I’m sure this will be controversial, but I don’t think that all animals are equal. I’m not a vegitarian and believe we have the right to take our place in the food chain. That being said, I find wanton cruelty to animals intolerable. I also think special considerations should be made for highly intelligent animals like dolphins/whales, primates and dogs (I’ll throw in cats since I know they have lots of fans.)
Exactly. Thanks for mentioning Cats.
cows are smart
To stick to the OP’s original assertion:
Cows are raised for slaughter.
OP—Have you seen the film?
Japan shows The Cove after delay from protests
It’s good to see the Japanese government allowed the film to be shown. I cried when I watched it. But I would like to point something out in fairness to the Japanese. They’re not the only nation that practices reprehensible acts like these. Long-line fishing kills indiscriminately, and it is found in every ocean in the world. Worse, the majority of the catch is not even used, just thrown back into the ocean, a horrible waste of a natural resource.
According to the International Humane Society, long-line fishing is the commercial fishing industry’s version of traditional hook and line fishing—only far more indiscriminate and deadly. Ocean vessels trail a main fishing line up to 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) long, with secondary lines branching off of it that have thousands of barbed, baited hooks. A total of almost two billion such hooks are used each year. Long-liners usually target large fish such as tuna, swordfish and Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass), but the baited hooks also attract and result in the deaths or bycatch of a wide variety of other animals, including sea turtles, marine mammals, seabirds and non-target fish, in what amounts to a mass slaughter at sea. Some estimates claim that long-lines kill more than 40,000 sea turtles, 300,000 seabirds, thousands of marine mammals and millions of sharks each year. (shark fin is a delicacy in some places – but cutting the fin off a shark and leaving the rest of it to bleed to death in the ocean is NOT right!)
Recently, countries with large long-line fleets, including the US (here in the pacific), the European Union (especially Spain), Japan and China have started to adopt laws and international agreements against this cruel and wasteful practice and they’re trying to enforce stricter efforts to combat illegal fishing and protect non-target species.
The difference is that cows are domesticated animals and no longer that crucial to the ecosystem in the way that dolphins are. It’s not an issue of morality or ethics as killing a cow is of course no different that killing a dolphin—or a dog or a cat for that matter. It is however an issue of upsetting the natural balance of the ecosystem.
And a life is a life. The preciousness of a life isn’t contingent upon its relative intelligence. That’s like saying it’s not that bad if retarded people are killed as opposed to people with higher intelligence.
I am Very Liberal, i am also a “pseudo” vegetarian and pragmatic, however, i may have to agree with the original comment that this may not be that big of a deal.
with that said, i am not a huge fan of the slaughtering method or with the numbers that are slaughtered but, if this is being used for food, then why not. I would be content with the entire world living on just vegetables but, that is just not feasible (plus, there are probably some whack-jobs out there that believe plants have feelings and souls). what i felt this film really lacked in hitting home is the overall notion that we are rapidly depleting our fish and due to the fact that fish is a major source of food and nutrition around the world, some bad stuff might begin to happen. i know this was mentioned but the actual film makers (those folks that we saw on camera) seemed to more pre-occupied with their own feelings due to the fact that they love Dolphins (probably all animals) and couldn’t watch them being killed.
one thing i felt that this film did, that it may not intend to, was become an allegory of how bureaucracy works and how people refuse to listen to facts and hate be wrong. the ideas this film brougth up are very serious and need to be addressed, they just need to be dealt with at a higher level (i think) and the trickle down effect should resolve the main issue that The Cove focused on.
Dolphin and whale drive hunting is not a practice exclusive to Japan
I thought I’d share this viewpoint from a user from the Faroe Islands. I received it last month when The Cove topic came up. For anyone not familiar with the Faroe Islands, they are a beautiful chain of 18 islands located approximately half way between Iceland and Great Britain.
_Hello Nohea,
I do share your thoughts on the great animals. I sometimes think that they maybe are capable of much more than we think.The word Grindadrap:
Grind = whale/whalemeat synonum.
Drap=Kill.
I will try to give you some feedback. I am from the Faroe Islands. And I am there now for the summer. But I never had the chance to experience a Grindadrap myself. I have always been too busy or on the wrong island.
But it is not some annular event. It occurs randomly though more often in sommer periods I believe.
And it has nothing to do with any passage-ritual for young men. Not more than a Bungy-jump is.. We don’t have any special traditions other than the faroese chaindance and the fact that everything can and will be eaten. In a positive way.
Some hundred years ago people were malnutritioned and needed all the vitamins, proteins, minerals and such they could get. So when a whale-flock was found, everybody stopped whatever they were doing and rushed down to the harbor and those who had boats sailed around the flock to force it towards land. They had meat for weeks and months from such an event. It meant survival.
Today it is not because of survival. The meat is very delicious. Dark and tough. If dried, it becomes black and oily which – if you want to buy a dish – is very expensive and exclusive.
If you happen to know somebody who was at the whale killing and received a portion of the meat and blubber he might give you a piece.
But in 2010, the bureacratic system also has invaded whale killing. This is absolutely to the whale’s benefit. There are strict rules regarding:
- place: many bays are now illegal for grindadrap.
- authority: there are appointed people who rush to the whaleflock to determin whaletype, age and conditions. If it is endangered the flock goes free. If they are mainly “puppies” they also go free.
- Grindamen: There are people(men, I think) who have permission to perform the killing. They have grinda-daggers(a bit longer than usual knives) and know how to kill a whale in a single cut. Of course they sometimes let the young men try, but it is under their supervision.
I actually have photos which my uncle took from a grindadrap a few years ago. The photo-info(EXIF) shows that it only took a few minutes to kill around 100 whales. Not less humane than any other traditional slaughtering. I can send you those pictures.
So. I understand your desperation. And I share your opinion on the beauty of the great sea animals and mammals. But eating whale meat is a part of our tradition.
And that tradition has adapted to modern society with rules and laws.
Yes, we could continue to just import pork and beef from Europe because we don’t have enough. But that would cost us a large bit of our culture and tradition. And to me it would feel like a partial amputation of my history and legacy.
Remember, there are only 48.000 people in the Faroe Islands. We have our own language, own traditions, own heros from the past, even our own soccer-team. And they always get beaten.
Thank you for letting me vent my own emotions. I am so tired of being depicted as some brutal kill-all-the-whales nation.
By the way – you wrote about Denmark. Denmark has nothing to do with grindadrap. I don’t know if they used to kill whales but they don’t do it nowadays.
Feel free to respond._
1. I am completely against this senseless massacre.
2. I am also against knee-jerk reactions that spread like wildfire through the Internet, without due care.
3. I received an email with graphic images recently, which was so riddled with grammatical and factual errors that I did some research to clarify things. Check out my blog, and you’ll see what I mean.
http://yardyyardyyardy.blogspot.com/2009/11/gotta-get-it-right.html
Don’t misunderstand me – I am very much against this outdated custom. But I warn those who attempt to change the Faroese mindset: it’s a total waste of time swearing and cursing etc. You need a considered approach, perhaps offering solutions, showing a mature understanding of their situation (not AGREEING with them – just being aware of their traditions and thinking). Generate a global groundswell with reason, clarity, purpose, calmness.
Write to the Faroes Government, NOT the Danish one (it’s not the Danes’ issue, it’s the Faroes’ killings). Aggression will only run off their backs and entrench their behaviour (they are after all descended from Vikings!!).
Good luck…read my blog and you’ll see what I mean.
PhilBee, NZ
herb
is it really such a big deal? Its not like we don’t slaughter cows and other animals over here.