else?

          Well the whales haven’t gone anywhere. They are increasing.

  • sRomy

    and who grants injunction to the whales against the japanese murderers?!

    • Ryohei Uchida

      No one does.

      The whales are being harvested in accordance with all international laws. To be granted an injunction, it would have to be shown that the Japanese whalers are violating a law. As it it, they violate no laws, so no injunction can be granted.

      Any other questions?

      • Joan Nixon

        How much do you get paid for being a shill of the corrupt Japanese whaling industry? Everybody knows their moratorium-exempt 26 continuous years of killing whales in the name of “scientific” research is a big fraud.

        • ddpalmer

          How much do you get paid for being a shill of the corrupt anti-whaling industry? Everybody knows that hundreds of peer reviewed research papers have been published.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=901890340 Chris Walters

            I can submit peer reviewed papers, so what? Not may of your peers think much of your papers. The International community recognize the “reasearch” as nothing but a scam…

          • ddpalmer

            First they are not my papers.

            Second, you can’t submit peer reviewed papers without peers reviewing them and finding them scientifically valid, that’s what.

            And lastly obviously the reviewers, editors and publishers all think the research was scientifically valid. So nice lie.

          • SoleConsensus

            Anti-whaling “industry”?…you mean the people who don’t profit from whales being killed?

          • ddpalmer

            Yes that is exactly what I meant. The ones like Watson who make a living off of their anti-whaling protests. Or do you think they survive on rainbows and unicorn kisses?

        • mockavel

          yea no shlt its not scientific research lmao its frggin a delicacy and a food duh? so friggin what? go be a vegan on your own and stop shoving your opinions on other people and handle your own animal abuse problems

      • Joan Nixon

        And “harvested”? Why don’t you stop using dainty euphemisms and call it what it is – inhumane slaughter for luxury.

        • lol sphere

          Like chicken and pork and beef?

          • Joan Nixon

            Chickens, pigs and cows – humans don’t chase them down often for hours until they’re tired, and then harpoon them with grenade tip exploding inside their bodies and if they don’t die right away from that, often spend the next 20 minutes or so trying to finish them off with rifle shots do they?

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725575327 Quatro Naruhodo Briefs

            Oh yah, because pigs, chickens and cows are not slaughtered… ?

          • mockavel

            no you just keep em in tiny cages, pumped full of antibiotics, never see daylight, horrible conditions and farm them as food lmao, you really want to see videos of your food industry? :) go handle your own shlt

          • http://www.facebook.com/LughGnosisKardias Lugh Gnosis Kardias

            We do not need whale to survive. It is a luxury food that is actually not even useful for us. That is the problem. What about this do you not understand?

          • ddpalmer

            Could you maybe make a valid point?

            You could say that we don’t need just about any particular food to survive. And many foods are luxuries. Also many foods are bad for us.

            The problem seems to be that you think you know how everyone should live their lives.

          • SoleConsensus

            No, the problem is that this is a luxury. Don’t get confused with basic foods we use for sustenance.

          • ddpalmer

            So it can be said about any luxury food. Don’t get confused by your additions to what I actually wrote.

      • Joan Nixon

        And “harvested”? Why don’t you stop using dainty euphemisms and call it what it is – inhumane slaughtering for luxury.

        • mockavel

          wow WHlTE people can be so annoying, self centered, brainwashed. First off, the whales they eat are NOT endangered species. Two, i dont think Americans who eat VEAL and DUCK PATE should speak about animal cruelty. Go handle your fur industry THAT RIPS OFF ANIMAL FUR OFF THEIR BODY WHILE THEIR STILL ALINE AND BLINKING. Third considering their massive overfishing of tuna and killing off BISON deliberately massacring entire populations so Native AMericans starve, HAVE ANY RIGHT TO TELL JAPANESE WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR DELICACY THEY HARDLY OVERFISH, YOU SELF RIGHTEOUS PRICKS, GTFO AND MIND YOUR BUSINESS.

          • Shadow

            You make some valid points. At least the Sea Shepherd crews are practicing what they preach by being vegan. As to your other point that whales aren’t endangered so they should be fair game, that ignores the many other reasons why it is wrong to kill them. Besides, Japan IS targeting endangered and threatened whales.

          • ddpalmer

            What are these many other reasons?

          • gd gdg

            dont worry what japan does and clean up your own countries wrongs and stop trying to police the world as you also simultaneously occupy and bully other countries, it makes you look like an evil hypocrite. dont worry about what japan does for food, and stop your veal industry and duck pate and go after the WHITE norway and iceland whalers aiight?

  • Ryohei Uchida

    Oh dear, yet again Sea Shepherd finds itself tangled in the law.

    How utterly redundant the Sea Shepherd organisation has now become. It is now literally unable to interfere with the Japanese whaling program and cannot launch its usual violent attacks upon it. It is now even more passive and irrelevant than Greenpeace, an organisation which the Sea Shepherd thugs have long ridiculed for their inactivity. How that must sting for the Sea Shepherd thugs. How it must sting.

    Perhaps Paul may wish to reconsider his future as the leader of the organisation and whether it is appropriate for him to continue to receive his vast salary from the Sea Shepherd coffers. After all, he has failed year after year to deliver on his promise of “shutting down” the whaling operation. He has instead presided over a period in which the Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat has been confiscated, the Ady Gil scuttled in the Southern Ocean, the Steve Irwin impounded and released after GBP 500,000 of donations was paid up, a member of the organisation was tried and convicted for assault, etc etc. And Paul himself is now unable to make landfall for fear of being arrested himself in relation to the multiple Interpol Red Notices issued for him.

    Just as the board of Greenpeace did in 1977, perhaps it is time for the Sea Shepherd board to oust this ineffective and defective imbecile from the helm? Perhaps it is time it also refunded the vast donations made to it under its promises of physically shutting down the whaling which it is now legally unable to do?

    • bioniclepluslotr

      A US court order is not going to stop them.

      • http://www.facebook.com/olivia.lim.77 Olivia Lim

        Of course it won’t. The US has no right to grant an injunction against a organization that is not affiliated with it.

        • ddpalmer

          Except the SSCS is chartered in the US. They risk losing their tax free status and Japan may be able to recover any losses from SSCS funds in US banks.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=901890340 Chris Walters

            Time to move HQ to SS friendly Australia or Netherlands.

          • hydroxide

            Where the SSCS is chartered is irrelevant. There is a court with jurisdiction over the high seas. It’s not in the US, but in Hamburg, Germany. If a US judge decides on assets being seized on evens in international waters, they are overstepping their jurisdiction. I don’t believe it is beyond them, as US courts have had delusions of grandeur repeatedly of late, but they should be clear that they risk not only diplomatic fallout of immense proportions, but actually risk US assets being seized abroad with similarly flimsily made-up excuses.

            A US judge has no power outside the US – they are just ordinary people. And they should actually be stripped of their legal qualifications for believing otherwise.

          • ddpalmer

            Sorry but you are wrong. The US courts most definitely have jurisdiction over US
            chartered companies and groups no matter where in the world they operate. For example US
            companies have been prosecuted in the US for giving bribes in foreign countries and
            for discriminating in hiring practices in foreign countries. And US citizens
            have been prosecuted in the US for drug activities in foreign countries and for
            sexual activity with children in foreign countries.

            Other
            countries have and do yield the same type jurisdictions over their companies and citizens even while outside the country.

            You should be stripped
            of the ability to make blatantly false claims.

          • SoleConsensus

            And once they register outside the US, this all means very little hmm?

          • ddpalmer

            No it doesn’t. Because they were registered in the US when the injunction was issued. Any attempt to change that status would be contempt of court and the court could freeze all their assets.

            Or do you think a company that loses in court can just change their registration to another country to avoid a judgement?

          • ohminus

            No, other countries do not yield the same type jurisdictions over their companies and citizens even while outside the country. They only do apply their own jurisdiction in cases that a)are deemed heineous enough to make prosecution imperative and
            b)appear unlikely to be pursueable by the local police.
            E.g. sexual activity with children in a foreign country when said person is already back home. In that case, they prosecute because said person is within their jurisdiction and the other nation cannot prosecute – precisely because they are not within their jurisdiction.
            No, US courts do not have jurisdiction over US chartered companies no matter where in the world they operate because said US chartered companies do NOT operate in other countries. Their subsidiaries operate there, and they are chartered under local law. As such, local law applies to them.

          • ddpalmer

            Yes other countries do yield the same type jurisdiction. Why do you think NZ investigated the Ady Gil incident? It didn’t happen in NZ waters, but wait, the vessel was registered in NZ as an asset of a NZ corporation giving NZ jurisdiction. But thanks for your complete lack of proof in the face of actual real world examples.

            “appear unlikely to be pursueable by the local police”
            Yuo mean like because the parties or property involved is under the jurisdiciyion of that country? Like the SSCS vessels are under US jurisdiction as assets of a US chartered organization?
            Yeah, your example is laughable. In the type case you cite the actions in the foreign country aren’t against the foriegn laws so the other nation wouldn’t prosecute as their laws haven’t been broken. There is also this interesting thing know as extradition, that I would think an SSCS follower would have heard all about recently.
            Yes US courts do have jurisdiction over US chartered companies no matter where in the world they operate/ Your “example” is another laughable moment because if said US chartered company uses a subsidiary, not chartered in the US, then your analogy fails. While the SSCS’s US chartered organization claims ownership of the vessels, not the foreign chartered SSCS subsidiaries.

          • ohminus

            But thanks for demonstrating that you believe just because someone does something, it’s actually legal to do so. I take it then if I point at the fact that other people steal wallets, too, it’s perfectly ok to take yours…

          • ddpalmer

            But thanks for demonstrating a typical strawman. I claimed and demonstrated no such thing.
            What the US courts do is legal because US chartered companies agree to subject themselves to US court jurisdiction.

          • ohminus

            Not for actions abroad, since US laws are not valid there. Representatives of US chartered companies are not immune from German law when in Germany, and any feeling that they are will be quickly dismantled by German authorities. You will even find that they do not enjoy the rights the US constitution gives to them. Bringing a firearm into Germany will quickly lead to an arrest unless proper GERMAN documentation is presented.

            US Courts, laws and documents have about as much authority abroad as if they wanted to declare the law of gravity null and void.

          • ddpalmer

            Gee did I say representatives of US chartered companies are immune to the laws of the country they are in? No, I didn’t, but nice strawman. I mean when you have no response to what I actually say I guess your only choice is to lie about what I said.

            Did I say that representative of US chartered companies are protected by the US constitution when in foreign countries? No, I didn’t, but another fine strawman.

            US Courts and laws have plenty of authority against US chartered organizations when acting abroad. The countries they are in also have authority over their actions. Isn’t it amazing how that works? Almost as amazing as how you refuse to address the clear real world examples of this fact and instead resort to repeating the same thing over and over while raising strawmen.

          • ddpalmer

            Found an interesting quote.

            “The fact that you continue with more pure invention on your side, referring to arguments I never made only underscores that you lack even the most minimal standards of intellectual integrity.”

            I can’t seem to remember who wrote it though. Maybe you remember who it was?

    • http://www.facebook.com/stevenchr Steve Christianson

      Paul founded SSCS and I wonder why the group would want their founder gone, if anything, they’ll support him and defend him.. I’m curious why the US judges aren’t enforcing the Aussie court ruling saying the poachers are violating the law when they take whales in the southern oceans.

      • ddpalmer

        Because as the Australian courts own ruling states the US, like almost every other country in the world, doesn’t recognize Australia’s claim to those waters.

        • ohminus

          Funny. That still doesn’t explain why US courts think they should get to decide what is right or wrong in those waters.

          • ddpalmer

            Funny, he didn’t ask why US courts think they should get to decide what is right or wrong in those waters. So why would expect an answer to a question that he didn’t ask in a response to his comment?

            US courts know think they do get to decide what is right or wrong in those waters when it involoves the assets claimed by a US chartered organization.

    • geges

      @c9df9117c3f97b27bc71a3e40eabefa9:disqus, what do you mean by ”irrelevant and more passive than Greenpeace” ? When Greenpeace tried to stop the japan to whale, they were afraid of ships collision so they step out and japan seccuded to whale. When SS did the same, they DIDNT step out and there were collision but SS don’t care of material goods, they care about life, whales life (and dont talk to me of sink risks or human risks, collision was minor).

      Paul has red notice from Interpole, right. It just proves that he does his work : be a pain in the ass for those who deserve it. + those red lists are highly political, its all a matter of money (money that japan loses each whale they cant kill)

      Paul ”receives a vast salary” ?? give us proof. Go, Im just waiting here. He is not doing this for money. + you said it , he risks to being arrested pretty mych everywhere he goes. So despite the fact he could be arrested, he continues to apply his will to stop the whaling by being in the ships, in open water.

      And you may know in open water, no one can go to arrest him, so legally he can be out there. + the japan has no right to whale in South Ocean, its a whale santuary so who is violating law ?

      @962f6cc696818c768451886814913f27:disqus So they are japanese whale, US whale and UK whales ? I dont anderstand what you mean by ”kill your own whale and leave our alone”. Whales are no one possession.

    • Wideload Shipping

      A vast salary is not a bad thing. Seems to me the awareness level is certainly up, up, up :) Too many people. It’s going down buddy one way or the other. Hollywood is too powerful and I love it, for once!

    • http://www.facebook.com/dan.chervinko Dan Chervinko

      You sir are an idiot :) I think Watson should have a few harpoon guns of his own and fire them right through the hearts of the Japanese Whalers and see if they enjoy the pain :)

      • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

        i second that, sir. well said.

      • TerroristShepherds

        That’s not an activist, that’s a homicidal terrorist. You sir have a twisted mind in the name of conservation. Turn yourself in to the police before you suggest and act out homicide to strangers.

        • http://www.facebook.com/LughGnosisKardias Lugh Gnosis Kardias

          Cute, one of those people that thinks we should all just hope for peace while the world falls apart.

          Look, it is absolutely true that if the whole world were to meditate on peace, or even one/third of the world, everything would change. That is not likely going to happen. Saying that getting rid of people that will MURDER us is murder is absurd. This is about survival, and these hippie peace protests are not doing a damn thing.

          Unfortunately, enough people such as yourselves are convinced that peace is the way, without realizing that while it is a way the door is locked and no one can find the key. Time to grow up and wake from your fantasy realm.

          • Andrew

            agree

          • TerroristShepherds

            You do realize that all your doing is justifying homicide while carrying the animal activist flag right? Thats just idiotic and downright crazy. There is a haven for you guys and its called Jail.

    • Bill

      We are sorry Mr. Uchida. This injunction will not stop them from interfering with the killing of whales in an internationally recognized sanctuary. I am afraid that a United States court does not have jurisdiction over foreign flagged vessels in international waters.

      • ddpalmer

        But they do have jurisdiction over a US registered charity and they do have jurisdiction over all their funds in US banks.

        • hydroxide

          But not about their actions abroad.

          • ddpalmer

            Yes, even their actions abroad.

          • ohminus

            Nope. Their power is granted by the US constitution, which abroad has no meaning whatsoever.

          • ddpalmer

            Does the US constitution give the US courts power over airplanes flying in US airspace? I doubt the words or concepts airplane or airspace are anywhere to be found in the constitution.
            I believe if you had enough functional brain cells you would find that the US constitution gives broad powers to the courts because the writers knew that situations they never thought of or could even imagine would occur.
            You do realize, that as an example, the US constitution does discuss wars, which kind of out of common sense occur abroad?
            And then there is this ”
            Section. 2.
            The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;–to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;–to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;–to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;–to Controversies between two or more States;– between a State and Citizens of another State,–between Citizens of different States,–between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.”
            Hmm I see a claim of jurisdiction in the US constitution in cases involving foreign States, Citizens and Subjects. Despite your claim. It also seems to anticipate that future Laws and Treaties can extend the jurisdiction of teh US courts.
            You think maybe the judges of the 9th US Circuit Court know more than you do?

          • ohminus

            “Does the US constitution give the US courts power over airplanes flying in US airspace? I doubt the words or concepts airplane or airspace are anywhere to be found in the constitution”

            That doesn’t change anything about US airspace being _US_ airspace. Incidentally, there are separate treaties for that.

            “I believe if you had enough functional brain cells you would find that the US constitution gives broad powers to the courts because the writers knew that situations they never thought of or could even imagine would occur.”

            I believe if you had enough functional brain cells, you would find that the US has signed treaties recognizing the laws of the sea for precisely that reason.

            “Hmm I see a claim of jurisdiction in the US constitution in cases involving foreign States, Citizens and Subjects. Despite your claim. It also seems to anticipate that future Laws and Treaties can extend the jurisdiction of teh US courts. ”

            You fail to recognize the difference between making a claim and having a right to do so.

            But thanks for making so clear that you are just a little jingoist who believes the rest of the planet is a US colony. Just don’t expect the rest of the planet to be so easily compliant.

            “You think maybe the judges of the 9th US Circuit Court know more than you do?”

            In the way a thief believes to know he has the right to take someone else’s property, maybe.

          • ddpalmer

            “there are separate treaties for that”

            Thank you for acknowledging my point that treaties signed since the US Constitution have modified the jurisdiction and powers of US courts.

            “the US has signed treaties recognizing the laws of the sea for precisely that reason.”

            And another admission that the powers of the US courts have been modified since the US Constitution.

            “You fail to recognize the difference between making a claim and having a right to do so.”

            So the United States doesn’t have the right to declare war? Gee someone should tell Britain, Libya, Germany, Italy, Iran. etc.

            Sorry no jingoism from me. All countries, including the US, have the same powers and jurisdiction over their citizens and organizations as my example of the Ady Gil plainly shows. But thanks for that nice hole you are digging, it must be getting awful warm with how deep you are by now.

    • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

      Why don’t you DO SOMETHING FOR THE WHALES rather than criticize those of us who are doing ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING for the voiceless creatures of our oceans, the satient beings who live very complex social lives that you, sir, apparently know nothing about. If you did, you’d be moved to tears when any sea animal is killed by humans for profit.

  • sa

    Error: “Tashima Kozinski” is not a US 9th circuit judge. Perhaps they meant Alex Kozinski?

    • bioniclepluslotr

      I believe they are two different people. There was a panel of judges.

      • NeutralZone

        There is no person in the 9th circuit names ‘Tashima Kozinski’; there are, however dumb reporters who do not check their facts before throwing names onto a page or blindly copying and pasting. The judges on the panel are the same as before (October):

        Alex Kozinski (Chief Judge)
        Wallace Tashima
        Milan Smith
        Richard Jones

        As far as Paul Watson’s question of jurisdiction, it simply boils down to the fact that SSCS dropped its international headquarters in the US and claimed tax-exempt status. Although the court has no jursidiction over Australian-registerd boats, command of the boats is held by the SSCS headquarters, which *is* under the court’s jursidiction, and liable for the boats’ actions.

  • http://twitter.com/lpenfoldbyers Lindsay Byers

    Disgusting ruling – the US should be ashamed of themselves. If Sea Shepherd doesn’t stop them – the Japanense could kill over 1000 whales this season. They are so ecologically irresponsible and NO ONE seems to stand up to their illegal actions but Paul Watson’s crew. The government sucks – all of them do.

    • ddpalmer

      Their actions (unlike the Sea Shepherds) aren’t illegal. And their limit is based on sound ecological principles established by the IWC.

      • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

        The IWC is ineffective, and it is rumored that they take bribes to look the other way when it comes to Japan’s slaughtering of 1000′s of dolphins in the TAIJI COVE yearly (and selling the toxic meat to children and people in Japan and other countries) and WHALES. #tweet4taiji @callofthecove taiji.ezearth.tv (livestreaming the massacre on a daily basis)

        • ddpalmer

          Really?

          Please provide some of these rumors.

          Oh and the IWC has nothing to do or say about dolphins, so that claim is a lie.

          • SoleConsensus

            blah blah…we know what we are talking about…even if you argue single points.

          • ddpalmer

            Yawn.

            So why don’t you supply some of these rumors? As opposed to the admitted bribes by the anti-whalers.

      • Sole Consensus

        illegal maybe, but not immoral, and that’s more important in the 21st century.

        • ddpalmer

          Oh. So your moral concepts are the only ones that are correct and matter? Mighty big ego you have there.

    • mockavel

      listen blondie, go handle your own country and learn to mind your business. i doubt your a vegan, do you know how they make your meat in your own country? stop overfishing your tuna and eating veal, stop taking milk away from newborn calves wow wake up

  • TheBaldr

    Dear Japan, you can arrest these people now under new international Anti-pirate laws that just pasted.

  • http://twitter.com/sealiongal Sea LionGal

    Unbiased ruling? Chief Judge of the Ninth District Court of Appeals, who issued the injunction: Atsushi Wallace Tashima (born 1934) is the third Asian American and first Japanese American in the history of the United States to be appointed to a United States Court of Appeals.

  • WideloadShipping

    What Japan is pulling is crap. What better place to do it than in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal which as a history of screw ups. Until we have a much more better understanding of these amazing creatures we need to cease “killing studies” and observe.

  • http://www.facebook.com/olivia.lim.77 Olivia Lim

    As a U.S citizen, this action by my country’s government appalls me.

  • Bill

    I think that I will now be making a monetary donation to the Sea Shepard organization. Why is a court funded by United States citizens, the majority of which are against this barbaric act, getting involved at all? If the court wants to play a jurisdiction game the Sea Shepards might want to pull up their office and put it on native american territory.

  • Brian O

    LOL!! Again the stupid activists failed just like they did in every episode, ROFL!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! JAPAN WINS!!!!

  • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

    Japan is, on a daily basis for 8 months of each year, wiping out entire populations of dolphins and pilot whales in the COVE of TAIJI, and selling what they don’t kill to Seaquariums worldwide at $150,000/dolphin! Last week they sold about 100 to Seaquariums, sentencing them to a life of slavery, tricks for dead fish, and swimming/breathing/drinking their own excrement in chlorinated pools too small to live in more than 2 years, when they usually die from insanity, depression, illness, or suicide. The Japanese have no morals or compassion when it comes to dolphins. The Seaquariums, funded by huge corporations like Coca Cola, pay off the IWC, who with one stroke of a pen, could categorize pilot whales and dolphins as Cetaceans, making it illegal to kill them anywhere. The IWC could also call Japan on whaling for ‘research’, but it won’t, because the bribes are too huge. And the USA has handed down a death sentence for whales in a place called a SANCTUARY?? What a crying shame. Anyone here should immediately send a letter to the judge that did this. I’ll give it 20 more years b4 we wipe out EVERY LAST FISH, WHALE, SEAL in the ocean! They have enough to deal with (pollution, sonar, ships, nets, oil, dead zones). The Japanese whalers and dolphin hunters are just the icing on the cake. REmember, dolphins and whales were around for millions of years b4 we came along and brought them to extinction in one hundred years. No one knows for sure how many dolphins and whales populate the ocean. But one thing is for sure: There will be none left by 2050 if we keep this shit up.

  • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

    And anyone who faults Captain Paul Watson, a grown man obsessed with saving our oceans and whales because no government on earth WILL, better think twice, This is a REAL MAN who risks his life and those who get onboard with him to SAVE WHALES from a HORRIBLE DEATH. He is more of a MAN than any Japanese asshole who gets on a ship with a harpoon, chases down harmless, innocent, migrating families of whales, pushes a button that releases a harpoon into a petrified, beautiful, satient ocean creature, hauls it onto a ship and slices it up STILL ALIVE AND SUFFERING A HORRIBLY SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH, under the name of RESEARCH!

  • ANIMALADVOCATESWORLDWIDE

    Google Judge Alex Kozinski and it will become clear that this man has no sense of compassion, knowledge or seriousness about the plight of whales, otherwise he would have never allowed an injunction against Paul Watson.

  • Oceantendency

    Sea Sheperds are worthless pigs that should have been ran over at sea and left for the sharks.. What vile worthless excuse of lame activists..The very few times I could watch minutes of the show, I quickly turned off. America’s Funniest home videos has idiots doing more intelligent acts that this moron and his crew. Just because I don’t agree with Whaling, doesn’t mean I need to go out and do something as stupid as these guys do, can’t wait to see Mr Man cough up some money and serve some Jail Time as in a long time..Criminals just like most Activists/extremists these days..what a shame to Society.

  • Oceantendency

    Sea Sheperds are worthless pigs that should have been ran over at sea and left for the sharks.. What vile worthless excuse of lame activists..The very few times I could watch minutes of the show, I quickly turned off. America’s Funniest home videos has idiots doing more intelligent acts that this moron and his crew. Just because I don’t agree with Whaling, doesn’t mean I need to go out and do something as stupid as these guys do, can’t wait to see Mr Man cough up some money and serve some Jail Time as in a long time..Criminals just like most Activists/extremists these days..what a shame to Society.

    • http://www.facebook.com/LughGnosisKardias Lugh Gnosis Kardias

      and you plan on doing what again? Bitching on the internet?

      You sure showed them, mister crybaby comments. Changing the world one whine at a time.

      • Andrew

        your comment is much more counter productive than his. I bet that feels good, there’s nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the short-comings of others.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gordon-Chamberlain/748781065 Gordon Chamberlain

      Worthless pigs? Lame Activists? Moron and his crew? Stupid? Criminals just like most Activists/ extremists/ For a bunch of environmentalist they sure are getting under your skin. Why don’t you agree with whaling? What would you suggest. I remind you the responsible/ethical automobile corporations fooled millions globally that driving Hummers, less efficient SUVs and Trucks was the American dream. They ended up increasing global climate destabilizing emission, smog and burning more of the worlds oil supply.

      • Oceantendency

        Laughing at idiots due to moronic behavior is not getting under my skin, same reason I don’t waste my time watching reality TV, or crap like that. BTW, Prius and other hybrids don’t pull boats. Your boy, is just an extremist against people who are fishing legally and within limits which has nothing to do with the American Dream.
        Sent from my HTC smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!

        —– Reply message —–

  • mockavel

    wow WHlTE people can be so annoying, self centered, brainwashed. First off, the whales they eat are NOT endangered species. Two, i dont think Americans who eat VEAL and DUCK PATE should speak about animal cruelty. Go handle your fur industry THAT RIPS OFF ANIMAL FUR OFF THEIR BODY WHILE THEIR STILL ALINE AND BLINKING. Third considering their massive overfishing of tuna and killing off BISON deliberately massacring entire populations so Native AMericans starve, HAVE ANY RIGHT TO TELL JAPANESE WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR DELICACY THEY HARDLY OVERFISH, YOU SELF RIGHTEOUS PRICKS, GTFO AND MIND YOUR BUSINESS.

  • Пётр

    Нехило у кого то попка пригорела трололол)))

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=725575327 Quatro Naruhodo Briefs

    Sea Shepherds… RIP! lol

  • Shadow

    For those who think there’s nothing wrong with whaling, or don’t understand why someone would risk their life to defend them, please see this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCX2Du4bO5w&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DeCX2Du4bO5w&has_verified=1

  • James

    Legally the US cannot stop Sea Shepherd since the whaling is done in international waters. In effect this decision has no real legal ramifications for Sea Shepherd unless the Japanese came to whale in US waters.

    • ddpalmer

      Wrong. Sea Shepherd is chartered in the US and thus are subject to US jurisdiction no matter where they operate.

  • Andrew

    Dear Japan, stop hunting whales for oil and food. They dont even taste good. Eat more chickens and cows O.o I mean seriously…. ENOUGH. Only old people eat whale anyway.

    • ddpalmer

      They don’t hunt them for oil. And are old people not important enough to matter as much as everyone else? Plus your contention that only old people eat whale meat is a lie.

  • ddpalmer

    Have you ever seen footage of the inside of a slaughter house? What is the real difference?

  • Paul W.

    My expectation was that the US District Court judges would have supported the earlier denial given the aggressive and often dangerous tactics that the ICR have employed against all environmental groups, not just Sea Shepherd, who seek to disrupt whaling. It is a grievous abuse of judicial authority, which is stretched thin in this case. In my opinion, this decision shows open support of commercial whaling by the United States.

  • Whirled Peas

    I often wonder how people choose their causes. It strikes me that it is easier to criticize another country’s practices than to work at home for change and risk running counter to your own class and social ties and personal economic interests, to risk being an unpopular guest at family gatherings, and make their mom, grandmother or uncle cringe. In other words,it is harder to choose a cause where you actually have some skin in it. I suspect for many western activists bringing up one’s anti-whaling stance at grandmother’s dinner table in Canada, the US or Australia might get nods of approval (unless you are a Native person) or maybe benign interest; but telling granny you forbid her to put the roast beef with garlic in the oven or tossing her lamb dinner into the rubbish bin because it was factory-farmed, might get you disinherited. Yes, it seems easier to be militantly against another country’s practices, than to transform your own country, city, and relatives. I just hope those of you who are so militantly against whaling in foreign countries are as militant and strident about changing the living habits of everyone in your extended family and friends (are all you uncles and aunts vegan or do they at least avoid factory-farmed meat, do they all strive to save electricity and water, does your mother take quick showers or love to run the hot water, does everyone recycle, do your relatives save on gas and bicycle whenever possible, do they organize against the inhumane transport conditions of poultry and the inhumane pig abbatoirs in their own country. Do they boycott fois gras and veal? And those of you who are trying to make change within their own families and communities, do you rant at them and call them barbaric, or do you strive to use your powers of persuasion to win people over?