Whales are among the largest, most intelligent and most interesting creatures on the planet. These creatures must be preserved and not killed for human purposes. Humans kill whales for things like meat, cultural tradition, and, of course, profit. In the early days of humanity, whales were hunted for essential reasons, but today, whale products are much less necessary. Killing these amazing creatures is wrong for many reasons. This article highlights three major disadvantages of whaling: the inhumane methods used to kill whales, the fact that many of them are endangered and on the verge of extinction, and the loss of whale creatures. 'an extremely high intelligence and value that is fascinating to study and learn. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The practice of whaling uses a range of weapons to kill a whale, some are more humane than others. others, but these methods can never guarantee a single death. shot every time. Weapons used include penthrite grenade harpoon cannons and large caliber rifles. If the whale is not killed on the first hit, what happens? The whale suffers and may emerge injured, making it a “hit and lose” whale. These injured whales can either die slowly and painfully or survive with incredible and debilitating injuries. There are many cases of whales like these. In Greenland narwhal hunts, “hit and lost animals added an average of 42% to capture statistics for 1954-1998” (Rommel, 4). During a recent bowhead whale hunt, “13 whales were struck and lost in 2011, two had a good chance of survival, eight had a low chance of survival, and three died” (Suydam, 3). These whales were not killed the first time or even the second time, they were injured. Most of these whales were seriously injured or killed as a result of their injuries and were not humanely killed. Some whales are actually killed with the first shot, but it can be difficult to determine whether a whale is in serious pain or dead. Whales can store large amounts of oxygen and shut down their organs to appear dead to the human eye and instruments when in reality they are still alive and experiencing intense, inhumane pain (Rommel, 5). The International Whaling Committee has a few factors to help determine if a whale is dead and unresponsive to pain, including “relaxation of the lower jaw; Or, no palm movement; Or flow without active movement” (Rommel, 5). As one might imagine, a whale could go unnoticed by humans and still be alive and in incredible pain. The harpoons used explode on contact with the whale's body, which is supposed to kill the whale instantly, but a hit whale can suffer for agonizing minutes or hours ("The Fallacy of Humane Killing", 3). If a whale does not appear dead from the explosion, a whaler can shoot it with a rifle. This can cause more pain to the whale if the shot is not fatal and increases the inhumane nature of the action. These killing methods were worse. These now banned methods include cold harpoons and electric lances. A cold harpoon is a single shot at a whale and does not explode, they usually only kill a whale if a vital organ is hit and this type ofmethod very rarely results in instantaneous death, the whale is almost certain to suffer for long periods ("The Fallacy of Humane Killing", 4). The electric method was used by the Japanese to preserve whale meat. Exploding a harpoon can cause damage or loss of meat, unlike electrocuting the whale. This electrocution is very inhumane as the pain is intense. Many whales are either protected, endangered, critically endangered, or extinct. Whaling has increased its threat status even when quotas are regulated; “At the June 2005 International Whaling Commission meeting, the Japanese government controversially announced its intention to add Antarctic endangered species and threatened humpback whales to its annual shopping list, and doubled its quota of minke whales” (“Whaling on Trial: Vindication!”, 8). These whales are supposed to be protected because they are scarce. Why are they killed? This only puts them in even more danger. A study of Antarctic whaling concluded that “blue and fin whales were 95 to 99 percent decimated due to whaling” (“Campaign Whale,” 6). Many countries are to blame, but that doesn't matter anymore, what matters is saving all whale species from whaling. Pregnant women, mothers and calves of whales are killed even though it is forbidden (Suydam, 4). How can a whaler be sure that the targeted whale is a male? In many species, the male and female are indistinguishable. If a mother is killed, the calf will likely starve to death because the mother is not present to provide milk and care. Whales repopulate slowly, females become sexually mature between 4 and 12 years of age and give birth every 3 to 4 years (Clapham, 46). The decline and elimination of whale populations will have an adverse effect on the ecosystem. Whales are a major predator and feed on krill, zooplankton and small fish. A single blue whale can consume 40 million tons of krill per day (Lian, 2). Without these whales, populations of krill and small fish would grow out of control and cause a major shift in energy flow and the food chain. Other organisms in the ecosystem are likely to be affected as well. There may be an increase or decrease in the number of organisms that rely directly or indirectly on whales. This type of change in an ecosystem is usually quite destructive. A decrease in whale excrement can also impact not only the ecosystem but the entire world. Whale feces provide nutrients to phytoplankton which use carbon dioxide from the air. It is estimated that 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide are removed from the air due to whale feces (Lian, 2). This creates cleaner air in the atmosphere used by other organisms to sustain life. A dead whale carcass is also vital to ecosystems. When the body sinks to the ocean floor, many organisms that feed on the seafloor live on the carcass for long periods of time (Lian, 2). These organisms include sharks, crabs, worms, clams, corals, anemones, squid, isopods, bacteria, snails and other scavengers (Switek, 3). If fewer whales die and sink naturally, these dependent organisms lose a food source that can wipe out a species. Whales are extremely intelligent, so intelligent that in fact theyare considered for special rights called non-human persons. These rights would be granted to whales, dolphins, and porpoises because they “are so evolved and behaviorally complex that they deserve special protection with a universal bill of rights” (Connor, 2). India has recently officially granted these rights to dolphins since May 24, 2013 (Anagirlempath, 1). Dolphins and whales possess many cognitive abilities that determine their personality, such as self-awareness, concern for others, culture, and language (Anagirlempath, 1). Thomas I. White received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University and recently published a book on this subject. White states that “personhood” is a philosophical concept that helps classification remain impartial in favor of species (White, chapter 6). White also says that people are beings who: are alive and aware of their surroundings, have the capacity to feel pleasure and pain, have emotions and self-esteem, control their actions, recognize and treat others appropriately, and exhibit a variety of behaviors. higher order intellectual skills, scientific research on dolphins shows that they possess all of these traits (White, chapter 6). For this reason, dolphins are unquestionably people and have a “moral standing” (White, chapter 6). This makes killing whales immoral because they have such a “moral stance”. These rights, as in India, only result in killing and illegal captivity. Whales also fascinate with their social intelligence. Sometimes "non-relatives form large hunting teams with lasting bonds, specialized tasks, tool use, and gender equality." Their haunting songs and social chatter also suggest that an undeciphered intelligence resonates across our oceans” (Sharpe, 2008). There may be different dialects of the sonar “click” produced by whales and dolphins. These accents are very distinctive and show the complex intellect required to establish such a communication phenomenon. Humpback whales are known for their mating songs. These songs are complex with different sounds, rhythms and tones. These whales are intelligent enough to remember and reproduce the same song after years. Biologists discovered "more than 500 humpback whale songs and found that more than 35 percent of the compositions contain rhyming sounds, which scientists believe could be mnemonics to help whales learn and remember words." songs" (“Rhymes Discovered in Whale Songs...”,1). Their intelligence gives them advanced abilities to establish close social bonds. Whales often live and travel in groups or groups. of the whale family or the killer whale community are permanent. Killer whales form strong bonds throughout their lives with their families. They often share meals together (H, 9). would learn a lot. There are reasonable arguments in favor of whaling. One of them is the demand for whale meat and the products are set at high prices in countries like Japan, where the. Whale meat is a delicacy. and where the rich own other whale items. There are communities in major whaling countries, primarily Japan and Norway, that are centered on whaling. As for the demand for whale meat and products, it seems that Japan is losing interest: “whaling is dying in hearts, minds, stomachs, wallets.