Whaling Must Be Stopped

It's been two years since Iceland suspended commercial whaling but in a dramatic about turn they resumed in full force by slaughtering a beautiful gentle giant, a fin whale no less. The expected haul is 180 whales in Hvalfjördur and Greenpeace has captured the gruesome process of carving up the whale onthe quayside. See the video below. The first kill has prompted protests from environment and animal welfare groups that the hunt is "cruel and unnecessary". The Guardian article goes on to state that Loftsson's company Hvalur plans to hunt up to 180 fin whales in the 2013 season. The International Whaling Commission has banned commercial whaling but its authority is not recognised by Iceland. More than 1 million people from around the world signed a recent online petition against the trading of Icelandic fin whale meat amid revelations that some of it has ended up in dog food products in Japan.  "Whaling is brutal and belongs to a bygone era not the 21st century," said John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK. "It is deeply regrettable that a single Icelandic whaler backed by the government is undermining the global ban on commercial whaling which is there to secure the future of the world's whales."   Undercover pictures taken aboard the Hvalur 8 by Greenpeace show the harpooned whale being cut up for meat that is likely to be exported to Japan. Fin whales are the second largest animal on earth after the blue whale and are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species. You can read the full article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/19/iceland-fin-whale-hunting-greenpeace