Japanese Struggle to Rescue Whales

[Guest guest]

http://dailynews./h/ap/20020123/wl/japan_beached_whales_2.html

 

Wednesday January 23 7:18 AM ET

Japanese Struggle to Rescue Whales

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

 

TOKYO (AP) - Officials in southern Japan struggled

Wednesday in rough waters and winds to save two whales

beached along with a dozen others believed to have

died overnight.

 

The 14 whales were found on Tuesday sputtering in

shallow water near the town of Oura on Japan's

southern main island of Kyushu, about 600 miles

southwest of Tokyo. The whales, between 30 and 35 feet

long, were believed to be sperm whales because of the

shape of their heads.

 

All the whales were alive when found, but most died

later, said town official Yukizo Shimomura. He said

the animals' abdomens rubbed constantly against the

gravelly shore and they bled profusely, turning the

waves dark red.

 

``We wish the weather permitted us to begin the rescue

sooner,'' Shimomura said.

 

Officials waited for high tide and used a crane

mounted on a boat to pull one of the surviving whales

back into the ocean. With limited time and resources,

they chose the animal that appeared most likely to

survive.

 

That whale remained in deeper water later Wednesday

and apparently was still alive, an official said,

while the weaker whale appeared near death.

 

Shimomura said most of Omura's 60 government officials

and some of the town's 3,000 residents had joined the

rescue, along with scientists from Tokyo and

elsewhere.

 

Akihiko Shinomiya, a marine biologist at Kagoshima

University on Kyushu, said the choppy conditions at

sea may have led the whales astray.

 

It was possible that the creatures had been traveling

in a closely knit cluster, as is common for many

species of whales, and gotten lost when bad weather

confused the leader of the pod, he said.

 

Experts also said ear infections may have caused the

animals to miscalculate the waters' depth. Whales rely

on sound for communication, feeding, mating and

migration.

 

The Japanese government has been widely criticized by

the international community and environmental groups

for hunting hundreds of whales every year for what it

says are research purposes. Critics argue that the

program is merely a cover for supplying restaurants

with whale meat, a delicacy in Japan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great stuff seeking new owners in Auctions!

http://auctions.