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Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA
(1) Hunting Cetaceans appears to cause them great pain. For example, penthrite grenade harpoons do not lead to instantaneous death but often a long and lingering one. Whales on the Net - Norwegian Whale Killing Methods
(2) Whales and dolphins appear to be very intelligent, feeling creatures, and so to kill them and end their lives is a destructiveness that saddens me greatly. Trained dolphins, for example, can learn a command to work as a pair and create their own, unique jump that they perform simultaneously. The pair of dolphins will swim underwater, then leap in tandem from the water and do identical twists and turns in the air, which they agreed on somehow underwater. For people to kill such wonderful, creative beings to turn them into table snacks is very troubling to me. It is as if these humans lack empathy and feel no one else's experience of life has value and meaning. |
Being a vegan, you can of course write this sort of stuff without coming across as a hypocrite because what you write comes into conflict with your own meat eating habits .. so that's a good basis to start from.
I'll comment quickly still! Whaling has been part of my education because it's a topic in resource management which I've been coursed in, although not
that much time was dedicated to that particular topic. As far as I know and from what I was taught, most of the whales shot by the grenade harpoons are knocked unconcious and get severly brain damaged. That shouldn't come as a surprise, I mean .. a grenade explodes inside them!
Source :
ScienceDirect - Neuroscience Research : Blast-induced neurotrauma in whales
The page you linked argues that unconciousness is hard to figure out. I disagree, I think if the animal is not moving or responding to stimuli and it's not dead, then it's likely to be unconcious. Also, I'm a bit sceptical about those numbers from the reports. One should always be a bit careful as whaling is a subject which stirs many emotions and so you always have to assume that those who write about it are trying to manipulate you.
The numbers of whales dying instantaneously, as I was taught, is more consistent with those referred to in the study I linked above :
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In the 2001 hunting season 79.8% of the animals were recorded instantaneously dead ( Øen, E.O., 2002. Norwegian whaling in 2001. Rep. Int. Whaling Comm. IWC/54/WKM&AWI 6.Øen, 2002).
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Also an interesting bit of info is this conclusion :
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The study also demonstrates that detonations even as far back as the rostral abdomen may cause fatal neurotrauma.
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The grenade harpoon is designed with a wish for quicker and more humane way to kill whales in mind. I believe it is more effective than many
want to believe.
The argument that whales are intelligent seems a little general. Again, you are a vegan, so coming from you, it sorta makes sense. I'm sure you would argue the intelligence of many animals. Coming from a meat eater, I would say how do you know that minke whales are more intelligent than the pigs you eat? I'm not convinced they are.
Of course there are people who eat "smart" dolphins as well. Again, I think I'd worry more about whether or not the hunting is sustainable rather than how intelligent the whales are.
edit :
I should perhaps clarify what I think of whaling. I think the whaling industry which targets minke whales is harmless. The number of animals hunted compared to the populations or global populations of minke whales is so miniscule that it doesn't pose any discernible ecological threat. Just as I'm not principally against hunting elk, I'm not against hunting minke whales. As for the other species of whales, I'm a bit more sceptical. It depends on the case and the species, but I'm generally against hunting endangered species. I'm not sure the cultural argument is good enough when species come close to extinction. Ancestors have done many things through the ages .. should we copy everything they did? In some ways, attempts at preserving cultures as they were before the rise of modern society seems like an excercise in futility. It's doomed for failure.