Yet another minke whale has been butchered in Ulsan, just 400m from the Whale Embassy. Last night at about 1.30am, a local walked into the Embassy to inform us that a minke was being butchered outside a whalemeat restaurant.

When our activists arrived, they saw the remains of an immature minke whale being butchered on a large tarpaulin amongst piles of ice. The butcher threw icecubes at our activists and splashed them with whaleblood. One eyewitness said that someone dipped his hands in whale blood and threatened to wipe them across her chest.

As our group returned to camp, a man in a truck went past and our translator heard what they yelled in Korean. It was "This whale was not bycatch, just catch." Of course we can't confirm if that is true or not, but otherwise the poor whale certainly has bad timing, happening to be caught right in the middle of a Whale Festival.

Since last night we have heard that the minke was only 4 metres long, a juvenile, and was sold for 31 million won (about USD$31,000).

I will post photos of this soon, but meanwhile - if you haven't alread, join the Virtual March! Only a few hours to go until this world first event ... and you could stop whales like this one dying.

Adele
(Photo copyright Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert)