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There's Something Fishy About Japanese Whaling
It would be hard to imagine that anyone would want to eat these gentle giants of the sea. But go to Japan and you could find yourself eating slices of deep-fried Minke whale in a bread bun, garnished with lettuce and mayonnaise-Yum! 
Although killing whales for their meat has been internationally banned since 1986, countries like Japan, Iceland and Norway still kill whales. Countries were in the news recently as they wanted to increase the number of whales they kill. The I.W.C voted on this issue, but just over half the members voted against increasing the number of whales harpooned.
It is thought that about 1,500 whales are going to be killed this year at least. Some cultures such as the Canadian Eskimos are allowed to catch whales to eat because they have always traditionally survived by eating whales. They’re not allowed to catch thousands of them, just enough for their community to eat.
The Japanese might believe that them eating whales is just the same as us eating beef…after all, cows are pretty cute too! But the
difference is that after being harpooned, the whales are in agony and can still be alive for around an hour afterwards. We kill cows, pigs and sheep in a way so they don’t suffer very much. Cows are also not an endangered species.
It is also believed that whales are pretty intelligent and they can ‘talk’ to each other. Photos: Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org Story: Imogen Wadlow Planet Patrol Feedback Time…
If they could ‘farm’ whales and find a quick and painless way to kill them, would it be OK to eat them? Let us know what you think by emailing us at: theteam@planetpatrol.info
We’ll put some of your comments in the next newsletter. What is the I.W.C?
The International Whaling Commission or IWC is a world organisation that discusses votes and sets rules on things to do with whaling. There are 66 countries who are members of the IWC including Japan, Norway and Iceland.
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