Is there an excuse for civilized people eating whales?

Question

Despite an international ban on the killing of whales the Japanese government has ordered the slaughter of 850 minke whales this winter and 10 fin whales, as part of what it calls its programme of scientific research. This is, of course, a lie. The fact is that the whales will be sold for food.

Indeed, Restaurant chain Lucky Pierrot is sells a deep fried minke whale meat burger with lettuce and mayonnaise for $3.50 at its 10 restaurants in Hakodate on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido

Whales are probably the most intelligent of non-human animals and almost certainly self aware. What possible morally acceptable excuse is there for a well fed, modern, industrialized nation to kill whales to turn into burgers?

NB:No offense DS but squid don't have anything resembling a mammalian brain so its not likely they are intelligent.

Pigs and other common mammalian food animals are a different matter. They clearly do have a degree of intelligence.

But the cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) almost certainly have a very high order of intelligence that may come close to our own.

Whether eating any mammal is morally acceptable is certainly an issue but the cetaceans present the clearest case.

Your answer, by the way, presents two classic logical fallacies, namely "Tu Quoque" and "Post hoc ergo propter hoc."

Answer 1

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Sorry, I don't know the sign for money in Japanese- I know it's the yen but not the sign--- and if you take a closer look at ALL the animals we slaughter to feed ourselves, they all have unbelievable abilities which make them so humanlike--pigs cry and can be potty trained! elephants have family values and live within their family til death and return to the bones of their dead family members for years. Birds mate for life and take care of their young like humans do, as well as kangaroos. Monkeys and apes can learn sign language and communicate with us- dolphins mimmick us and try to communicate with us--- WE are the primitive animals on this planet-- to deny these animals life in a dignified manner and to breed them to live in stalls to force feed them so we can slaughter them inhumanely for food that, by all standards, we do not need-- if we used the land that is now being used to raise farm animals and feed for them we would have plenty of food to feed our country and to export to others---

Answer 2

I don't know what being civilized has to do with eating whale meat. I mean, in Korea they serve dog, in China they eat cats, rats, and pig blood, in Cambodia they eat cockroaches, in France they eat snails and frogs. What about squid or pigs, both very intelligent animals, yet are routinely slaughtered. Where's the outrage? Who are we to judge other cultures. One of the main reasons the US forced Japan to open up to the world after centuries of isolation was disputes over US whale harvesting rights. If whales were going extinct, which they aren't, then ask what civilized nation eats endangered species. But if they're not going extinct, who cares? Hindus find it grotesque that we eat cattle, but they've never asked a ban on McDonald's.

BTW - Japan, Norway, and Iceland, the biggest proponents of whaling also have the world's lowest crime rates. And you seem to be claiming they're uncivilized? Maybe we should all eat a little whale; I'd try it.

Answer 3

no excuses
It is not a problem killing the whales.. we can do what we want and when we want to.
The problem is WHO BUYS THESE THINGS? you can complain and pass laws and petition your governments and none of this will do any good if black-marketeer goes out and kills a whale and still has a MARKET for his goods.
You have to first kill the market then you will stop the killing for food.

Answer 4

well lets see - japan rounds up thousands of bottlenose dolphins and slaughters them (research that) they kill lots of horses for food , they will eat and kill everything! its pretty disturbing .

russians and japanese are mostly responsible for this crap!

Answer 5

hell no.