Australia hits back over pro-Japan whaling video

Yahoo News 7 Jan 08;

A popular Internet video accusing Australians of opposing Japanese whaling because of racism while brutally killing animals such as kangaroos and dingoes drew sharp government criticism Monday.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith condemned the video as he announced that Australia would this week deploy a ship to the Southern Ocean to gather evidence for possible legal action against Japan over its whaling programme.

The 10-minute video, which has recorded more than 100,000 hits since being posted anonymously on the YouTube website, shows graphic images of Australians killing animals and of infamous racial riots at Cronulla beach in 2005.

It says Australians are opposed to Japanese whaling because of a racist ideology, and claims in English, with Japanese subtitles, that Australia holds the world record for mammal extinction.

"It is un-tasteworthy in the extreme, that's the kindest thing I can think to say about it," Smith told reporters. "Its general overtone, its general content, I absolutely condemn.

"It's anonymous, so that tells you something before we even start."

The video would not change Australia's opposition to Japanese whaling, but neither would it "in any way disturb or affect the very good relationship with Japan," he said.

Smith announced that the Oceanic Viking customs ship would leave Australia this week on a 20-day mission to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet in the icy waters of the Antarctic.

The ship's mission would be coordinated with aerial surveillance and aimed to gather video and photographic evidence for a potential international court case against Japan, he said.

Japan exploits a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling to kill whales for what it calls scientific research, while admitting that the meat from the hunt ends up on dinner plates.

Australia's military to cull kangaroos
Rob Taylor, Reuters 7 Mar 08;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A cull of hundreds of wild kangaroos from an Australian military base will go ahead following almost a year of debate after authorities on Friday ruled out a costly plan to move them.

The cull of up to 500 animals using tranquillizer darts followed by lethal injection would begin within two weeks, military spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said.

"There's an ecologist and two veterinarians (who) will be available to advise on animal welfare issues and supervise," Nikolic told reporters.

The eastern grey kangaroos, which feature on Australia's coat of arms, are living on a military communications base in the nation's capital Canberra. Authorities say the mob of 'roos is endangering a species of local lizard and the threatened gold sun moth through overgrazing.

The marsupials have been on death row since May last year when a planned cull was deferred after an outcry by animal protection groups.

An original plan to cull kangaroos on a second base in Canberra was abandoned after a long drought threatening the animals with mass starvation began to ease.

But the military says the situation at the Belconnen Naval Transmission Station is critical and the aim is to protect native grasslands and reduce the population to about one kangaroo per hectare (2.5 acres). Under the plan, about 100 kangaroos would be left on the base.

The local Canberra government this week refused to grant export licenses to move the animals to neighboring New South Wales state using air-conditioned vans, which was judged to be too expensive and inhumane.

Nikolic said that left a cull as the only option. Wildlife groups have been at odds over whether it was more humane to cull the kangaroos or move them.

Wildlife Protection Association President Pat O'Brien said protests were planned to try to stop the cull. A plan to shoot the animals was abandoned after police warned stray bullets could ricochet and hit nearby residents or protesters.

"We can promise Canberra will see serious protest action. There is a lot of public anger over this decision," O'Brien said.

In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra and which were causing erosion problems through grazing.

Steve Garlick, a spokesman for the local Wildcare animal protection group, said relocating the kangaroos would not have been difficult.

"I think they would learn an awful lot before they start going for the default option of slaughtering these animals," he said.

(Editing by David Fogarty)