A whale watching tourist boat off the coast of Norway was treated to an unpleasant surprise last week. A minke whale was delighting the children with its playful antics when along came a whaling boat to teach them a unexpected lesson in commercial fishing, Oslo-style. While there is an international ban on whaling, Norway flouted the ban and resumed whaling in 1993.
"The blood flowed and it wasn't a pretty sight. This really wasn't what we came to see," Leontien Dieleman from the Netherlands told a Norwegian newspaper.
The captain of the boat quickly corrected him, showing the pamphlet for the tour: “See Whales Get Brutally Slaughtered In All Their Splendor!" The five-hour tour boasts the opportunity to "witness one of the earth’s most majestic creatures in its natural environment, watch it die a slow, bloody death by harpoon tipped with explosives, and then enjoy a sumptuous dinner of smoked salmon and slow-cured lamb's leg with juniper berries.”
Mr. Dieleman said he wished he’d read the tour description more closely, but promised his family that next year’s trip is guaranteed to be torture-free; he got an amazing deal on a two-week all-expenses cruise to Guantanamo Bay.