Anti-whaling activists expressed disappointment and sadness over sentences handed to five Makah whale hunters Monday.
“We believe all five [defendants] got off lightly,” Chuck Owens of Joyce said Tuesday.
He and Margaret Owens, his wife, are co-founders of Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales.
The Washington, D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute, which works closely with the Owenses, agreed.
“We were disappointed overall with the sentencing,” said D.J. Shubert, an AWI biologist.
Shubert added, though, that he was pleased with prison time given to two defendants who were taken into custody immediately — unusual because defendants who have been free pending sentencing often are given time before they must surrender themselves to federal officers, a court spokeswoman said.
Wayne Johnson, 55, received five months in prison, and Andy Noel, 29, his nephew, will serve three months.
Both also will serve a year’s probation after their release from custody, during which Johnson will put in 175 hours of community service and Noel will put in 200 hours.
The sentences were more than were recommended by the federal prosecutors.
