Greenpeace activists convicted of stealing whale meat in Japan

TOKYO — A Japanese court on Monday convicted two members of the environmental group Greenpeace of stealing whale meat they claim was intended for illegal consumption.

The Aomori District Court gave suspended sentences to the activists after finding them guilty of stealing 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of whale meat from a delivery service company's warehouse in April 2008. The meat came from whales killed during Japan's government-backed research hunts.

Japan hunts whales along its coastal waters and in the Antarctic under the research exemption to the 1986 ban on whaling by the International Whaling Commission. Critics say the scientific hunts are a cover for commercial whaling because the meat from the killed whales mostly ends up in restaurants, stores and school lunches.

Junichi Sato, 33, and Toru Suzuki, 43, were sentenced to one year in prison for theft and trespassing, but they will not serve jail time, Greenpeace and court officials said.

The two pleaded not guilty to the theft charge but acknowledged trespassing, saying they wanted to highlight the murky operations of research whaling and to file a criminal complaint with the authorities.

Sato said he and his fellow activist would appeal Monday's ruling.

SeaWorld San Diego orca Sumar dies

The death of a 12-year-old orca named Sumar at SeaWorld San Diego on Tuesday left the marine park struggling to understand the death of the comparatively young killer whale and led to the cancellation of several orca shows at Shamu Stadium.

Sumar seemed lethargic Monday, and staff veterinarians administered antibiotics, our sister blog L.A. Now reports. He died at about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, and a necropsy -- an animal autopsy -- is planned.

David Koontz, a SeaWorld spokesman, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Sumar's illness "came on very quickly" but said there is no concern that he was stricken by a disease that could be contagious to the park's six remaining orcas.

Sumar was born at SeaWorld Orlando in 1998 and lived at lived briefly at a now-defunct SeaWorld park in Ohio before going to the San Diego park in 2001. His parents were Tilikum, the bull orca involved in a February incident that left SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau dead, and Taima, a female who died in June  giving birth to a stillborn calf that would have been Sumar's full sibling.

Last month, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that it had cited SeaWorld for workplace safety violations -- most notably a "willful" violation for "exposing [SeaWorld] employees to struck-by and drowning hazards when interacting with killer whales" -- with fines totaling $75,000.

RELATED MARINE MAMMAL STORIES:
'Cove' star Ric O'Barry says footage of false killer whale leaping out of tank demonstrates cruelty
Animal activists call for changes at SeaWorld following trainer's orca death

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Sumar performing in SeaWorld's "Believe" orca show in 2008. Credit: Irrawaddyfan via YouTube

Marine mammal enthusiasts getting a show from unusually large numbers of the gigantic creatures

Unusually large numbers of blue whales dining off the Southern California coast are providing marine mammal enthusiasts a rare opportunity to see Earth's largest creatures lolling in the waves and spouting misty plumes.

On Thursday, 77 amateur whale watchers on an excursion boat operated by the Aquarium of the Pacific and Harbor Breeze Cruises in Long Beach spotted six blue whales and two fin whales in less than three hours.

"Dead ahead!" a woman yelled as a massive blue whale emerged under a spout 15 feet high and then arced slowly back into the water. "Wow. Wow. Wow."

It is not uncommon for blue whales to pass through the San Pedro Channel. But this large a congregation of the cetaceans — averaging 80 feet and between 150,000 and 300,000 pounds — has not been seen in recent years.

By the 1960s, blue whales had been hunted nearly to extinction. An international agreement outlawed blue whale hunting in 1965. Today, an estimated 2,000 blue whales of an overall world population of 10,000 feed off California each summer.

"A year ago, we were lucky to see three or four blue whales per trip," said Michele Sousa, senior mammal biologist at the Aquarium of the Pacific. "Now we're seeing up to 15 per trip, along with a few fin whales thrown in for good measure."

Mayor of Taiji, Japanese village featured in 'The Cove,' defends practice of dolphin hunting

TAIJI, Japan — As children in inner tubes bob on the calm waters of this small ocean cove, a 550-pound  dolphin zips through the crowd in pursuit of raw squid tossed out by a trainer.

Niru, a Risso's dolphin caught locally, seems unbothered by all the people and the squeals of surprise and delight. The cove is packed -- it's a bright summer Sunday, and hundreds of families have come.

But in two weeks, the waters of the cove will turn blood red as it becomes a holding pen for annual hunts that capture and kill hundreds of dolphins each year.

The ancient village of Taiji, portrayed in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," has a long and complex relationship with the dolphin. The film portrays the dolphin hunts as a sinister secret, cruel and dangerous because the animals have high mercury levels.

But the hunts are no secret in this village, where Risso meat sells for $10 a pound at the local supermarket. And the villagers are deeply and stubbornly proud of their centuries-old tradition, whatever Hollywood says.

OSHA fines SeaWorld for worker safety issues following orca trainer's death

Months after SeaWorld Orlando marine mammal trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed in an incident involving a 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced that it has cited SeaWorld for workplace safety violations.

According to OSHA, it found three specific violations in SeaWorld's conduct, most notably one it classified as a "willful" violation for "exposing [SeaWorld] employees to struck-by and drowning hazards when interacting with killer whales. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

OSHA also noted two lesser violations, one "serious citation" for "failing to install a stairway railing system on the front side, left bridge of the 'Believe' stage in Shamu Stadium" and one "other-than-serious citation" for the Orlando, Fla., park's failure to place weatherproof enclosures over outdoor electrical outlets in the stadium. The agency fined SeaWorld $75,000 in total for the three violations.

SeaWorld quickly issued a statement calling the OSHA findings "unfounded" and announcing the company's plans to contest the citation. "OSHA's allegations in this citation are unsupported by any evidence or precedent and reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of the safety requirements associated with marine mammal care," the statement continued.

July in animal news: Five questions with International Fund for Animal Welfare leader Fred O'Regan

We're asking experts in the animal-protection community to offer their insights on the latest animal news and fill us in on what their organizations are working on. Here, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) President and Chief Executive Fred O'Regan shares his take on protecting wild tigers, helping Haiti's companion animals and addressing the threats facing whales, wild cats and wolf species. O'Regan's responses represent his own views and not necessarily ours.

Unleashed: What do you view as the most important development in animal news to happen in July?

Fred O'Regan: During July, officials from 13 nations that are home to the world’s last wild tigers met in Bali, Indonesia, along with the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative and partner organizations including IFAW, to develop a concrete plan to reinvigorate the tiger population, pledging to double it by 2022. The plan is expected to serve as a road map for tiger conservation to be adopted by world leaders at the first global summit on tigers this September in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In a global assessment of transnational organized crime, including wildlife trade, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime reported last month that tigers are on the verge of being poached into extinction in the wild. Fueled by an international black market in tiger body parts, poaching threatens to eliminate 5% of the remaining wild tiger population each year. Tigers have experienced a 97% decline in population since 1900, when 100,000 roamed the earth. As few as 3,000 wild tigers survive today. The pledge by these governments to crack down on poaching and wildlife trafficking will help us make strides in tiger conservation.

 

Southern right whale's breach into South African couple's sailboat captured on video

When a photo of a southern right whale crashing, mid-breach, into a sailboat surfaced earlier this week, some observers thought the shot was a little too perfect. Skeptics alleged that the now-famous photo, rather than being genuine, was merely evidence of someone's impressive Photoshop skills.

But a video that surfaced on the CBS Evening News on Thursday seems to lend credence to the story presented by the couple on the sailboat, Paloma Werner and Ralph Mothes of South Africa, who were boating in the waters off Cape Town when the whale breached and broke their boat's mast.

Werner and Mothes were unhurt, and it's believed that the whale emerged badly bruised and missing a bit of skin, but without serious injury. The animal is estimated to measure more than 30 feet and weigh 40 tons, and it's apparently young -- its near-disastrous breach may have amounted to nothing more than a bit of youthful exuberance, according to CBS News.

Despite Werner and Mothes' unswerving story that they weren't pursuing the whale, local authorities are investigating allegations that the incident could have involved illegal harassment of the animal.

Learn more about the breach seen 'round the world at The Times' outdoor sports blog, Outposts.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: CBS Evening News

Southern right whale crashes sailing party -- literally

South African sailing instructors Paloma Werner and Ralph Mothes got a whale-sized shock Sunday -- a 33-foot, 40-ton shock, to be specific -- when a southern right whale crash-landed on their sailboat in the waters off Cape Town.

Werner and Mothes first saw the whale about 110 yards from their boat; before they knew it, they said, it was only 11 yards or so from them, and lack of wind prevented them from taking evasive action to avoid it. The whale leapt and crashed into the vessel, breaking its mast but causing no other major damage.

The whale probably suffered no ill effects other than bruising and the loss of a bit of skin and blubber, a marine mammal expert said. But officials from the local Department of Environmental Affairs are investigating allegations that the couple may have approached the whale illegally.

Right whales are believed to have been named by whalers who considered them the right -- as in, correct -- type of whale to hunt. Those whalers decimated their populations, leading them to the brink of extinction before protections began to help them bounce back.

Learn more about the incident at The Times' outdoor sports blog, Outposts.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: European Pressphoto Agency

North Atlantic right whales struggling to make themselves heard, new research suggests

Much like humans struggling to make themselves heard by companions in a loud restaurant, North Atlantic right whales must raise their voices to compensate for the increasing volume of ambient noise in the ocean, according to new research.

North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species, live primarily in the waters off eastern Canada and the U.S. The whales frequent areas with a high level of commercial, naval and recreational shipping traffic, according to Susan Parks, lead author of the study. Compounding the problem, Parks says, is the fact that commercial ships generate noise at the same frequency as the whales' calls.

The study, which has been published in the July issue of Biology Letters, followed 14 North Atlantic right whales living in Canada's Bay of Fundy. It found that the whales "are compensating for increased ocean noise by going up in volume when they call to one another, which is basically the same thing that humans do when they're trying to talk in really noisy bars," according to Joseph Gaydos of the SeaDoc Society at UC Davis, who was not involved in the study.

The research brings up new and troubling questions. Since right whales rely far more on sound than sight or other senses, will increased noise levels eventually force them to remain closer together in order to communicate with one another? If so, scientists speculate, the area where the whales mate and search for food could shrink substantially.

Learn more about the new study on North Atlantic right whales' increasing volume in reporter Jessie Schiewe's recent story in The Times.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: An adult North Atlantic right whale and its calf swim in the Bay of Fundy. Credit: bpatricksullivan via YouTube

'Cove' star Ric O'Barry says footage of false killer whale leaping out of tank demonstrates animal cruelty

TOKYO — The star of a film about Japanese dolphin hunting said Friday that new video footage showing a dolphin jumping out of an aquarium tank underlines the cruelty of captivity and demanded that all of the creatures be set free.

The startling footage of the dolphin, a species known as the false killer whale, shows the animal suddenly leaping out of a tank during a July 4 marine show at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in southwestern Japan. An American tourist who was among the spectators shot the footage and sent it to Ric O'Barry.

O'Barry, 70, a former trainer for the "Flipper" TV show who now makes a career out of setting the animals free, made the videos available to the Associated Press.

In them, the dolphin lies on the floor. Workers wrap it in a mat and raise it by a crane to be placed back into the water. The other dolphins gather around the side of the tank.

O'Barry says the videos show a dolphin under stress.