Japan Suffers Setback Over Whaling Vote

Japan will be confronted with evidence of the cruelty environmentalists say is inflicted during its "scientific" whale hunts, after its attempt to seize control of the International Whaling Committee suffered yet another setback at the weekend.

As tempers frayed at the IWC meeting on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, Australia was preparing to present video footage taken by environmentalists during Japan's recent hunt in the Southern Ocean showing whales taking as long as 30 minutes to die after being harpooned.

Japan says the animals die after an average of 30 seconds and that drawn-out deaths are an exception. It rebuffed environmentalists' claims that whalers drown harpooned whales by dragging them backwards through the water.

Ian Campbell, Australia's environment minister, called the footage "absolutely inhumane and quite disgusting".

Japan's hopes of achieving a majority at the IWC meeting and eventually lifting the 20-year-old ban on commercial whaling all but disappeared over the weekend, when it lost three key votes.

On Friday it was defeated by 33 votes to 30 on a proposal to introduce secret ballots, which, critics say, would allow Japan to exert unseen pressure on smaller countries to attain the 75% of votes it needs to lift the ban. In recent weeks Tokyo has fended off accusations that it has used generous aid offers to recruit poor African and Pacific states to its cause.

On Saturday Japan failed to push through plans to allow several Japanese coastal regions to hunt 150 minke whales, losing by just one vote as more pro-whaling nations arrived on St Kitts or gained eligibility to vote by paying their dues. Four countries expected to vote in Japan's favour - China, South Korea, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati - abstained.