AUSTRALIA — Despite its whaling program having been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2014, Japan continues to antagonize the global community with its despicable practices.

On Jan. 15, conservation Organization Sea Shepherd posted these disturbing photographs of a dead minke whale aboard the Nisshin Maru, the primary vessel of Japan’s whaling fleet. As the Japanese fleet traveled through the Australian Whale Sanctuary in the Southern Ocean, the ships must have caught sight of the whale and killed it. They weren’t as covert as they needed to be, because a Sea Shepherd helicopter spotted the whale’s carcass lying on the flensing deck of the Nisshin Maru.

Realizing they were exposed, the crew of the whaler factory ship tried to cover their tracks, spreading a blue tarp over the body of the dead whale. The fleet’s harpoon ships then quickly followed suit, covering their deadly weapons.

The discovery of the unlawful whaling comes just a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney. This is the first dead whale seen aboard a Japanese ship since the country was ordered to end its Antarctic hunt, when the International Court of Justice concluded that the scientific research being conducted was