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Originally Posted by duga
I haven't watched the video, so I'm not sure what they cover but slitting animal's throats in such a way is part of a religious ritual in many parts of that region. I can understand how you would see it as brutal, but they are actually thanking and praising the animal for what it has just done for them. But hey...what religion isn't brutal in some way?
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The video about Australian sheep does not just show people, probably Muslim, slitting a sheep's throat and cutting off its legs while the sheep is conscious (according to the announcer), but also shows Australians slicing off parts of the backsides of living sheep they've tethered down...in other words, torture, duga. The Australians are not acting out of religious irrationality, but out of greed: they are attempting to increase the income people get per sheep. Neither motivation for cruelty is good. I still recommend the video, duga!
I feel that religious beliefs and superstitions are unacceptable as justifications for perpetuating cruelty, whether it is slicing conscious sheep's throats or burying women in the ground to stone them due to infidelity. And whether the killers "thank" the victim or not is immaterial to me and makes no difference to the victim...so thanking sheep when crudely slaughtering them is just an example of people trying to feel "better" about their heinous actions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
I suppose I don't think of it as inhumane because I don't think that not causing harm to animals is particularly humane, but ..
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Hmm...when do you feel it is inhumane to
not cause harm to (healthy, wild) animals, Tore? Are you thinking about "population control" rationales for killing animals?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
I just think it's slightly ridiculous how people make whaling a target for moral complaints and controversy when compared to some 1000 minke whales each year, there are many millions of cattle, pigs and chickens that suffer as well. Some of the videos posted in this thread show in a very visually disturbing way that not all animals are dead when they are slaughtered. Some places, I'm sure the instant death statistics are not much better than they are for the whales. Also, it's not just the killing which hurts them either. Unlike the whales - cattle, pigs and chickens are often forced to live in crowded and/or tight spaces, a lot of them get hurt during transport, many spend most of their lives living in their own fecal matter, some are bred so that they have chronic pains or handicaps - for example the broiler chickens we eat which become so fat their legs can't even support their own weight. Some of them probably spend their entire short lives in misery only to be put on our dinner plates.
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Oh yes, I agree: concern for whales but not confined cattle, pigs, and chickens seems hypocritical to me...especially since people sometimes kill all of them in legal, vicious ways: blunt trauma of piglets; downer cattle allowed to die slowly, suffering, after humans cause their injury and illness; baby chicks intentionally crushed and suffocated by the millions.
And, like you say, at least the whales were free...but killing a healthy, free animal is still a sad thing, I feel. The fact that humans are ending the life of someone (such as a mother and a calf whale) enjoying her existence up until that point becomes even more obvious to me in such hunting situations.
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Originally Posted by Vanilla
My reasoning against whaling is due to the simplicity of the Southern Ocean food chain. If whale species are depleted, the very top of the food chain will no longer exist and it will disrupt the processes for all the other species who rely on it such as Toothfish and Krill.
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Removing a species at the top of the food chain would probably be very "good" for the krill, whose populations would expand, and "good" for small fish who rely on krill...assuming an increase in population is "good."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vanilla
I understand that there is a cultural element to the Japanese whaling, however at the same time they need to respect the whales existence. What is interesting is that whale meat is no longer economically profitable and is not as popular to eat in Japan as it once was.
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Your comment about "respect a whale's existence" interests me, Vanilla, because I think you mean on a species level, but you don't view shooting an individual whale with an explosive harpoon as disrespecting her or his existence.
Quote:
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Japan needs to step up as a country and at least whale to a sustainable point. If the whaling is for so-called science, then Japan could also take heed of Australia and New Zealand scientists who have found non-invasive ways of finding scientific data on whales, without the need to kill them.
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From what I've read...and it sounds like you've read this, too...Japan's claim that they are hunting whales for "science" purposes is pretty much a sham. It might be more believable if they didn't then eat their "experimental subjects."