A living fin whale. © Greenpeace / Aguilar

The slaughter has started - with the senseless killing of a 20m-long endangered Fin whale that its hunter, Kristjan Loftsson plans to land tomorrow - in order to show it off to the world. I don't know what to say, really. Iceland, which appears to have given in into Loftsson's one-man anti-whale lobby, really has thrown the toys out of the playpen on this one. The international communitty is pissed off, Iceland seems intent on making a mockery of its membership of the IWC, and apparently even the Environment Minister acknowledges that the lack of operating license for Kristjan Loftsson’s meat processing plant in Hvalfjoerdur is causing something of a problem. What do do with all the dead whale now that you've got it??

In addition to the other 38 whales that Iceland plans to kill, there's nearly another 1,000 that Japanese whaling ships are planning to bump off in the Southern Ocean - starting from next month.

So far, 84004 people have taken the pledge:

“I would seriously consider taking a vacation in Iceland rather than somewhere else if the Government of Iceland stopped whaling. I would be willing to receive an email about the options available for Icelandic tourism, an email that would be sent to me if the Government of Iceland ends its whaling program.” Take the Iceland whales pledge »

Read on for media coverage of the killing of the endangered fin whale...

"Iceland has reportedly broken a 21-year-old international ban on commercial whaling by killing a fin whale - an endangered species. "One fin whale was caught today and will be landed tomorrow," a whalers' spokesman told Reuters news agency."

BBC:Iceland 'breaks ban on whaling' »

"Australia's Environment Minister Ian Campbell says Iceland is sticking two fingers in the air to the international community by killing a whale species listed as close to extinction." The Australian: Iceland 'giving world the finger' »

"But that alone won't protect the world's whales. For that, we'll need one of two things: a real regulatory system for whaling that environmentalists and whale-hunting nations can agree on, or an outright worldwide ban on hunting whales. What this week's news shows is that the current system — an undefined temporary ban — isn't feasible anymore."

LA Times: Saving the Whales, Again »

Blog posts about Iceland and whales »