Nobody uses whale meat as a primary food supply, except for some islanders up North who don't have very many other sources of protein they can rely on.
a6m5
Actually, I was referring to your "breeding" comment. There is no need for it, because the demand isn't that huge(hence the "delicacy" statement). I don't know about the "right" to kill it, but I wouldn't support whaling either. I get the impression that whales are friendly and definitely not "chicken-brained". I'm not into eating intelligent animals!
I've heard that in parts of Asia, they eat dogs.
My friend who was stationed in South Korea swears that he's been to a "Dog Farm", where they let you pick out a dog you want and clean it for you. He said he had some and it was alright.
Farmed dog would probably be okay, but street dogs and wild dogs are tough. Definitely not one of the best things I've tried.
Problem with farmed meat and bred animals is that pigs are actually very very
very intelligent. They may be more intelligent than dogs. We eat pig. How different is it to eat dog?
ExigeExcel
So basically you prefer something to live a bad life and die accordingly than live a good life and die badly?
exactly.
@
Famine: yes, we're all going to die someday. All fine and good, but then does global destruction in the near or far future negate the relevance of life and the way we live it in the here and now? If so, then I guess we should all just go outside our doors and kill the first twenty people we see. This'll help us get to the end much sooner.
Species do go extinct. I would have no problem seeing a whale species or a bird species go extinct for
natural reasons, but the fact that we're causing extinction through our actions changes things a little bit.
There are species, that through their dominance, or their invasion of the habitats of other species where they have no competitors or natural predators, wipe out dozens of other species in the process. Right now, that species is us.
The difference with us is that we can actually take action to ensure that we
don't wipe out every other species on Earth that isn't of economic importance to us, or that isn't a
viable renewable resource.
The preservation of biodiversity isn't a moral question, it's a question of ecological robustness. If that civilization ending meteor hits now, a lot of species die, but some may live. It's hard to tell which ones... and, let's face it, whales and other big mammals will likely be the first to go... but the more biodiversity we have remaining, the more likely the ecology can repair itself afterwards.
Also, we don't really
fully understand how our ecology operates, or what certain changes will do to the environment over time. You kill off all whales... (and while you're at it, sardines, tuna, etc.) the plankton population goes berserk... CO2 and greenhouse gases plummet...
wham! Instant Ice Age... ridiculous, maybe, given the state of the whale population now... but who knows?
Of course, if civilization doesn't end in a bang, but a whimper, then we might just use up or kill off so many different species that ecosystems start falling apart. Actually, that's happened already. Conservation measures in place right now are aimed at maintaining what's left, but it's hard to keep populations stable within the limited areas left to some wildlife.
Which is a good reason not to oppose
all hunting. We still need it to keep animal populations stable.
As for me, I'd rather not have my great great great
great grandchildren reduced to eating vat grown bacteria simply because we've eaten everything else.
