Japanese Abandon Plan for Humpback Whale Hunt

A controversial Japanese mission to hunt humpback whales in the Antarctic has been temporarily abandoned, a top government official says.

Nobutaka Machimura said the humpback hunt would not go ahead - although the fleet will still hunt about 1,000 other whales in the area.

This headline should actually include the words "for now" at its end.

There is absolutely no reason for any country anywhere on earth to hunt whales. The Japanese do it because they can and because they always have and because they know it pisses people off. The same with the Icelanders and with American Indians in the Pacific Northwest. Its not like we have a shortage of food out there that people have to kill whales to feed their families. Its not like people have to walk for days to get to a grocery store to stock up on breakfast cereal.

Hunting whales for their flesh is purely barbaric and serves no biological or societal need other than to kill something too beautiful to die.