Locky's English Playground: Animals & TV: Saving the Cetaceans & Whale Wars -- Animal Planets

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Animals & TV: Saving the Cetaceans & Whale Wars -- Animal Planets

Image from Discovery Channel

On 9th August on Facebook, I saw the following photos posted by Save Misty the Dolphin. The captions on these photos say this killing was happening exactly as I was reading. It was extreme cruelty. I felt I had to do something to let the world know about it, and so I shared it on the English Playground's Facebook page too.

Image from Save Misty the Dolphin

Hundreds of pilot whale had their neck chopped off, blood from the dead pouring out from those deadly cuts, painting the miles of sea bright red while those still alive eventually got slaughtered in their family members' blood. I know some of you might be thinking, that these whale's neck are cut first, and they will die rather quickly so it is rather painless, but who is to say that the pain does not persist after being guillotined? Only the dead can tell.

Image from Save Misty the Dolphin

It all happened on Faroe Islands, a group of island which belong to Denmark, which carries out whaling for food as a tradition since c. 1200 years ago.

View Larger Map

It is an annual tragic, a tragic that no dolphins and whale lovers are likely to be able to stop, unless the Danish themselves realise they are killing highly intelligent mammals that are comparable with humans. We can play a part in changing the mindsets of the Faroese hunters by signing a petition organised by Animals Australia Unleashed

Petition to End the Faroe Islands' Whale & Dolphin Slaughter:
http://www.unleashed.org.au/take_action/petitions/stop-the-faroe-islands-whale-slaughter/

More photos of the hunt can be viewed here.

But tragic doesn't just happen in the Faroe Islands. In my earlier entries such as Animals: A Market Proposal for Saving Whales?, Song: Please, let the dolphins go, News & Movie: The Cove (Free Legal Download: Full Length Japanese Dubbed Version), and Documentary: The Cove, I have already discussed how minke whales and dolphins are being slaughtered for their meat by the Japanese whalers "for scientific researches" as they claim, but now, looks like they have moved on to yet another species... the porpoises.

Porpoises in a Japanese market
Image from The Cove

The following video will show you how dangerous dolphins, whales and porpoises meat are to human.

However, despite the dangerous level of dolphin and porpoise meats, they continue to be sold in the Japanese supermarkets.

And why is this? Because of one word, CULTURE.

It is always extremely hard, if not impossible, to persuade people of a culture to accept the moral values of another culture. Many will argue that turkeys are being killed as food in the US, same goes for dogs in China; Buddhist worshippers don't support killing of cattle as much as Muslim worshippers are against the eating of pork.

How do we define which animal is acceptable to be killed as food and which is not? Who's rules do we use to draw the line?

The key might be on the level of sustainability. In simple English, it means whether the animals can reproduce faster than they are being killed. If the answer is yes, then it is considered as sustainable, if not, if is unsustainable.

So far, sharks, tunas, whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea turtles, and many other species, are all below the sustainable level, meaning they are severely overfished.

Image from Animal Planets

In order to protect the whales and in turn, our planet and our future generations, a group of volunteers formed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 and head out to the dangerous icy waters international waters annually to fight off Japanese whalers who target to kill over 1000 whales per year.

Image from Animal Planets

And this is the documentary I want to recommend, for adults and especially young children, Whale Wars on Animal Planets.

Here's a playlist of videos.

From the learning perspective, there are many speakers of English, men and women, different accents and are all speaking naturally. From the educational perspective, our future generations should learn that animals like whales, dolphins, porpoises, sharks and tunas should be respected and they should have their share of the planet just like we do. Without them, we will eventually die out too. They should also know that there are volunteers out there who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the whales -- and eventually for us.

To show your support for this non-profit organisation, your can donate or simply buy their products from their shop! (This is what exactly I will do!)

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Shop

http://shop.seashepherd.org/?a=homepage

May Steve Irwin (also the name of one of their anti-whaling boats) be with them and with us, bless the whales!!!

Ady Gil hit and sank by the Japanese Shonan Maru No2

There are many clips of the show on YouTube and you can also find their DVDs in HMV.

Vocabulary:

slaughter -- (vb) to kill an animal for meat
guillotine -- (vb) [T] to cut someone's head off using a guillotine
Cetacean -- (n)[C] The order Cetacea ( /sɨˈteɪʃⁱə/) includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises
whaler -- (n)[C] (someone who works on) a boat which is designed for hunting whales

sustainability -- (n) is the capacity to endure. In ecology, sustainability describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time, a necessary precondition for the well-being of humans and other organisms. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems.

Resources: