British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taking a stand against “cruel” Japanese whaling, The Telegraph newspaper said on Friday, after a minke whale became caught in fishing nets for 19 days before being killed by fishermen this week,

Drone footage of the trapped whale in the port of Taiji captured the world’s attention and received flak from animal rights activists and environmentalists across the world.

“At a time when we are already seeing the tragic and irreversible destruction of our natural world, with the sea increasingly pumped full of plastics and climate change threatening entire ecosystems, it is more important than ever to take a stand against the cruel practice of whaling,” Johnson told the newspaper.The Foreign Office is also raising the issue with counterparts in Japan, the report added.

A Japanese fleet caught whales in 2019 in the country’s first commercial hunt in more than three decades, a move that aroused global condemnation.

Taiji is known for its annual dolphin hunt. 

Reuters