TOKYO - More than 120 pregnant female whales were among 333 killed during Japan's recent annual summer hunt off the coast of Antarctica, according to a new report.
The report, released by the International Whaling Commission this month (May), said a total of 181 female whales were caught in the hunt, and 122 were pregnant.
The last hunting season in the Antarctic for Japan ran from Dec 8 to Feb 28.
Conservationists said the new report was further evidence that Japan was killing whales for commercial purposes under the guise of scientific research, reported New York Times.
"The killing of 122 pregnant whales is a shocking statistic and sad indictment on the cruelty of Japan's whale hunt," Alexia Wellbelove, a senior programme manager at Humane Society International, said in a statement.
"It is further demonstration, if needed, of the truly gruesome and unnecessary nature of whaling operations, especially when non-lethal surveys have been shown to be sufficient for scientific needs."
Whether the annual hunt is legal is unclear, as some federal and international laws are in conflict with one another.
In 2014, the International Court of Justice temporarily banned Japan from whaling in the Antarctic Ocean, after the court found that the annual whale slaughter programme was for commercial purposes, which is illegal.
Under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, signed in 1946, nations are allowed a special permit to kill whales for "purposes of scientific research."
The Japanese government scrapped the whaling programme that had been declared illegal, known as Jarpa II, and began a new one in 2015 called Newrep-A under which it would kill up to 333 Antarctic minke whales each year.
It describes the programme as having a scientific purpose, but experts say it is a cover to continue whaling for profit.
"They've sought to exploit this loophole," said Professor Donald R. Rothwell, an expert in international law at the Australian National University.
Further complicating matters: International law makes it legal for the byproduct of the scientific mission, whale meat, to be sold.
Wellbelove called on Australia and other anti-whaling countries to send "the strongest possible message to Japan that it should stop its lethal whaling programmes", reported Guardian.
