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Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

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Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#31

Post by el_oni »

MattGaiser wrote: post #15

Is it that they take one pod a year? Is that why so many?

From what I understand they organise the hunts when a pod of cetaceans is spotted off the coast. Rather than sending fishing fleets out, they corral them into a fjord and slaughter them on the beach.

In some ways this is better than fishing fleets, there is no bycatch and they aren't trawling or reducing stocks. But there is also an international ban on whaling, and they are part of the EU which also has a ban. In this case it was just that the pod was much larger than normally finds its way to the isles

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#32

Post by toss1 »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #5
blunte wrote: post #4

The "part of our cultural heritage" excuse is not a positive argument, as many cultures have some pretty horrible practices in their heritage. In fact, some cultures were successful colonists. Should they be allowed to capture the Faroe islands and enslave the locals under the guise of "cultural heritage"? Times change, and human society on the whole must change. Cultures that refuse to change can and sometimes shoul…

I agree with the argument you're making, but not with your colonist example. Dolphins, after all, are animals, not people. "Cultural heritage" argument is in a league of its own when it comes to harming humans.

Yes they are "animals". So are we. Our intelligence is not much superior to theirs (it's arguable that only the lack of opposable thumbs prevents them from getting on the ladder of developing technology — they already use tools), and they experience the full range of emotions as we do.

How would you feel as your entire clan was herded into a box canyon and slaughtered with knives, as you wade through their blood awaiting your knife?

The "Cultural Heritage" argument is indeed nothing more than an utter bulls*hit excuse when it comes to such barbaric practices. By the same token, we could justify punishment of being tarred, feathered, drawn and quartered in the town square.

I'm not sure it will be in our lifetime, but I fully expect that eventually all eating of killed meat (vs cultured/lab-grown meat) will be seen as barbaric as other barbaric middle ages practices, and as slavery.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#33

Post by soco »

doublerabbit wrote: post #25
schleck8 wrote: post #8

Sounds like quite the barbarian 'culture'. Killing animals for food is one thing, doing it as a hobby for fun is incredibly weird. You can't even eat them i think, so they died for absolutely no reason.

> doing it as a hobby for fun is incredibly weird Same can be said for Fox Hunting.

And the same is said about hunting.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#34

Post by tarboreus »

goohle wrote: post #21
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the argument you're making, but not with your colonist example. Dolphins, after all, are animals, not people. "Cultural heritage" argument is in a league of its own when it comes to harming humans.

Dolphins are "non-human person". We have no specialized word for creatures like dolphins, but they are not "animals", they are "persons". https://www.giveindia.org/blog/four-reasons-why-india-recogn...

Persons implies a legal recognition, I think. I'd call them sapients, connoting highly intelligent entities.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#35

Post by soco »

mc32 wrote: post #24
blunte wrote: post #4

The "part of our cultural heritage" excuse is not a positive argument, as many cultures have some pretty horrible practices in their heritage. In fact, some cultures were successful colonists. Should they be allowed to capture the Faroe islands and enslave the locals under the guise of "cultural heritage"? Times change, and human society on the whole must change. Cultures that refuse to change can and sometimes shoul…

Lots of cultures are allowed quotas by their governments to harvest resources other people aren’t allowed. One such is the annual Taiji dolphin catch in Japan[1]. But native Alaskans and Canadians have certain rights too. As long as they don’t contribute to extinction this is better than modern animal husbandry such as veal. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_dolphin_drive_hunt

The quota was 200 and they slaughtered 1400 then said oopsadaisy.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#36

Post by dunefox »

toss1 wrote: post #32
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the argument you're making, but not with your colonist example. Dolphins, after all, are animals, not people. "Cultural heritage" argument is in a league of its own when it comes to harming humans.

Yes they are "animals". So are we. Our intelligence is not much superior to theirs (it's arguable that only the lack of opposable thumbs prevents them from getting on the ladder of developing technology — they already use tools), and they experience the full range of emotions as we do. How would you feel as your entire clan was herded into a box canyon and slaughtered with knives, as you wade through their blood awai…

.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#37

Post by Grustaf »

mcculley wrote: post #7
Grustaf wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, every year in the US 121 million pigs are slaughtered, and they obviously live under much worse conditions. The Faroe Islands have 50000 inhabitants, so even if they did this every year it wouldn't really be very significant. It looks graphical, but if they eat them, which I understand that they do, what is really the problem?

This would make some sense if we were farming dolphin. Pigs are not endangered.

Farming animals is much much worse than killing wild animals. Even when I was a vegetarian for ethical reasons I would eat game, I have no moral objections at all to going out in the forest and shooting a deer for food, but raising pigs in meat factories is horrible.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#38

Post by procgen »

Grustaf wrote: post #6
blunte wrote: post #4

The "part of our cultural heritage" excuse is not a positive argument, as many cultures have some pretty horrible practices in their heritage. In fact, some cultures were successful colonists. Should they be allowed to capture the Faroe islands and enslave the locals under the guise of "cultural heritage"? Times change, and human society on the whole must change. Cultures that refuse to change can and sometimes shoul…

Well, every year in the US 121 million pigs are slaughtered, and they obviously live under much worse conditions. The Faroe Islands have 50000 inhabitants, so even if they did this every year it wouldn't really be very significant. It looks graphical, but if they eat them, which I understand that they do, what is really the problem?

The problem is the same one posed by the consumption of pigs: needless suffering.

Re: Faroe Islands: Anger over killing of 1,400 dolphins in one day

#39

Post by cultofmetatron »

Grustaf wrote: post #6
blunte wrote: post #4

The "part of our cultural heritage" excuse is not a positive argument, as many cultures have some pretty horrible practices in their heritage. In fact, some cultures were successful colonists. Should they be allowed to capture the Faroe islands and enslave the locals under the guise of "cultural heritage"? Times change, and human society on the whole must change. Cultures that refuse to change can and sometimes shoul…

Well, every year in the US 121 million pigs are slaughtered, and they obviously live under much worse conditions. The Faroe Islands have 50000 inhabitants, so even if they did this every year it wouldn't really be very significant. It looks graphical, but if they eat them, which I understand that they do, what is really the problem?

both pigs and dolphins experience extreme duress when they see their friends getting killed.

That said, dolphins will actively protect humans in the water when sharks are around. for that reason, I'm disgusted at the idea of eating an animal that actively chooses to assist us when we are in danger.

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