Alaskan teen receives death threats after 'rite of passage' whale kill

An Alaskan teenager who killed a giant whale as part of a traditional rite of passage has been branded a "murderer" and been targeted with death threats.

Chris Apassingok, 16, killed a 17-metre bowhead whale in April near his remote village of Gambell.

The act is considered to be a traditional sign of his passage into adulthood within his family and community.

Pictures of the teenager with the slain whale, which was carved up to feed the village, were posted to Facebook by his proud family, but the backlash by animal activists was quick and brutal.

Environmental activist Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, shared a local newspaper article about the kill on Facebook.

Soon after, the teen was inundated with abuse and death threats.

Watson's post has since been deleted, but it read: "WTF, you 16-year-old Murdering Little B*****!"

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It went on: "Some 16-year-old kid is a frigging 'hero' for snuffing out the life of this unique, self-aware, intelligent, social, sentient being, but hey, it's okay because murdering whales is part of his culture, part of his tradition."

Chris’ mother Susan told a local newspaper her son had been devastated by the reaction and stopped going to school and barely spoke to anyone.

"We struggle to buy gas, they risk their lives out there to feed us, while this Paul Watson will never have to suffer a day in his life," she told High Country News.

Although Watson, a founding member of Greenpeace, pulled down his initial post, he remains unapologetic about drawing attention to the whale kill.

"This has been my position of 50 years and it will always be my position until the day I die," he wrote in a follow-up post.