Thank you Tyrell for exposing the hypocrisy of our feral green movement along with its admirers (national broadcasters). Now that Bush and Howard are gone they need something else to become violent about and then scream when the Japanese react.

Snake like a lot of other people you advocate the destruction of human beings, I most certainly hope you are among the first to volunteer, when the guns are loaded up and pointing at your chest I would just love to see your smiling face.

Ojnab,
I was hoping you would show a little more common sense. Just because snake advocates a reduction in world population does not mean he wants to go and shoot half the population. Science has given us contraception, which means we dont even have to stop copulating to reduce the population. I love that science.

Those that want to abort and those that practice infanticide can even keep their cultural practices as well, but if we reduce the population we reduce the need for food, and we save fish and other animals. Surely that is a simple thing to follow. Difficult part is to convince the religions.

In relation to the whales, I'm all for the krill. An ABC doc tonight said that each blue whale eats 4 million krill a day. One supposes others a little less, so each whale the Japs harvest saves about a billion krill per year. So Maybe the Japs are the real conservationists after all. Pale goes on about live animal exports and cruelty, sheez, being ingested alive and dieing by stomach juices would be like being dropped in an acid bath. Not very nice for the poor little krill.

So why is there not a world wide cry going up for the protection of krill from the genocide inflicted by whales?

Go the whalers and save the krill.

Tyrell

I agree that Australia's record on the abuse of its animals is unacceptable. I disagree with your assumption that we remain silent over that issue. In addition, I have read from Irish, English, Austrian, Middle Eastern, Israeli, French and American websites reporting on Australia's abusive treatment of its food animals and this country's rapid extinctions of native animals.

That does not excuse the Japanese pillaging of marine life or the abominable treatment of their own food animals:

http://www.chicagofoodies.com/2007/11/kobe-beef-and-c.html

Additionally, Antarctic krill are at the heart of the Southern Ocean food web, sustaining hundreds of species of fish, squid, whales, penguins, seals, albatrosses and other creatures.

There is a growing demand for Antarctic krill, as fish feed for the booming aquaculture industry. Krill serves as the foundation in the Southern Ocean food web. In addition to the increased demand, new vessel technologies are now in use that can substantially increase the catching and processing of krill, risking serious impacts to the Southern Ocean's marine ecosystem. As a result, much of our marine life are starving and we are consuming diseased, farmed fish from the mechanised madness which prevails.

Last November 64 stranded whales and their calves died on a Tasmanian beach. NZ saw 130 stranded whales previously and occurrences continue around the world. Scientists also express concern over naval sonar activities.

Turning the tables on nature making it subservient to man by neanderthal cultures such as ours, which continue to accelerate gratuitous consumption, will be forced to make trade-offs between environmental quality and a continuation of its consumption pattern.

And as we tuck into our juicy lamb chops from an abused and diseased animal and a cloven hooved animal species too, which has destroyed these arid lands, remember we have already entered the realms of the Sixth Extinction.

Man will not accept that notion but he does so at his peril.

I know that it is much more culturally acceptable for Australians to criticise themselves than it is for Australians to criticise others, but this article takes things a bit far.

1) Japan ostensibly supports the ban on commercial whaling.

2) Japan either lies about the 'scientific' motive for whaling, or is selfishly keeping the results of the research to themselves.

3) Japan has no historical record of whaling in Australian waters. While there is evidence that many groups visited our lands in ancient times, Japanese whalers do not appear to be among them.

4) Whale meat is available for sale in Japan. Spare the 'using the whole buffalo' argument - if you sell the product, you are using it commercially.

5) As for other endangered species (such as tuna): pointing the finger at us is a bit of a stretch. See http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/22/news/tuna.php.

Yes, our record is far from clear when it comes to conservation. And yes, there probably are more important issues to consider in this day and age. But it doesn't change the fact that the Japanese people lie, come into Australian waters and hunt whales for no apparent purpose. This is not a cultural necessity. It is not a scientific necessity, either. We aren't rednecks for being concerned about it - we are merely doing the right thing for a change.

I would certainly agree that many of whaling's loudest opponents show no considered thought regarding their position. More often than not, anti-whaling protestors give defensive responses when quizzed about their consumption of battery hens or their virtual silence regarding the live export trade. My question has always been this: why are whales' lives more important than hens' lives or sheeps' lives? Of course the standard reply is "Hens and sheep aren't endangered species and they're bred for consumption purposes". This raises some pressing questions:
1. Should we only refrain from killing an animal if it belongs to an endangered species? If so, does this mean there is no intrinsic value attached to individual lives?
2. If indeed there is no intrinsic value in an individual life and our only concern should be to protect endangered species, why don't we breed humans for consumption? Humans certainly aren't an endangered species.
3. If we are concerned about the cruelty of whale slaughter methods, why no en masse public hysteria about the inhumane livestock conditions of pigs or hens? Is it all about the majestic beauty of whales as opposed to the mundane everydayness of cows and pigs? Is this not the ultimate superficiality?
4. If we're concerned about the environmental impact of whaling, what about the environmental impact of rearing livestock for human consumption? Why focus on one but not the other?

Of course my point in all of this is that many of the anti-whaling crusaders are hopelessly inconsistent in their viewpoints. It's very much a case of latching on to a cause in the midst of an otherwise ill-considered moral compass. Don't get me wrong - I certainly agree with the view that whaling is horrific. But how can I rant and rave about Japanese whalers without giving due attention to the horrific maltreatment of animals in my own backyard? I realise some anti-whaling protestors are fully cognisant of all these issues and behave accordingly, but to the bulk of anti-whaling protestors, I say it's time for some major reflection about the ethics associated with your next bacon roll.