Killer Whale-3, Humans-0

[nofi]

nice gorefest you posted, kenny. :

please explain your comment "it's only an animal".

[Aussie Mark]

please explain your comment "it's only an animal".

They're still making 'em

[Psycho Bass Guy]

In regards being 'only animals,' so are we.

[Barklessdog]

nice gorefest you posted, kenny. :

please explain your comment "it's only an animal".

Sacrcasm?

[Dave W]

Sacrcasm?

I thought that was obvious.

[Dave W]

Food for thought: Why Would a Trained Orca Kill a Human?

[Chaser001]

They have tried to rehabilitate "captive" orca's, but it has not been successful - the most notable failure being Keiko, of "Free Willy" fame...

http://www.keiko.com/

It is not only whales that are "hunted" ... this video is NOT for kids...



Colours to the mast - what difference does it make... it's only an animal...

I googled some stuff to try to get more info on that.  Judging from the comments at the end of an article I read, the Faroese don't like people criticizing them for doing this.  In fact, they are quite defensive about it.  I am just basing this on comments I read from one article and I'm just referring to the part of the video dealing with the Faroese Islands.  They're not doing it for food, though.  Evidently, this goes back to a 10th century ritual and if you don't like it you are insulting Faroese culture.  At least that is what I gathered from reading all the comments.  I'd be interested in knowing what the Danes themselves think about it, especially since one of my favorite authors is Danish.  My opinion of the ritual, though, is that I think it is totally pointless, cruel, and unconscionable.  

[Highlander]

I am not a perfect being by any means, which is why I don't try to get on the "soap box" and fling mud... well... not often... 

John... apologies, I guess... Sarcasm in it's worst form - fully loaded and barbed... I prefer to use it in the higher form...

As a "veggie" I am often the first to point out by not being "vegan" I am still supporting the "meat" industry (where do eggs/cheese etc come from?) but the reference to "it's only an animal" came from a "Vegetarian Society" promotional leaflet, stating something like...

... "It seems you can do anything to an animal, as long as you eat it afterwards..."

Our Government banned hunting with dogs, but the Law Authorities have declared it "un-policeable", so it goes on... I fully approve of hunting for food, but not for the kill...

I am very much into freedom to do what you want to, but needless cruelty, in the name of "tradition" shows how truly barbarous we are, just beneath the skin... I truly believe we can only be viewed by how we treat the environment we live in, and those that live with us, be they sentient or otherwise, and only a fool would believe that other "animals" around us are not aware of their surroundings... We have just "deadened" our senses...

PBG... the reality was that Keiko was (apparently) never able to re-integrate himself into orca "society" - was unable to find a "pod" to adopt him, was unable to fend for himself properly, significantly lost weight, fell I'll, and died... Yes, he was not a youngster, had led a pampered, albeit captive, life, but... I agree with you, we are only animals, too...

"Food For Thought..." good post, Dave...

Rant over...

[uwe]

Keiko was a well-meant waste of time born of guilt not of anything sensible in conservationist terms. Even before he fell ill, he still prefered the company of humans to orcas. What they should have done is put him into an iIelandic Seaworld with access to the sea so he could leave and return (for food and company) like a cat leaves and returns to the house. Except that Icelanders wouldn't pay money to see an orca.


That slaughter in a Faroese bay is hard to watch - especially the pregnant cow and her baby - and I generally don't have issues with seeing an animal killed I eat (no, I'm not Ted Nugent). I understand that it is an age-old, non-commercial tradition (they don't sell the meat, but share it for free in their community) and that it is only once a year and that it has no ill effect whatsoever on the dolphin population there and that it served a good purpose once, namely to provide meat in a largely meat-less area. It's even a form of ritual "harvest" like my uncle does with his fenced in deer of which he shoots/"harvests" a number once a year. And that spinal cut they apply to the dolphins is probably quick and mercyful once they have them dragged on the shore (never mind the panic the animals must feel, most livestock would be inedible after having gone through that).

Still, it looks horrible and needlessly mean and you wonder if it would be the end of their culture if - now that they can import meat and are heavily subsidized by Denmark - they restricted their bloodbath to just a few or herded them together just for show and let them go free again in a symbolic act.

[Highlander]

Hard to loose the "symbolic act" from traditions... to me, it is the level of inteligence these animals show, and the needlessness of it all... all in the name of tradition... and the way they hide it, the way they try to stop the filming... what have they got to hide...?

[Psycho Bass Guy]

PBG... the reality was that Keiko was (apparently) never able to re-integrate himself into orca "society" - was unable to find a "pod" to adopt him, was unable to fend for himself properly, significantly lost weight, fell I'll, and died... Yes, he was not a youngster, had led a pampered, albeit captive, life, but...

I don't know. The other day, the Today show had the PR guy for Seaworld cite Keiko as an example of a failed release, not exactly an unbiased source, so I did some more digging. Turns out that Keiko's lifespan may have been average or it may not have; there's not enough data on males. Females in the wild can live to 80, but males seem to die around 30. As for being reintegrated into a pod, that was Keiko's choice; he stayed around humans as much as possible, probably because he had imprinted on them as a youngster. The whale in question currently was captured as an adult, so this wouldn't be as much of an issue. Keiko's life in captivity before his release preparations had also previously been far from pampered; it was his living conditions in Mexico which helped to fuel the petition for his release. I still say we should let him go.

[Denis]

To say that this particular orca, Tilikum, has killed 3 people not entirely accurate.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/tilikum-known-as-dangerous-whale-at-seaworld-orlando-281841.html
From the article:
"In 1991, Tilikum and two female killer whales dragged trainer Keltie Byrne underwater, drowning her in front of spectators at Sealand of the Pacific, a defunct aquarium in Victoria, British Columbia.
Acquired by SeaWorld the next year to breed with female orcas, he was involved in a second incident in July 1999 when the naked body of a man who had apparently sneaked into SeaWorld after hours to swim with the whales was found draped dead across his back.
Authorities later concluded that the man, Daniel Dukes, likely suffered hypothermia in the 55-degree water and drowned, but they said it also appeared Tilikum bit the man's body and tore off his swimming trunks after he had died."

I intensely dislike the idea of whale hunting, as well as any slaughter of animals where very little of the animal is used for anything productive. Killing bears for their claws, or tigers for their spleen for it's "aphrodisiac" qualities are to me, crimes against nature. Those cultures which use up nearly all of the kill for food, clothes, etc are in my opinion the only ones which should be allowed to kill such things as whales.

As far as human interaction with whales, humans and whales were never really meant to coexist as closely as they do in Sea World and something as big as a whale, heck even something domesticated like a horse, can harm or kill you and they barely realize it. It's my opinion that if a person chooses to involve himself with animals, especially wild ones, any consequences should be born exclusively by that person.

[Denis]

In regards being 'only animals,' so are we.

Agreed. Therefore why should we mourn the loss of a woman who has chosen to spend her life working with 12,000 sea mammals? She died doing something she loved.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I'd say we mourn her loss as we mourn the loss of any, and allow it to put an end to the commercial exploitation of orcas as performing animals.

[Dave W]

That would be nice. Unfortunately I don't think it will happen anytime soon.