Since things seem to be heating up on the boards I thought I might add to the debates.

I heard on the news the Japanese were out trying to slaughter about 1,000 whales calling it research. As you can guess I find this an abomination.

What are your thoughts?

Beyond gruesome, appalling, and disgusting, but they claim it's all for scientific research, so apparently in the name of science, it's okay. I read that Greenpeace and the militants trying to stop them had to return to land because they were running out of fuel. I hope they can go back soon.

Japan insinuated that they would take out the only white humpback whale in the world if given the opportunity. He's quite the celebrity in Australia. That would be an atrocity; utterly evil.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

My understanding is that for years, whale meat was a staple in the Japanese diet. I'm not under the impression that the type of whale they eat is endangered, however, environmental activists were able to successfully push to make it illegal to hunt whales, even for food, in certain situations/areas. I'm having trouble finding all the details, but that's the gist of what I'm seeing.

The Japanese hunters who are hunting in the name of "science" right now are probably actually hunting them for food, which is not legal. Or maybe it's not - there is a question of whether those are international waters, etc. What they do know is that it *is* legal for them to hunt a specified amount for scientific research, per some international agreement that was struck in 1946. There is very little science involved, from what people can discern, but if on the face of it they look at something scientific in nature, then they are free to go ahead and use what remains of the whale as food. For all I know, they can look at the eye color of the whales, chart the eye color, determine that 100% of the dead whales have black eyes, and then say, "Oh, well, guess we might as well eat these since they're dead, anyway." Or rather, sell them as food since they're dead anyway.

Apparently, it is a very touchy subject in Japan, as in their culture, whales have long been seen as we see livestock, and for them a good whale stir fry is akin to a nice T-bone. But because there are Greenpeacey-type feelings about whales it was an easy sell to demonize the use of whales as food, so now they are trying to find covert ways to obtain something they used to have plentifully.

At least, that's my understanding from what I was able to find online.

I have no problem with the eskimo or inuit people for example hunting whales to feed themselves. Where they live, there is nothing but the sea, and they live off whatever they can catch. But japan is a rich, modern counrty....thats craziness.
Wasnt one of the stars of heroes involved in trying to stop a whale (or dolphin) slaughter in Japan??

I think that is what makes them so evil. They would drive an endangered animal to extinction just so they could have their t-bone. They don't need it but they want it. Its flipant disregard for anything but themselves. If sheep were on the brink of extinction I wouldn't be having lamb for dinner tonight.

That being said, I don't have as much of a problem with eskimos doing it. They kill in sustainable numbers and actually need the meat.

I guess I don't get it.

Obviously, if it's illegal for them to be whaling for food in restricted areas, then they need to be punished for that. No pretending it's for science if it's obviously just a cover.

But what I read indicated that they aren't after whales that are from an endangered species. There are many kinds of whales, and not all are endangered.

Doesn't sound like anything I care to eat, but they might not care for summer sausage, so who am I to judge?

Whales have one calf, after a really long gestation (over a year I believe), and they dont reproduce when they are nursing. I think you can geta whale calf once every three or four years from a reproductively active whale.
I guess the whale thing is kind of like the bison that roamed the plains. The native Americans respected and hunted them, using every bit of them, and the settlers came through and slaughtered them by the thousands for their pelts, driving them to the brink of extinction.
The whales are used for food in some cultures where no other food is available, and they use every bit of the whale. The whales were hunted to the brink of extinction, like the bison, and have come back, but not in huge numbers. I think almost every species is protected, and its just wrong to kill them if you have so much other stuff to eat.
Once I saw a documentary where Japanese fisherman were taking in hundreds (on this boat alone) of sharks, hacking off their fins, and tossing the living but doomed shark back in the ocean. That proactice I think is sick sick sick.
Also, I think lots of people are offended by the whale slaughter because they are such intelligent animals.

In some cultures killing a cow is evil and sacreligious and we slaughter them by the MILLIONS. And I'm sure those cultures are calling us Americans sick sick sick.

Different cultures have different ways of life.

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Shauna

From what I have read, most Japanese citizens do not even eat whale meat. Primarily those who do are older people and some businessmen. Unfortunately, a sizable portion of this meat ends up as dog food. It seems that they are trying to hold onto what their culture used to be, but the younger generation isn't buying into it. So they continue to practice killing of whales because that is what their ancestors did years ago. It seems, in part, that they are motivated to continue this since the western world objects to it.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

It has nothing to do with sacred-ness...cows are bred by the millions (in America, not in Hindi cultures) for slaughter as are pigs and chickens. We even have a bull sperm factory nearby here called Sire Power. Select Sire Power - Tunkhannock, PA - AgMap
Whale populations are in the low thousands and even hundreds for some breeds, and they can not bounce back quickly because they only have one baby every 3 to 4 years. thats the problem.

Every single species is a vital part of an ecosystem. There is no need for anyone to eat an entire species away. The human population is as whole overweight. A few vegetables wouldn't hurt most people. Native Americans hunted, used every piece of what killed and existed next to the very animals that sustained them. They respected nature.Of course that worked until they were the hunted and forced to give up their land.

They are after any kind of whale esp the hump back which is on the brink of extinction. I don't think there is an over abundance of any kind of cetacean. They have even threated to kill the only living white humpback if they find it. It lives off the coast of Australia.