Japanese theaters pull The Cove after threats; whaling ban may be lifted

No theaters in Japan are showing the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, which is about dolphin slaughter there, because the far right “activists’ noisy rallies, online slanders, intimidating phone calls and veiled threats of violence are frightening theaters into canceling showings,” The New York Times reports.

Meanwhile, the International Whaling Commission starts meeting Monday in Morocco to discuss a proposal to “suspend the whaling ban has been drafted by the agency’s chairman, but it’s an unhappy option for nations that abhor whaling. The deal would legitimize commercial hunting in exchange for a drop in the number of whales actually killed by those claiming exemptions to the ban — Japan, Norway and Iceland,” the AP reports.

As you might guess, Whale Wars stars Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd are not happy about this, saying in a press release that “The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is rejecting the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as a corrupt and irrelevant body that has lost all credibility as an organization responsible for the conservation of the world’s whales.”