Good Question: Do Countries Participate In Whaling Despite The Ban?

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) – They are earth's largest living, breathing creatures who are meant to be protected by an international ban on commercial hunting. But Irwin in San Francisco asked this Good Question: Do countries still participate in whaling despite the international ban?

ANSWER: According to Lincoln Shaw with the group Sea Shepherd Conservation, whales are protected by an international ban on commercial hunting. But the law is routinely violated by the Japanese whaling fleet who continue to take whales, citing "scientific research."

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)