<br /> <p>Sea Shepherd, an international anti-whaling organization, condemned the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf on July 11, claiming they illegally slaughtered an endangered blue whale.</p><p>Footage captured by Sea Shepherd showed workers of Kristjan Loftsson’s company, Hvalur hf, posing with an unconfirmed species of whale that they killed.</p><p>According to Sea Shepherd, Loftsson’s company is lawfully permitted to kill fin whales by the Icelandic government, but they do not have a permit to kill endangered blue whales.</p><p>In a statement</a> released on July 11, Sea Shepherd said they had contacted several scientific experts specializing in whale identification and came to the conclusion that “The whale is without question a blue whale.”</p>“While I can’t entirely rule out the possibility that this is a hybrid, I don’t see any characteristics that would suggest that,” said Dr Phillip Clapham of the NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Centre. “From the photos, it has all the characteristics of a blue whale; given that – notably the coloration pattern – there is almost no possibility that an experienced observer would have misidentified it as anything else at sea.”<p>Kristján Loftsson rejected Sea Shepherd’s claims. “We have never caught a blue whale in our waters since they were protected,” he told CNN. “We see them in the ocean. When you approach a blue whale, it’s so distinct that you leave it alone.” Credit: Sea Shepherd UK via Storyful</p><br />
