Whale Hunting - The Truth

[dbgtz]

My fellow people I'm going to see if whales have the ability to cross bread with humans.
*goes there*
**** YEAH LOTS OF STUFF TO KILL.

Morons. I agree what's the point killing something which is harmless to you.

[StripedTiger]

Dont they pretend its for medical research?

maybe, but whales have completely different genes to us. They're better off testing mice and pigs.

That documentary on not long ago, cutting up the largest animals. I still want to know if the animal was already dead. Suspicious how they happened to "find" a body of the animal they wanted, at the right time and place O_o

[JackBuddy]

I hope that the people ranting about cruelty are vegetarians. Yes it's cruel, but if the populations have recovered and they are hunted sustainably then I have no problem with it.

Greenpeace really isn't as holy as some people think. A lot of it's stats are over exaggurated and frankly wrong. They manipulate their position as one of the leading environmental charities to mislead members of the public.

[StripedTiger]

I hope that the people ranting about cruelty are vegetarians. Yes it's cruel, but if the populations have recovered and they are hunted sustainably then I have no problem with it.

If the numbers were big enough to hunt then I'd agree with you, but they're like many beautiful animals and there aren't enough although when whaling did start the numbers were probably okay. I suppose for most people, if they were high in number it would be like fishing for tuna and bass etc.

[Nixt]

Most Whales are endangered, JackBuddy, so I don't think it's at all sustainable. Whaling is illegal internationally, but numerous countries choose not to enforce it. In particular Japan (I think?). Whales are hunted for blubber which has a high market value and is used in cosmetics. Whaling has nothing to do with medical research, contrary to what some people would like you to think.

That's my knowledge of it, anyway, but I could be wrong.

[Black_Apalachi]

You're right Garion.

The people on that Whale Wars are heroes really. Dolphin and shark hunting is as bad. Sharks are hunted for their fins and then thrown back alive and I think dolphins are hunted for their meat in general but there's some weird thing they do by herding them into a bay as a tourist attraction and then herding them somewhere else to be killed. Then the ones they don't need or something are killed anyway.

[JackBuddy]

Some species have recovered significantly. There are quite a few that are classed as 'lower risk' (in terms of threat).

Let's be honest, if an endangered species of rat was being hunted to extinction nobody would care. One of the biggest threats to coral reefs/dolphins/ turtles etc is the by-catch from trawler fishing, which really is much more of a threat to marine life than whaling.

[JackBuddy]

In reply to Garion, whaling isn't completely illegal. Countries that have relied on them for years (Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Japan etc) are issued quotas which limits the amount of whales that can be caught. There are indigenous populations that have depended on them for survival for thousands of years, they are also hunted as delicacies and for 'research'.

[myke]

Dont they pretend its for medical research?

No they pretend that it is for research into the animal and their ecology.

maybe, but whales have completely different genes to us. They're better off testing mice and pigs.

That documentary on not long ago, cutting up the largest animals. I still want to know if the animal was already dead. Suspicious how they happened to "find" a body of the animal they wanted, at the right time and place O_o

That documentary probably falls under the research, one of the rules of the research is that all the animal must be used and there must be no waste. Whales are top of the food chain and you don't realise but they balance the whole ecology and biodiversity of the sea. e.g. When they die naturally their bones are used for habitats (when they sink to the bed of the ocean) of species you've most likely never heard of. This relates to the butterfly/chaos theory

I hope that the people ranting about cruelty are vegetarians. Yes it's cruel, but if the populations have recovered and they are hunted sustainably then I have no problem with it.

Greenpeace really isn't as holy as some people think. A lot of it's stats are over exaggurated and frankly wrong. They manipulate their position as one of the leading environmental charities to mislead members of the public.

The populations haven't recovered that's the thing; a lot of the whales are now protected and Japan (one of the whaling capitals of the world) has a quota. They're allowed to kill say 400 minke whales a year or something, to keep the population thriving etc. However, that 400 is the LEGAL whaling, this doesn't take into account the hundreds of whales killed every year because of illegal whaling.

Most Whales are endangered, JackBuddy, so I don't think it's at all sustainable. Whaling is illegal internationally, but numerous countries choose not to enforce it. In particular Japan (I think?). Whales are hunted for blubber which has a high market value and is used in cosmetics. Whaling has nothing to do with medical research, contrary to what some people would like you to think.

That's my knowledge of it, anyway, but I could be wrong.

The argument for whale hunting is that almost every part of the whale is used, but I read somewhere that over 3000 (I think) whale carcuses are put into landfill every year, they use almost every part of it. e.g. With the research, the meat has to go to market because then it makes the most of the killing rather than killing it and then prodding it and then dumping it.

Some species have recovered significantly. There are quite a few that are classed as 'lower risk' (in terms of threat).

Let's be honest, if an endangered species of rat was being hunted to extinction nobody would care. One of the biggest threats to coral reefs/dolphins/ turtles etc is the by-catch from trawler fishing, which really is much more of a threat to marine life than whaling.

A whale is almost at the top of the food chain, (this is what my biology teacher, who studied ecology told me) and until you look at the food web you don't realise just how much of an impact it has. A rat can multiply loads in no amount of time - so no doubt someone would protect it and the breeding program would be easy - with whales it's completely different.

:]

[JackBuddy]

The populations haven't recovered that's the thing; a lot of the whales are now protected and Japan (one of the whaling capitals of the world) has a quota. They're allowed to kill say 400 minke whales a year or something, to keep the population thriving etc. However, that 400 is the LEGAL whaling, this doesn't take into account the hundreds of whales killed every year because of illegal whaling.

A whale is almost at the top of the food chain, (this is what my biology teacher, who studied ecology told me) and until you look at the food web you don't realise just how much of an impact it has. A rat can multiply loads in no amount of time - so no doubt someone would protect it and the breeding program would be easy - with whales it's completely different.

:]

Yes but some whale species have recovered, and some aren't in much danger at all. I used the rat as an example. the WWF wouldn't exactly incorporate an endangered species of worm as their logo. Most people only care about big, cute and furry animals.