U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > JAPAN TO RESUME HUNT FOR LAST REMAINING WHALES
JAPAN TO RESUME HUNT FOR LAST REMAINING WHALES
February 22 2010
Tokyo, Japan – There are still many wonders in the natural world that continue to compel and fascinate human beings. Despite our domination of the planet and ability to affect our environment in ever evolving ways, there are still things in our world that 
amaze and compel us. One of those things is one of the most revered and mysterious of species of animal on our planet, that whale. From the days when mankind first took the oceans, the whale has been a source of fascination, terror, and profit like no other species.
Many species of whale were, by the beginning of the twentieth century, nearly driven to extinction by whalers and overfishing of natural habitats. Seeing this many governments took charge of the situation and put bans on the hunting of the giants of the deep in an effort to restore population levels. While those efforts have 
had mixed results, due in part to varying levels of restrictions by different countries, the efforts have resulted in rebounds for many species. Some however, such as the Humpback and the Blue Whale, remain very much on the endangered list. The latter
as an example, the largest animal to ever live, is currently at about one percent of its peak population. Now one country is finally seeking to end the debate over whaling once and for all. Japan, with a long and respected history of whaling, has decided to lift the moratorium on hunting in an effort to eliminate the baleen menace from the face of the planet.
“The deal, the proposal, is under wraps at the moment by it is going to be very 
forcefully fought by officials. They have a lot of compelling arguments and rationale behind the idea of restarting the hunt, but in the end they simply want to end the debate once and for all,” said a Japanese whaling insider. “It has long been a part of the Japanese psyche to destroy whales and this ban has resulted in a great deal of collective stress. People feel the shame and guilt over not finishing the job the first time and they want to put an end to that. We are a proud people and this shame weighs heavily on the entire nation.”
It’s not clear what provoked the animosity between the Japanese people and the varying species of whales, but whatever the reason the battle to renew the fight has been ongoing for decades.
“Japanese whalers have continued to kill the animals virtually every year since the ban first went into effect. They kill about 1000 annually, ostensibly for research purposes, and that has done nothing but whet their appetite for more blood in the water. I think it’s unlikely that they will rest until every last whale is dead or dying,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “There is a lot of debate as to how this interspecies conflict began, but now it has simply become a blood feud with little or no historical correlation. It is now about winning, it is about revenge.”
A similar scenario was dramatized in the famous novel ‘Moby Dick’ which depicted an epic quest for revenge by Captain Ahab, who was ultimately undone in his quest to kill a giant white whale.
“The good news for people who like whales is that the Japanese economy is in very dire straits and will likely collapse in the coming years. Even if it is as much as twenty years it will mean that many of the whales of the world will be safe. Simply put, they won’t have the resources to continue the hunt all over the world,” continued Walker. “At that point their quest for revenge will likely turn to humans, as tends to happen with the Japanese. We don’t know what Asia will look like twenty years from now, but there is a very good chance that the Japanese will be killing something even if there are no more whales around.”
China and the Koreas, both historical targets, will likely be the principal target of their aggression.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > JAPAN TO RESUME HUNT FOR LAST REMAINING WHALES
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/pages-5/Japan-to-resume-hunt-for-last-remaining-whales-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://bit.ly/cihnpz |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
