There’s a new twist in the twisty tale of Japan’s off-then-back-on-again whale hunt: the Australian government has released gut-wrenching footage of what it says is a mother and baby minke whale being harpooned and hauled aboard a Japanese ship. An unamused official at Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research denied that the large and small whales were a mother and calf, and warned that the Australian photographs and subsequent media coverage “have created a dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries.” The bright side, according to Aussie Environment Minister Peter Garrett: “Images like this … have been very powerful forces in building up global and world opinion on [the whaling issue].”
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