Whales could be extinct within decades
Posted on 07/02/2008 10:49:43 AM PDT by yankeedame
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:57 PM on 02nd July 2008
The steeply declining number of whales in the world's oceans is causing the remaining creatures to suffer loneliness and 'lose the will the live', a leading expert has claimed.
The psychological impact of over-hunting on the highly intelligent and sociable animals has been identified as the latest threat to the survival of the species.
The whale population has already fallen dramatically over the past few centuries because to culling by Japan, Norway and Iceland, and the poisoning of oceans which kills off their food.
Whales could be extinct within decades
But now a French scientist has said the majestic mammals - which can reach 80ft in length and weigh the same as a passenger jet - could also suffer from heartbreak.
Paris naturalist Yves Paccalet said: 'It may be that these intelligent animals are so exhausted from their combat with humankind that they have simply have given up the fight.
'And the psychological consequences of our aggression have compromised their will to live.' ....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’ve long suggested that whale hunting could be ended in a year if somebody would create a GM bacteria that was otherwise harmless, but would make whale meat inedible, that would become a permanent part of the whale’s and its offspring’s intestinal flora.
Then put it in their Purina Whale Chow(tm).
In a few months, there would be the lovely story of Japanese diners at a fine restaurant having a mass vomit in the parking lot. Not out of sickness, but by the utter revulsion of trying to eat whale meat that tastes like a coyote ripened in a cesspool.
I agree with you, ZULU. Nice post.
Thanks
Call your company "Moby Oil". (With all due credit to Futurama)
Maybe some really large Viagra tablets would restore their vitality!
“I have not seen it yet, but have been told that going to Barrow to see a whale haul is one of the most amazing things you can witness.”
Guess you would have enjoyed watching the games at the Colosseum too.
These people don’t need to slaughter whales to survive. Its a cultural thing, not a survival issue.
Jacques Cousteau was no conservationist!
He was a con man.
__________________________-
Absolutely correct. He tried to extort a couple of hundred thousand from Haiti when he was visiting there. Because they refused to pay he “documented” their destruction of their reefs. I have dove in Haiti and much of the Caribbean. Haiti has some of the most pristine and prolific reefs in the world. Even their close to shore polluted areas are filled with fish.
I hate to sound ignorant, but is whale meat a delicacy for some people? I guess if it’s all you have to hunt and eat, not many deer in the oceans around Alaska, then it doesn’t matter if it’s a delicacy or not, you’re glad to have it.
I prefer a nice thick, juicy New York strip steak!
“is whale meat a delicacy for some people?”
The Japanese.
Whales are not dolphins.
Some of us think one of the few legitimate roles of Government is to stop "activists engaging in property damage"
“Whales are highly intelligent animals who pose no threat to human beings and make the world a little more intersting and beautiful.
There is no justifiable reason for hunting and killing these creatures.”
There will be many posts from those ridiculing the premise of the original article, but yours bears repeating.
Gordon Lightfoot wrote back in the 70’s:
The oceans of the world were the home of Big Blue
He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew
And the place that he loved best
Was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific he did roam
Big Blue moved alone for a mighty blue was he
And the battles of the whales was an awesome sight to see
And he took them one by one and he drove them all away
In the mating of the day he was the king
Big Blue had fifty wives and he sired forty sons
Though most of them feel victim to the cruel harpoon guns
Ah, but he was too much wise to get caught by the gunners eyes
And so he lived at sea a hundred years
His mouth was as large as a tunnel so they say
His hide was thick as leather and his eyes quick and small
And his back was all scarred by the times he got away
And he knew the smell of whalers, did Big Blue
Big Blue passed away to his natural decay
Beside the Arctic Circle as he travelled up that way
And there never was a man who was born with a gunners hand
Who ever took a pan to big blue
Now the gray whale has run and the sperm is almost done
The finbacks and the greenland rights have all passed and gone
Theyve been taken by the men for the money they could spend
And the killing never ends, it just goes on
The oceans of the earth were the home of Big Blue
He was the greatest monster that the world ever knew
And the place that he loved best was the waters to the west
Around the blue Pacific he did roam
The core word of “conservativism” is to “conserve”, and I daresay to preserve.
I see nothing “un-conservative” about giving the whales their chance at survival....
- John
The issue is whether the “activism” is intended to stop activity that is clearly or arguably unlawful. We did a whole lot of property damage in Iraq in the early days of the current war, but the objective was such that few conservatives would say this wasn’t justified. The Japanese whalers are blatantly lying about the purpose of their whale-killing activities, while simultaneously claiming to be adhering to the regulations of the IWC. They are slaughtering huge numbers of whales from populations that move in and out of international waters, and have blithely ignored requests from the government of Australia to stop whaling in that area. The Japanese don’t have a right decimate any species they choose, anywhere on the planet, in order to make a profit.
Bambi isn’t very bright - keen survival senses, but no whale - and in way endangered. Parts of America have more Bambis than the cars, and foundation plants, and lyme disease plagued populace can tolerate.
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