Japanese whaling suspended
By jwfarrimond
@jwfarrimond (4473)
January 5, 2008 4:06am CST
Japan has suspended it's plans to kill up to 50 humpbacked whales in the Antarctic following an international petition protesting at the planned hunt for so called "scientific" reasons. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/21/world/main3638462.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_3638462
2 responses
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
5 Jan 08
Now, I can understand that to discover the health of whales you would probably have to kill a few. They are large, animals, and would be impossible to determine their health in a catch/tag/reliece program - if you could catch and tag one easily in the first place.
Having said that, the absolute worst people to do it would be the Japanese, who would be wanting to do it to prove they can be hunted again.
1 person likes this
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
5 Jan 08
It's just an excuse to hunt whales to satisfy the Japanese consumers taste for whale meat. They actually kill more than a thousand whales a year.
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
5 Jan 08
Like I said, if ANY country should NOT be allowed to hunt whales for "scientific" reasons its Japan.
I can see hunting a FEW, by a country that has a good history of protecting the whales for scientific reasons - they being a top preditor are a good reflection of the health of the oceans - but NEVER Japan.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
5 Jan 08
I can't see that there is any reason for killing whales in order to study them. Marine biologists do study them by tagging them with gps transmitters which allows them to study the migration routes and so on of the tagged whales.
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
5 Jan 08
as far as I know, only Japan, Iceland, Norway The Faero Islands still hunt whales commercially. and there is some native tribe in Canada who claim that whale hunting is part of there cultural heritage and so they should be allowed to carry on hunting grey whales which is another endangered species. They use high powered motor boats and modern equipment.
