Examine Sea Shepherd bullet, Japan saysJapan has challenged anti-whaling activists in the Southern Ocean to let Australian police examine a bullet the protesters claim hit their leader in a clash on Friday.Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), ruled out any chance the bullet it is claimed struck the head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society came from a whaling vessel. "We challenge them to go to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and let them examine the bullet. ... They (police) would get a sense pretty quickly from what (type of) gun it came from," Inwood said.
On Friday night Paul Watson, the captain of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, claimed he was shot and others injured during an encounter with Japanese whalers. Watson said a bullet hit him just above his heart, and he was saved by a Kevlar vest he was wearing, where he found the ammunition embedded. He said two Australians, 33-year-old Ralph Lowe from Melbourne and Ashley Dunn, 35, a cameraman from Launceston, had also been injured during the clash with the Japanese. Watson said Lowe suffered a bruised back when a flash grenade went off behind him, and Dunn smashed his hip when he tried to get out of the way of one of the devices.
Japan has admitted to firing a series of soundballs, known also as thunder flashes, at the protesters after the group began hoisting bottles of butyric acid at the main whaling ship the Nisshin Maru. The foul-smelling acid is thrown by protesters to make the Japanese ship stink and deter the whalers. Inwood said he was unsure whether Japanese Coast Guard staff aboard the Nissin Maru were carrying weapons that could have contained bullets, but he felt sure they would co-operate in any police investigation. He insisted Watson's claims that he had been shot were deliberately made to mislead the media. "Sea Shepherd knows how to twist the truth, it's like an ocean-going Joseph Goebbels," Inwood said.
"The Australian media is being fooled by a clever con-artist who bought a Kevlar jacket, shot it at close range and took it with him to the Antarctic just to pull it from his bag of public relations tricks at the right time. "The Australian media have swallowed the prank hook, line and harpoon," he said. Speaking to AAP from a satellite phone on Saturday morning, Watson said he would be happy to co-operate with the Federal Police.
Watson said in the past he had found the AFP to be impartial in their dealings with Sea Shepherd, but he would provide the bullet for analysis if they requested it. "Last year after Japan accused Sea Shepherd of ramming one of their whaling boats, the Australian Federal Police did a forensic investigation. "We heard nothing of the results because the investigation could only have determined that the Japanese had rammed the Sea Shepherd vessel. "Of course no action was taken against Japan," he said. Watson said he thought the tactics used by the Japanese on Friday night showed they were getting frustrated at their inability to catch their quota of whales. Japanese whalers hope to catch 935 minke and 50 endangered fin whales as part of what they claim is a scientific research into the marine mammals.
http://news.theage.com.au/examine-sea-shepherd-bullet-japan-says/20080308-1y1i.html
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