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5 Held in Whale Shooting

Makah machine gun marine mammal off Washington coast
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 9, 2007 1:35 PM CDT
5 Held in Whale Shooting
In this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, an injured California gray whale was swims Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007 in Neah Bay, Wash., after being shot with a machine gun and harpooned off the western tip of Washington state. Coast Guard officials created a 1,000-yard safety zone around the injured...   (Associated Press)

Five members of Washington's Makah Tribe were being held today after a harpooned California gray whale died as it headed out to sea. The AP reports that yesterday the tribesmen harpooned and shot the animal mammal with a .50 caliber machine gun. While the tribe has exercised its whaling rights for cultural purposes before, this shooting was probably illegal.

A 1999 bill allowed the Makah to hunt whales in a limited area, and the animal had to be harpooned from a canoe first, the Seattle Times notes. The bill is now tied up in the courts. "We allow native hunts for cultural purposes. However, this does not appear to be of that nature so far," said one official. (More whale stories.)

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