OUTRAGE OVER WHALING ... #2 <cont>

Msolga, I believe you are attempting to exercise rights you don't posess in unduly restricting the discorse here.

You have demanded that I address exactly and only the statement of Prof. Singer that you posted.

Singer has insisted that it is "wrong" for humans to kill whales or other large creatures absent a "life and death" reason for them to do so. He does not specify what he means by "wrong".

Clearly he does not, because the killing of whales in the Antarctic sea by the Japanese does not violate any applicable or binding law.

In other statements he condones the euthanasia of aged or disabled humans and even infants whose neurotic parents may be fearful of raising

I find his statement to be specious and insubstantial - not persuasive at all. Mostly I am astounded that so many credulous folk give this stuff so much attention.

You have chided me for not joining your claques in damning the Japanese on sustainability and like issues.

But, Olga, why is Mr Singer picking out whales?

David Attenborough says there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea and questions whether whaling should "still be tolerated by a civilised society" in a report today by scientists and major conservation organisations.

In a departure from his long held stance of neutrality on political and conservation questions, Sir David makes clear his opposition to whaling in the report, Troubled Waters.

The issue of whalers' ability to kill humanely is central to the British and other conservation-minded nations opposing the resumption of commercial whaling. They say that if it cannot be achieved, then whaling should not resume.

The report shows that instantaneous death cannot be guaranteed and although the average time from being hit by an explosive harpoon to death is two minutes, many whales live much longer. Some are wounded and face an unknown fate.

In his foreword Sir David says: "Whales are highly evolved animals with all the sensitivities that that statement implies. They have a complex social life. They call to one another across the vast expanses of oceans.

"They are the largest animals that have ever existed, far larger than any dinosaur. There is nothing in the body of a whale, which is of use to us, for which we cannot find equivalents elsewhere." He says the report contains "hard scientific dispassionate evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea."

He quotes Harry Lillie, who worked as a ship's physician on a whaling trip in the Antarctic half a century ago: "If we can imagine a horse having two or three explosive spears stuck in its stomach and being made to pull a butcher's truck through the streets of London while it pours blood into the gutter, we shall have an idea of the method of killing.

"The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream, the industry would stop for nobody would be able to stand it."

Sir David continues: "The use of harpoons with explosive grenade heads is still the main technique used by whalers today. "I hope that you will read the following pages and decide for yourself whether the hunting of whales in this way should still be tolerated by a civilised society."

The report, produced by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, draws on academic research and the expertise of a New Zealand government ballistics expert, the Humane Society of the United States, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, and the RSPCA. Killing methods compare unfavourably to those imposed on the slaughter of land animals, the report says.

It says that claims by the whaling industry to be able to kill instantaneously vary widely between Japan and Norway, the two main whaling nations. The Norwegians claim to kill 80.7% instantaneously but the Japanese only 40.2%, although both are using the same techniques.

The main killing method is a harpoon that penetrates about 1ft into the whale before exploding, killing the animal with shock waves. If this fails a second harpoon or rifle is used. Average time to death is more than two minutes, the report says.

However it claims that "adaptations for diving" may make it difficult to determine whether the animals are dead. "Their sheer mass, complex vascular systems and specific anatomical features may also impede efforts to kill them swiftly and humanely."

...Acoustics experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed that the voice of a singing blue whale was tracked about 70 miles off Long Island and New York City Jan. 10-11, as the whale slowly swam from east to west. At the same time, a second blue whale was heard singing in the far distance....

If there is anything more boorish on the internet than to barge into a discussion just after the hostess has taken the trouble to state she'd rather have any more digressions from her topic - reminder, topic here is "Outrage over Whaling" - with an lengthy post on an unrelated topic, then I don't want to see it. In fact, I will not see it, because you're hereby added to my ignore list.

Anti-whaling skipper calls NZ Government 'contemptible'
By Colin Marshall View as one page
4:00 PM Wednesday Jan 11, 2006

The captain of a conservation ship clashing with Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean has labelled the New Zealand Government "contemptible" for allowing Japan to continue killing whales.
Paul Watson, of the Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat, was today criticised by Conservation Minister Chris Carter as irresponsible for using tactics such as running into whaling ships with a "can opener" device in a bid to stop them taking whales.
Capt Watson said such criticism was unfounded.
"If the Australian government and the New Zealand Government were acting responsibly then we wouldn't be down here," he said from aboard his vessel in the Southern Ocean.
"The fact is the Japanese whaling fleet is in blatant violation of international law and nobody is doing anything about it.

"We're not here to protest, we're down here to uphold international conservation law and to chase these guys out of here and it's working. They're afraid of us and we want them to be afraid of us. "

Mr Carter today condemned the Sea Shepherd actions.
"The increasing anxiety that the Japanese are showing is partly a response to the very irresponsible behaviour by Paul Watson from the Sea Shepherd group," he said.
But Capt Watson, a Canadian-born United States resident, said if anybody was irresponsible, it was not Sea Shepherd.

"If the New Zealand Government is concerned about it, then hey, send a navy vessel down here and check it out. Keep an eye on things and act responsibly."

He said the Australian and New Zealand governments were "contemptible" in allowing the whaling to continue.

"I think they're kissing the rear ends of Japan, is what I think. If these were Indonesian fishermen, Australia would be very aggressive about it.

"There's no difference between illegal poaching by Indonesia and poaching by Japan."

A spokesman for Mr Carter said the minister did not want to make any further comment.

Capt Watson admitted there was "always a risk" in any action at sea, but in his experience, dating back to 1977, he had never caused an injury to anybody.

He was acting under the United Nations World Charter for Nature, which he said stated non-government organisations could use powers to uphold international conservation law, a defence which had previously seen him acquitted by a jury in Canada in 1995 for "chasing" Spanish drag trawlers.

Federal charges filed against US sushi restaurant owner, chef over alleged whale serving

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Federal prosecutors have filed charges against the owner of a California restaurant and its sushi chef that marine mammal activists say served illegal whale meat.

Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant in Santa Monica, and Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, a 45-year-old Culver City resident, were charged Wednesday with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanour.

Two undercover diners requested whale as part of an $600 omakase or chef's choice, meal. The young women were working with the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary, "The Cove," to record the whole meal.

They pocketed a sample, and genetic testing confirmed that it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.

If convicted, Yamamoto could face a year in prison and a fine of $100,000. The company could be fined $200,000.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100310/world/us_whale_sushi_sting

They pocketed a sample, and genetic testing confirmed that it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.