Japan turns Whale meat into dog food, BBC 2-10-06

[Guest guest]

[Please consider boycotting all products coming out of

Japan. Also, let Japans government know how strongly

you oppose whaling. Rick.]

 

 

Japan turns Whale meat into dog food, BBC 2-10-06

 

 

Whale meat 'made into dog food'

 

Source >

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4700418.stm

 

Japan has recently expanded its whaling programme

Meat from whales caught under Japan's " research "

programme is so

abundant that it is being sold as pet food, according

to a UK conservation

group.

Thousands of tonnes of whale meat has been stockpiled

as more animals

are killed each year, says the Whale and Dolphin

Conservation Society

(WDCS).

 

The Japanese government has attempted to sell the

whale meat to schools

but the price has continued to fall.

 

A company is selling meat on the web as " healthy and

safe natural " dog

food.

 

" A quiet whale meat boom is starting, " says the

website hakudai.com.

 

" The number of pet-owners who care about their

animals' health are

growing, recognising the nutritious value of whale

meat, " it adds.

 

" Now the demand and the sales are soaring. "

 

Nutritious and delicious

 

 

We have heard many arguments from Japan... but they

have never stated

that they needed to kill whales to feed their dogs

 

Mark Simmonds

The website describes whale meat as " organic " and

fished " freshly out

of the water " .

 

Mark Simmonds, director of science at WDCS, said:

" Whaling is a cruel

activity and the fact that Japan is killing these

amazing animals to

produce dog food is shocking.

 

" We have heard many arguments from Japan over the

years about why

whaling is necessary to them but they have never

stated that they needed to

kill whales to feed their dogs. "

 

A global moratorium on commercial whaling has been in

place since the

1980s, but hunting for scientific research is

permitted under the rules

of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

 

The hunting is condemned by most conservation groups

on the grounds

that it is inhumane, unnecessary and may harm fragile

populations.

 

Japan and Iceland run scientific programmes, while

Norway lodged a

formal objection to the moratorium and maintains an

openly commercial

operation.

 

A number of indigenous peoples are also allowed to

hunt under tight

restrictions.

 

Expanding the kill

 

The sheer volume of Japan's operations makes it the

principal target

for the wrath of conservation groups.

 

 

 

 

Whale burger on the menu

In the current hunting season, it launched a programme

called JARPA-2

which doubles its annual minke whale catch from

Antarctic waters.

 

JARPA-2 will remove 935 minkes and 10 fin whales each

year; while its

other research programme JARPN takes 100 sei whales,

100 minkes, 50

Bryde's whales and five sperm whales annually from the

north Pacific.

 

The IWC obliges countries practising scientific

whaling to process what

they catch, and the meat from Japan's programmes has

always found its

way into restaurants.

 

Last year, it initiated a scheme to distribute whale

meat to schools,

and a fast-food chain began selling whale burgers.

 

But the latest news suggests demand from Japan's human

population is

running some way behind the recently expanded supply.

 

WCDS quotes research showing that the price of meat

from Bryde's whales

has halved over the last five years, with other

species falling as

well.

 

Protest for survival

 

Most whale species are at risk of extinction, and last

year 63 members

of the IWC's Scientific Committee condemned the JARPA

expansion.

 

 

Find out about the different endangered whale species.

 

 

In graphics

 

" With the new proposal, Japan will increase its annual

take... to

levels approaching the annual commercial quotas for

Antarctic minke whales

that were in place prior to the moratorium, " they

declared.

 

In January a group of 17 countries, including the UK,

mounted a formal

diplomatic protest.

 

" The UK is totally opposed to any activity that

undermines the present

moratorium on commercial whaling, " said Britain's

fisheries minister

Ben Bradshaw at the time.

 

" We urge Japan to reconsider its position and end this

unjustified and

unnecessary slaughter which is regarded by many

countries and their

public as a means to bypass the IWC moratorium. "

 

Japan maintains that hunting is part of its cultural

heritage, which

other nations have no right to condemn.