Comments on: Let The Whales Die

By: chia-yi

chia-yi — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:42:10 +0000

Great post! Too many people think that actions like these are “conservation.” It is interesting that when humans are the cause of an animal or population dying out (i.e. whaling), there is much less enthusiasm than if some “poor,” “defenseless” animal needs our help (i.e. beached whales). What kind of nerve needs to be hit to create such an outcry?

By: Karen James

Karen James — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:09:23 +0000

I’m surprised to be the first person here to suggest that if we’ve made the decision not to try and save a stranded whale, and yet it pains us to watch the whale die slowly and painfully, then the obvious thing to do is to put it out of its misery (though one wonders what kind of firearm would do the trick if any).

By: zayzayem

zayzayem — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:00:57 +0000

Whales are smart.
Might they know that beaching isn’t exactly smart. And what its likely outcome is.

Are we faced with self-propelled euthanasia? Who are we to deny their right to die in dignity?

Fundamentalist cetecean suicide cults? Are we interfering with an important part of indigenous whale culture? (note: some whales even explode, are we facing a growing rise in whale suicide bombers?)

By: romunov

romunov — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:52:01 +0000

I think they should focus more on why the whales beach, especially in the en masse events. I wonder what would the Navy have to say about it…

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:55:30 +0000

As someone who interned at a marine animal rescue / rehab facility, I can say that I completely understand the article. After weeks of care, thousands in donor funds, and too much emotional investment, many of our animals died. Cetaceans were notoriously difficult to treat, generally once they beach they’re very near death. The efforts, volunteer hours and donor funds in cases like mass whale beachings would be better spent on education and outreach.

By: Nerak

Nerak — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:22:35 +0000

The press in uk, has published slightly out of context what the new triage is in uk. The part quoted above is only in relation to Sperm whales, and deep diving beaked whales. The results of pm’s have indeed shown that currently, the effects of stranding, is such that it would indeed be cruel to attempt a refloat after one hour.
However other species of whale do not suffer the same effects as quickly and therefor will all be evaluated on an individual bases, to do what is best for the animal in each case……thankyou

By: Noadi

Noadi — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:41:59 +0000

The thing is people find it painful to stand around and watch an animal slowly die and it can take a beached whale days to die sometimes. So of course we want to try what we can to help them, it’s an emotional response. It’s not rational and rarely gets results in the sense of saving the lives of these whales (results in terms of awareness are a different matter).

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:14:46 +0000

There need to be results, or at least a competent and rational explanation for a lack of any positive results in a reasonable time frame. Sea Shepherd and the deep sea whale rescue efforts, regardless of the value of the intentions, is simply repeating the same action repeatedly while expecting a new result.

Glad to see an analytical evaluation of the success of rescues, and someone willing to express the result of that evaluation regardless of the probable backlash from some sectors. Not an easy position to take, but I believe the right one.

By: WhySharksMatter

WhySharksMatter — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:53:51 +0000

If results were valued over just “doing something”, Sea Shepherd would have gone out of business thirty years ago. People still fin sharks, people still club seals, people still go whaling… despite thirty years of Sea Shepherd’s “direct action”.