Two environmental protestors have been injured this week while trying to interfere with the gray whale hunt that the Makah native tribe in Washington state started up a few days ago. Under a 1997 deal, the U.S. is allowing the Makahs to kill up to five gray whales a year. In a highly publicized and controversial hunt last year, the tribe killed one. Erin Abbott of Ocean Defense International yesterday buzzed the Makahs’ canoe while on a personal watercraft and was subsequently rammed by a U.S. Coast Guard boat that was trying to keep protestors out of a protected hunting zone; she suffered a broken shoulder and ribs. Another protestor received minor injuries on Monday when a Coast Guard vessel came right up next to the boat in which she was riding. Opponents of the hunt vow to continue their protests.
