Whaling

A 1) Special treatment is typically granted to the being with superior intelligence in our global society. Cetaceans, the classification dolphins and whales belong to, have long been regarded as very, very intelligent. The sperm whale has the world's largest brain at 17 pounds, compared to our meagre 3 pound brain. [1] One could argue that the whale's brain size is relative to it's body size and therefore is not significant, however, a whale's body can be up to 50% blubber, [2] which requires no brain activity to function. This means that the whale may very well have a much bigger brain than it needs and is more intelligent than it may seem. Further study may be needed, but these figures are hard to ignore. Science has also shown that dolphins, which are so closely related to whales that they are sometimes considered one in the same, are literally just behind humans in brain power [3]. It is quite possible that the overall intelligence of some whale species is not only significant, but unmatched. This alone should be justification to grant whales special treatment over other animals, especially with the amount of cruelty with which they are killed. When a whale is killed by whalers, it is shot with a grenade-tipped, barbed harpoon that explodes on impact. The whale is horrifically injured, gushing blood, struggling to breathe. Usually the babies are hit first because their mothers won't leave their side. As the cetacean helplessly flops around, winched tightly to the nearby harpoon ship, it can take as long as an hour to die. As it's agonized struggle continues, it is shot with a high caliber rifle repeatedly and is sometimes electrocuted to slightly speed up the process. If the whale is still not dead, it is dragged behind the vessel to drown it. This cruel practice has been documented by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the video above. Such a barbaric slaughter of any land animal (cow, chicken, pig, etc.) would never be tolerated in the world today. A 2) You make a decent point about the amount of food a whale can provide.The Inuit nations of Alaska and Canada rely on whale meat for sustenance. For these primitive people, I find whaling regrettable but acceptable as long as they are responsible and modest with their catch. However, for developed nations like Japan, Norway, and Iceland in-which whaling is an industry, it is very unnecessary. The whaling industry in developed nations is dead in the water. In fact, a recent study revealed that only 17% of Japan's population had eaten whale meat in recent years, or had ever eaten it at all [4]. Global demand for whale meat is next to extinct and will likely never recover. Literally tons of surplus whale meat have been packed into huge, industrial-sized freezers because they are simply unwanted by the public. In 2007, Iceland suspended it's whale hunt for the season because there was such a large surplus and no demand for the meat [5]. If whaling was a necessary practice, that would not be the case. Whaling is not preserving life because no one is buying the meat anyway. Whale meat has a very foul taste and contains very high concentrations of mercury. Some of the surplus meat has been added to the school lunch system in Japan, such meat tested at one school yielded a truly shocking 16 times more mercury than advised by the Japanese Heath Ministry [4]. Mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element known to man, causing birth defects, autism, and countless other serious aliments. This is simply not something humans should be eating. Whale meat may preserve life, but it may very well be putting human life at risk. [1] http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov... [2] http://whales.org.za... [3] http://news.discovery.com... [4] http://www.digitaljournal.com... [5] http://www.earthweek.com... http://www.youtube.com...