The slaughter of at least one protected minke whale -- shown in Sea Shepherd pictures lying on board the whaling mother ship, Nisshin Maru -- has allegedly taken place in Australian waters in the Southern Ocean. After five weeks of patrolling the southern Ocean, a Sea Shepherd helicopter spotted the factory vessel on Sunday morning with two nearby harpoon ships. Japanese ship Nisshin Maru found in Australia waters with dead whale on deck. Upon discovery, Sea Shepherd said the Japanese crew covered their harpoons and the dead minke whale on deck. It's the first documented whale kill by Japanese whalers since 2014 when the International Court of Justice ruled Japan's whaling operations were illegal.

Source: Huffington Post January 15, 2017 21:54 UTC