The Japanese whaling fleet is about to resume hunting Humpback Whales with orders to kill upto 50. The logic behind hunting whales is not clear to me. For a nation like Japan where the catch of these rare mammals is unlikely to be sustantial monetarily, the activity is likely to cause far more monetary damage in terms of bad publicity for the country.

While writing about whales I should also like to point out that while Japan has strongly been against a moratorium on whaling despite huge opposition, the USA is no less an offender when it comes to hunting marine life.

Every year, hunters gather in the USA to kill thousands of sharks around Martha's Vineyard. Such barbaric sports still exist and involve the mass slaughter of thousands of sharks, many of whom are endangered. Such sports are glorified even more by networks such as ESPN who offer full coverage of such events. ESPN has a new show for 2007 covering the MadFin tournament that is another shark baiting program that states that it is a 'Catch and Release' show.
Now, I am sure that a shark fighting for it's life against diesel powered engines and nylon and carbon fiber reels and rods (stronger than steel) is unlikely to be aware of this distinction. 'Catch and Release' is just another way to justify a barbaric activity.

Now here's something you may not know, ESPN  is a part of the Walt Disney Company. So Bambi and Shark Killing go hand in hand for companies like Disney.

What can you do?
1. Make people aware of the situation. Get more people to write about the brutal practices of corporate America and of any other such activity you may come across.
2. Make ESPN and Disney aware of the fact that you disapprove of their activities.
3. Post on ESPN's blogs and let people know that you care.
4. Write to your Congressman.

Links for more info:

Team ESPN:
http://corporate.disney.go.com/outreach/team_espn.html

MadFin Shark Tournament
http://quiznosmadfin.com/about.asp

Japanese Fleet to Hunt Humpback Whales
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071116/ap_on_re_as/japan_hunting_humpbacks