Where are the Australian Protesters? Save the Whales III
Two recent articles by Gisela Kaplan, a Professor at the University of New England, in The Australian, January 30, and
The Australian, February 7, emphasise the major argument against whale hunting, namely the possible high intelligence and emotional complexity of whales.
Some extracts here:
Brains of whales hard-wired for compassion (January 30)
“It is relatively difficult to study the cognitive ability of whales but their brains have been studied in some detail. Like us, they have a neocortex but they have fewer neurons and more glial cells than we have. In the past few years, the scientific world has been excited by the discovery that humpback, fin, killer and sperm whales have spindle cells once thought to be unique to humans and apes.
In fact, whales have more and larger spindle cells. These cells in the brain are said to be responsible for making one capable of feeling complex emotions (love, intuition, grieving, awareness of others suffering pain) and have apparently a part to play in speech and in social decisions.
All this, to scientists, is beginning to consolidate a suspicion that whales may be among the smartest of mammals and may be capable of empathy and compassion. And this, to scientists, is awe-inspiring because it breaks down barriers we have erected between humans and animals.”
No sense in killing whales for science (February 7)
“Whale hunting in today’s age is immoral to the extreme and sheer greed in the presence of plenty. Carried out under the guise of research, it also does a great disservice to the science of the study of animals.”
…”The discovery of spindle cells in fin whales, as reported in my last blog, means that fin whales (50 of these precious whales are to be slaughtered this year) may have complex emotions and high levels of cognition. ¨We cannot learn about the whales’ cognitive abilities, or much about anything else, for that matter, by killing them.”
However, whale hunting is possibly not more harmful to whale populations than the agony to which whales may be exposed by seismic shocks used for underwater oil exploration and submarine exercises using sonar booms (see my two previous blogs). This does not justify whale hunting, but it points to the need to expose and stop other potentially harmful activities as well.
As an afterthought: cows (sheep I am not so sure) always struck me as being fairly intelligent, and there are records of bulls almost frightened to death when approaching the slaughterhouse. How do their emotions compare with those of whales? Look at the inhumane conditions under which sheep and cows are transported in Australia, and live on ships to overseas destinations.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I think the only way whale hunting is justified is the fact that hunting is not only sustainable in many situations, it can actually help the balance of the environment in question. Because the only known natural whale predator (great whites and killer whales) are also endangered, it actually makes sense to license whale hunting rather than prohibiting it. In fact, Japanese whalers are probably less cruel than natural predators they would replace. Great whites only pick on the weak - young, old etc. They are not fussy with the way they kill - it is usually in a frenzy. Some well-populated whale species might actually be endangering certain sensitive marine environments, as well.
February 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Have a look at some of the comments to Gisela Kaplan’s blog, which make points similar to yours. One, in particular (by an expert on fish and whale populations), points out that not whaling but the reduction in krill populations (was it by 80% ?) due to global warming endangers the survival of whale populations.
February 8th, 2008 at 10:53 am
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February 8th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Sorry - Have you got a link to Gisela’s blog?
February 8th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Yes, the two links are at the top of this post.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Interesting with regards to krill. Almost all farmed fish are fed with krill. The act of eating carnivorous farmed fish (most farmed fish are carnivorous species) kills more blue whales from starvation than the number of whales killed by humans in other ways. Hard to know the global warming vs. harvesting pressure as to the predominant cause of krill population reduction.