Australia threatens legal action against Japanese whaling
Australia, one of most vocal opponents of Japanese whaling hunts in the Antarctic, threatened Monday to take legal action against the lethal expeditions, about a week after Tokyo began its latest hunt.
Australia's foreign and environmental ministers said in a statement that the country had joined 32 others to oppose the Japanese expedition that left last Tuesday to catch up to 333 minke whales in the Antarctic.
The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan has continued killing whales under an exemption for research.
