Whale Wars

I've recently begun watching Whale Wars on Animal Planet (Watching it now). It's rather exciting, and often heart wrenching. Now, I'm quite an animal lover. I've volunteered at the Zoo here for a few years, I often make donations to the Humane Society and World Wildlife Fund (THEY JUST RAN INTO ONE OF THE WHALING SHIPS. They hit them with the anchor, so the ship didn't take much damage).

As an animal lover, I do support research on animals, so we can learn more about them. BUT I don't think animals should be killed for research. If you're going to use the animal for human, or other animal, consumption, that's usually fine. But therein is the problem with the Japanese "research" whaling fleet. The by products of the whales are sold on the open market, mainly to be eaten. However, pretty much all the whales being killed are (OH SHIT. They're taking on water!) endangered, and therefore SHOULDN'T BE KILLED AT ALL. PERIOD.

Now, I know that most Japanese food is based around the sea, and they've been using whale meat as food for years. But they need to be willing to give that up. They have PLENTY of other food sources.

However, I do support the whaling done by Native Americans in the Padific Northwest. See, the difference there is that the various Native American tribes only take what they need, which is a VERY low number of whales, they use everything from the whales, and they support whale conservation, as the whales are part of their way of life, and deeply revered part of their tradition.

The Japanese whalers, however, can take up to TEN WHALES A DAY. And they'll be on the water, hunting for whales, for weeks or even months. Each whale can earn them about $100,000 or more. That can mean one million dollars A DAY for the fleet. With that much money available, I HIGHLY doubt they want the whales for research.

Anyways, I've been considering joining the Sea Shepherds for at least one of their voyages after college. I would like to ask you, my loyal friends and readers, to support the Sea Shepherds (They're fixing the hole, where the sea gets in, and stops their ship from wandering, where it will gooooo... Sorry. Beatles moment there). And, of course, you should start watching this wonderful show.