Whale pirates and Japanese whalers collide

Sea Pirate Robert Hunt vears toward Japanese Whale ship: icrwhale.org

An anti-whaling group's boat and a Japanese whale-spotting vessel collided in Antarctic waters Monday during violent clashes over a pod of whales, conservationists and Japanese officials said.

The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd said a 3-foot gash was torn into the hull of its ship, the Robert Hunter, by the Japanese ship Kaiko Maru during the clashes in iceberg-strewn waters far south of New Zealand.

Japanese officials accused the group of attacking the whaling ship Kaiko Maru ``like pirates.''