With the whale population finally increasing after 1905, the depressing news is that they are beginning to experience near extension once again! The reason for that includes whale hunting. This may have something to do with Japan’s JARPA ll whaling program defying an order made by the International Court of Justice(ICJ). Or maybe it’s because you don’t live near the Antarctic waters.

“Whales are my favorite animal and it breaks my heart that this is occurring at the moment,” Ysabel Gonzaga, junior, said.

Though in the Australia v/s Japan case, Japan’s whaling boats were found not being used for scientific purposes like they were intended to. Instead they were hunting whales for sport and game, which led to outrage and finally brought them to trial in the groundbreaking win for Australia. The ruling was relieving for wildlife protection organizations, and for the whales. So why is Japan’s whaling official telling papers and press they will be back on the hunt, but this time for, “real scientific research”? Everyone is left speechless.

Countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and Canada are just some who have already sought taking legal action along with Australia’s foreign and environmental minister. How are they getting away with more hunting? “The solution is that we have to agree to disagree,” Joji Morishita, Japan’s International Whaling Committee(IWC) commissioner, said. “However, this does not mean that we will take all whales – exactly because we want to have sustainable whaling, we want to have a healthy whale population.” But when they have done nothing but kill whales for game, most countries along with the ICJ are wary and intend to take action as soon as possible.

As the Japanese whaling ships have already left for the Arctic waters, we wait on whether we’ll hear news of a new case against Japan’s IWC turns up or if the whales brought back will be first.

To get more involved and how you can contribute, visit wwf.org