Whalefest 2015 - 'if the whales could scream, the industry would stop...'

We used to think that whales were monsters.... now we know better, and they deserve better.

Here is an except from the presentation on whaling that I made at the 'fest:

"There is no humane way to kill a whale. I could quote figures at you on times to death…. but why spoil a nice day?

….

Well perhaps I need to a little – but no gory pictures – whales are difficult animals to kill – this is partly because many are very big and partly because they are adapted for a life in the sea. The sea of course also plays a part in the accuracy of any harpoon trajectory.

The main killing method used during commercial and special permit whaling is the penthrite grenade harpoon fired from a cannon mounted on the bow of a ship. The harpoon is intended to penetrate about 30 cm (12 inches) into the animal before detonating. It is also meant to be embedded so the whale is not lost but can be reeled in to the catcher.

The more ‘lucky’ hunted whales are those killed or made insensible swiftly. Where first harpoons fail, a second may be used or large calibre rifles. Judging death is difficult but data from the whalers indicate that only some 40% of whales in the Japanese hunt are killed swiftly. The average time to death is over two minutes which does compare well with the milliseconds expected in humane slaughter for meat in other forms of commercial meat production; and hidden in this is the tragic and painful deaths of those whales which take longer to die including those ‘struck and lost’ which swim off to an unknown, but undoubtedly in many cases, long painful demise.  

Then there are issue relating to the stress of the chase and psychological concerns for the whales not hit but losing a member of their social group.

This is simply not a humane way of producing meat for human consumption. Nor can there ever be.

Signing petition to UK
Prime Minister

And there is a famous quote from a ship’s physician who worked on whaling boats in the last century  

He said: “The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream, the industry would stop for nobody would be able to stand it.”

On the back of this presentation I was privileged to launch a new petition - a  message to the next Prime Minister of the UK (noting that an election will happen in the UK in just a few weeks) - calling for high level action from her/him and their ministers in addressing the campaigns of the pro-whaling nations. A long list of groups supported this petition. 


SOME MORE SCENES FROM AROUND THE FEST:

World Animal Protection (Joanna and Alyx) promote their
excellent marine debris work

Alan Knight and the BDMLR stand

Panel event - a green, a labour, a conservative and a lib-dem Member of Parliament and Wil Travers of Born Free.
(Wil gets my vote.)

That's enough Whalefest for this year.