ARTICLE - ANIMALS: Dogs Bite Whales

[Guest guest]

Dogs Bite Whales

 

LONDON, UK, June 25, 2003 (ENS) - Meat from whales taken in Japan's

scientific research whaling program is being turned into pet food,

according to research by Professor Frank Cipriano, of San Francisco State

University, a pioneer of whalemeat identification using DNA matching

techniques.

Analysis carried out by Professor Cipriano on samples of pet food

purchased by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) near Tokyo,

revealed both Antarctic minke whale and dolphin meat.

 

In February, EIA purchased dog food products from supermarkets in Shizuoka

and Otsuchi, Japan. DNA analysis showed that the dried dog food from

Shizuoka contained Antarctic minke and a packaged dog food product

purchased in Otsuchi contained dolphin DNA.

 

The new method for DNA analysis of highly processed products, which was

used to analyze fertilizer and pet food samples, was presented to the

Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) at this

year's annual meeting.

 

Based in London and Washington, DC, the Environmental Investigation

Agency, along with the UK based Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society,

and The Humane Society of the United States, released evidence of the

whale meat in pet food at last week's IWC annual meeting.

 

" The fact that Japan is using whale meat for pet foods totally invalidates

Japan's attempts to legitimize and increase their catches, " said Clare

Perry of the Environmental Investigation Agency.

 

Japanese whaling fleets take a self imposed quota of 440 minke whales in

the Southern Ocean and 440 minkes in the North Pacific each year in

addition to dozens of sperm, sei, and Bryde's whales - all as part of the

scientific research whaling allowed under the International Whaling

Commission (IWC) rules.

 

The IWC requires that all meat left after research is finished must be

utilized, not discarded.

 

At the IWC meeting, Japan attempted to win a quota of whales for coastal

communities, but their bid was defeated.

 

Sue Fisher of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said, " We hear

the same rhetoric year after year about distressed coastal whaling

communities, and now we find that whales are being used as pet food. "

 

More than 400,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales have been killed in

Japanese waters in the last 20 years, the three organizations estimate.

 

The whale meat, whether consumed by humans or animals, will burden their

bodies with a toxic load of mercury. Analysis of meat from toothed whales

sold for human consumption in Japan, recently published by Japanese

researchers, revealed that 100 percent of these products exceeded the

allowed levels for mercury content.

 

 

* * *