The Cove

[Chisoxfn]

What were your thoughts. I watched it and enjoyed it and am looking forward to the upcoming show Blood Dolphins. Personally, I hope that the documentary and the upcoming show will help make the situation far more public and hopefully put an end to what is going on in Japan.

 

The video footage they get at the very end is absolutely horrifying.

[BigSqwert]

What were your thoughts. I watched it and enjoyed it and am looking forward to the upcoming show Blood Dolphins. Personally, I hope that the documentary and the upcoming show will help make the situation far more public and hopefully put an end to what is going on in Japan.

 

The video footage they get at the very end is absolutely horrifying.

Can I ask what's the difference between people killing a dolphin for food and a pig for food?

[Chisoxfn]

Can I ask what's the difference between people killing a dolphin for food and a pig for food?

Well, I'm not going to go into a huge debate between being a vetetarian or a carnivore. However, I think there is a big difference in the way animals are slaughtered and as much as I don't want to say it, there is a major difference in the smarts/way we view different animals.

 

I also want to point out that dolphin meat isn't even healthy to eat so quite frankly, they are just getting killed to be killed, because people knowingly wouldn't eat dolphin. It is being mislabeled as other kinds of food in Japan, primarily larger whales.

 

At least with a pig, it is being killed and a lot of the parts are used to sustain our population. Same as plants are killed (so to speak) when we eat them and other vegetables.

[BigSqwert]

I think there is a big difference in the way animals are slaughtered

 

Not sure what you mean by this exactly.

 

and as much as I don't want to say it, there is a major difference in the smarts/way we view different animals.

 

So it's ok to kill dumb animals but not smart ones? Pigs are smarter than dogs.

 

 

I also want to point out that dolphin meat isn't even healthy to eat

 

Bacon is?

 

[Chisoxfn]

Not sure what you mean by this exactly.

 

 

 

So it's ok to kill dumb animals but not smart ones? Pigs are smarter than dogs.

 

 

 

 

Bacon is?

Bacon might not be a healthy dish, but it is fine to eat and won't cause birth defects like Dolphin will (which is laced with mercury way higher than the healthy levels).

 

And yes, it is ok to kill animals when we are utilizing the meat to feed our planet (humans). Do animals eat other animals? Absolutely.

 

And with that, I'm out. I'm not interested in debating whether humans should/shouldn't eat meat, etc.

[BigSqwert]

Bacon might not be a healthy dish, but it is fine to eat and won't cause birth defects like Dolphin will (which is laced with mercury way higher than the healthy levels).

Like most fish?

 

And yes, it is ok to kill animals when we are utilizing the meat to feed our planet (humans). Do animals eat other animals? Absolutely.

Why can't dolphins be used to feed the population?

 

 

[Kyyle23]

Pig is a meat that we can replenish, dolphins are wild animals that are rounded up and killed and they dont have the reproductive stamina that a domesticated herd animal does. This is going into the wild and slaughtering generations of animals with no thought of how they can repopulate. The way it is done is horrible, and the lack of foresight in regards to the species wellbeing is even moreso.

 

I dont care that you are a vegan, thats your choice. I eat animals and its something I dont mind. I do mind, if the animal i am eating is rapidly becoming endangered because of my actions. Pigs need not worry about that

[BigSqwert]

Pig is a meat that we can replenish, dolphins are wild animals that are rounded up and killed and they dont have the reproductive stamina that a domesticated herd animal does. This is going into the wild and slaughtering generations of animals with no thought of how they can repopulate. The way it is done is horrible, and the lack of foresight in regards to the species wellbeing is even moreso.

 

I dont care that you are a vegan, thats your choice. I eat animals and its something I dont mind. I do mind, if the animal i am eating is rapidly becoming endangered because of my actions. Pigs need not worry about that

Perhaps we could find some better ways to mass breed dolphins then so that everyone can be happy.

[Kyyle23]

Perhaps we could find some better ways to mass breed dolphins then so that everyone can be happy.

 

 

perhaps. but it is doubtful

[Chisoxfn]

Like most fish?

 

 

Why can't dolphins be used to feed the population?

Types of fish have mercury, but the people in Japan certainly would appear to have zero interest in eating the dolphin meat. It is being mis-labeled as something else.

 

Endo's tests revealed that one Taiji man in his 50s had a mercury level of 67.2 parts per million. The average mercury level of all 50 subjects was 21.6 ppm for the men and 11.9 ppm for the women.

 

The average level of mercury present in Japanese people as a whole is only 2.55 ppm for men and 1.43 ppm for women, which means Taiji residents had mercury levels about 10 times the national average.

 

Meat from pilot whales is quite common in Taiji area stores, and hair samples taken from people who said they ate pilot whale meat more than once a month had an average mercury level of 25.6 ppm, while those who ate the meat once every few months had an average level of 15.5 ppm.

 

"We discovered that people weren't eating whale meat every day. At most, they were eating it a few times a month. The problem is that although the frequency of eating the meat was low, the levels of mercury in the meat were surprisingly high," Endo said.

 

The levels of mercury in dolphins and whales doesn't even compare to that in Swordfish and Tuna and even for those fish you are not supposed to eat it more than once a week due to the levels of mercury. Dolphins and large whales have such high mercury levels because they are nearest to the top of the food chain and thus what they eat his more concentrated than what the smaller fish eat.

 

Between 2002 and 2006, Endo led a team that purchased 60 different samples of whale and dolphin meat in Taiji and neighboring Nachikatsuura.

 

"The tests showed that the average levels of mercury and methyl mercury in the pilot whale meat bought in Taiji were 9.6 ppm and 5.9 ppm, respectively. Given that Japan's standards are 0.4 ppm and 0.3 ppm, respectively, these are extremely high levels," Endo said.

 

If my government were sitting here feeding me stuff that is poisoned, I'd be irate. Heck, people are already irate as to the issues that have been going on with all of the food related illnesses that are happening and how poorly the FDA is controlling and ultimately preventing these problems from happening.

[BigSqwert]

And I apologize if I'm coming off as attacking you guys. I like to challenge the way people think about animals and their role in our world.

[Kyyle23]

And I apologize if I'm coming off as attacking you guys. I like to challenge the way people think about animals and their role in our world.

 

I know that the impression of what we eat varies, I understand how it comes off to the vegetarian/vegan. We have compassion for some creatures and others are just meat. I would rather hope that slaughterhouses are somewhat "humane" in their butcherinig, but I know the reality of it.

 

Dolphins are creatures that are being wiped off the map systematically, and killing them the way the japanese do is destroying their own delicacy. It really is amazing that they can be so ignorant of how they are playing a huge part in the elinination of water mammals.

[The Gooch]

Pig is a meat that we can replenish, dolphins are wild animals that are rounded up and killed and they dont have the reproductive stamina that a domesticated herd animal does. This is going into the wild and slaughtering generations of animals with no thought of how they can repopulate. The way it is done is horrible, and the lack of foresight in regards to the species wellbeing is even moreso.

 

I dont care that you are a vegan, thats your choice. I eat animals and its something I dont mind. I do mind, if the animal i am eating is rapidly becoming endangered because of my actions. Pigs need not worry about that

 

Species would be much better off becoming extinct than raised with virtually no space to live, and just being bred to be slaughtered. At least dolphins get the chance to live in the wild, while pigs have no life at all.

[BigSqwert]

If you've watched The Cove I highly recommend checking out Earthlings.

Edited August 31, 2010 by BigSqwert

[FlaSoxxJim]

Why can't dolphins be used to feed the population?

 

Kyyle more or less answered this, but I know you are smarter than that question.

 

Domestic pigs have a gestation period of less than 4 months, a litter size that averages between 8-15 young, and they are weened in well under 2 months. Both males and females are sexually mature in under 1 year.

 

Contrast that with dolphins, most species of which take around 8 years to sexually mature (females), reproduce onle every 2-3 years, have a 12 month (!!) gestation, and only have a single calf at a time.

 

From a sustainability standpoint, do you really believe these are equivalent situations?

 

Eating low on the trophic ladder as you do, you can also appreciate the per kg trophic cost difference in consuming an apex predator like a dolphin verses consuming an animal that primarily eats seeds, fruits, roots, and leaves (or a pelletized artificial diet consisting primarily of grain and vegetation).

 

Humans also domesticated pigs about 10,000 years ago. Of course you understand the sustainability differences in farming stocks versus abstracting them from wild populations.

[BigSqwert]

Kyyle more or less answered this, but I know you are smarter than that question.

 

Domestic pigs have a gestation period of less than 4 months, a litter size that averages between 8-15 young, and they are weened in well under 2 months. Both males and females are sexually mature in under 1 year.

 

Contrast that with dolphins, most species of which take around 8 years to sexually mature (females), reproduce onle every 2-3 years, have a 12 month (!!) gestation, and only have a single calf at a time.

 

From a sustainability standpoint, do you really believe these are equivalent situations?

 

Eating low on the trophic ladder as you do, you can also appreciate the per kg trophic cost difference in consuming an apex predator like a dolphin verses consuming an animal that primarily eats seeds, fruits, roots, and leaves (or a pelletized artificial diet consisting primarily of grain and vegetation).

 

Humans also domesticated pigs about 10,000 years ago. Of course you understand the sustainability differences in farming stocks versus abstracting them from wild populations.

I also understand that raising livestock is ridiculously unsustainable.

 

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000

 

Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78

To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2

 

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

I also understand that raising livestock is ridiculously unsustainable.

 

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000

 

Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78

To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2

 

There's no question that eating lower on the trophic ladder is more sustainable, though I've seen reputable sources putting the water cost for a pound of beef at half the value you list (Then again, there are estimates that it might actually be more then 10,000 gallons/lb, so your point is valid).

 

But it's the same trophic transfer inefficiency that makes your earlier equating of eating domestic pig with wild cetacean illogical. And that is not getting into the maturation rate/fecundity/gestational differences.

 

I get that this is a devil's advocate position for you — "How is eating dolphin any different than eating farmed livestock?" And of course you understand that it is different.

[DrunkBomber]

Flipper>Babe

[JPN366]

I think the main issue with The Cove is that the dolphins are killed for no reason.

[JPN366]

If you've watched The Cove I highly recommend checking out Earthlings.

 

Consider me depressed.

[JPN366]

Consider me depressed.

 

Seeing dogs and cats suffering or hurt really tears me up. I guess because I know, as a lot of us do, how much we personalize our pets.

[Balta1701]

So many go to bed hungry in this nation, yet cat food is full of tuna! I can't help but think each time I go to the zoo and see those porpoises, crammed into those tiny tanks, what a waste that is. Butcher half of them now! That's hundreds of pounds of dolphin meat that can be fed to our cats, freeing up that tuna for our nation's hungry.

 

So many are cold, shivering in the night, so I say, butcher those cats, skin them! Use their fur to keep hundreds warm!

[FlaSoxxJim]

Modest Proposals indeed.

[RockRaines]

I watched it last night, what a f***ing travesty. Dolphin meat is basically inedible and the inhumane killings they showed were unreal. Shows how a government can cover up and even push for terrible practices like Whaling across the globe.

[RockRaines]

I also understand that raising livestock is ridiculously unsustainable.

 

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000

 

Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78

To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2

I dont digest wheat nearly as well as animal protein.