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Originally Posted by tore
Being a vegan, you can of course write this sort of stuff without coming across as a hypocrite because what you write comes into conflict with your own meat eating habits .. so that's a good basis to start from.  |
Yes, that is an advantage of being vegan, tore!
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As far as I know and from what I was taught, most of the whales shot by the grenade harpoons are knocked unconcious and get severly brain damaged. That shouldn't come as a surprise, I mean .. a grenade explodes inside them!
In the 2001 hunting season 79.8% of the animals were recorded instantaneously dead ( Øen, E.O., 2002. Norwegian whaling in 2001. Rep. Int. Whaling Comm. IWC/54/WKM&AWI 6.Øen, 2002).
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One problem with this situation is that 20% of the whales did *not* die instantaneously. I'm not sure if lack of moving or response to stimuli definitely means these whales were unconscious...and it troubles me that people persist in killing whales *not knowing* for sure if they are unconscious or not. By law, land mammals (in the U.S.) are supposed to be knocked unconscious before they are killed; anything less than that is considered inhumane. So, by that definition I consider how whales are killed--such that some
may be conscious of the pain and trauma--to be inhumane.
Of course, for me whether the killing of whales is nearly instantaneous or not isn't the primary issue, since I feel people shouldn't be killing whales in the first place. But when they are killed, I feel the killers shouldn't just say, "We're pretty sure most of them are unconscious quickly." And worse, I feel it is unethical to test on the whales how long it takes for them to die, since people know some may suffer: "Oh, we
think they are unconscious. Hey, let's kill some whales and measure how long it takes for them to die! Oops! It takes a while for some! Sorry there, buddy!"
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I'm not sure the cultural argument is good enough when species come close to extinction. Ancestors have done many things through the ages .. should we copy everything they did? In some ways, attempts at preserving cultures as they were before the rise of modern society seems like an excercise in futility. It's doomed for failure.
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I don't feel culture should ever be used as an excuse or rationale for supporting any cruel practices. I feel the pain of death and loss of life experienced by slaughtered whales is much, much, much worse than the sadness people experience when they are deprived of their tradition.
Consider, for example, the people on the Faroe islands in Denmark who slaugther dolphins and whales...because it is "tradition." The people kill the animals by hand, cutting the dorsal area through to the spinal cord with a special whaling knife, and so death is *not* instantaneous, says wikipedia.
Ironically, "as of the end of November 2008 the chief medical officers of the Faroe Islands have recommended that pilot whales no longer be considered fit for human consumption because of the levels of toxins in the whales." Yet the killing goes on: "The Faroe Island Statistical office has published the official numbers for the 2009 drive hunt. The statistics show that a total of 310 pilot whales, 174 whitebeaked dolphins, 2 bottlenose whales and 1 bottlenose dolphin were killed in three separate grinds."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling..._Faroe_Islands
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Originally Posted by kayleigh.
I asked my mum today and she didn't know so hopefully erica you can answer!
Do vegans wear wool?
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That's a good question, kayleigh. Veganism means living in a way that minimizes harming other animals, and so vegans avoid any products made from animals. I think most vegans avoid wool. For example, I don't buy wool or animal skins.
Why? People kill lambs and sheep raised for wool. Also, people do hurt sheep while raising them. I have been told by a family friend who has a sheep farm in Australia that sheep farmers there rip the skin off the bottoms of lambs without using anesthetic. The reason: peeling off their skin gets rid of the wrinkles that a certain type of fly lay eggs on, and thus prevents a fly infestation on the rumps of the lambs. My family friend said that little lambs are playful before people strip the skin off their bottoms, but afterwards the lambs are no longer playful. Having your living skin peeled from your body hurts.