Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Tokyo, Feb 19, (THAINDIAN NEWS) In a clash between Japanese Whalers and anti-whaling activists, three of the whalers have been injured. Although the injuries are not being considered as very grave, it has given rise to immense rage among the whalers community in the country, for whom this is a profession. The protesters belong to the anti-whaling group called “Sea Shepherds.” According to reports, the activists had attacked the whalers with butyric acid, which they generally use in order to refrain the whalers from carrying out the annual whale hunt. Butyric acid is prepared from stale butter, and the activists claim that it is not toxic.

Toxic or not, the incident has given rise to immense controversy. The Minister for Fisheries of Japan, Hirotaka Akamatsu, was “full of rage” at the behavior of the activists, fuming that the conduct is unbelievable. The incident comes as even worse as it is one of the three similar incidents that have taken place in the past few days. Apart from throwing butyric acid on the whalers, the activists are also known to aim paint balls at them.

This has been condemned by Glenn Inwood, who is a spokesman for the Institute for Cetacean Research in Japan. He mentioned that although butyric acid is actually non toxic, it is capable of causing blindness for the time being. Moreover, throwing paint projectiles at the whalers have also been condemned. On the other hand, the founder of Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson, commented that the stuff they use to deter the whalers from carrying out the hunt is nothing but butter, and is not dangerous.