27 Dec 2008

'Stink' attack on Japan's whalers

An anti-whaling group says its members have thrown "stink" bombs at a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic.

The Sea Shepherd group said crew on one of its boats lobbed 10 bottles of rotten butter and 15 bottles of a methyl cellulose at the Japanese ship. No-one was injured during Friday's incident north of the Mawson Peninsular, Japanese officials said. They said their ship was on a research expedition. Opponents say this could be a cover for banned commercial whaling.

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The Sea Shepherd said the incident took place at 0730 GMT on Friday off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. The group said its members on board its ship - the Steve Irvin - threw the bottles at Japan's Kaiko Maru vessel after pursuing the Japanese whaling fleet for a week.

"That is one stinky slippery ship," Sea Shepherd's official Peter Hammarstedt said.

BBC NEWS and Sea Shepherd