It’s very important that people understand that killing Cetaceans (whales & dolphins) isn’t wrong because they’re endangered (whether they are or not). People are in ample supply, and it’s wrong to do it to humans as well. Why? Because it is wrong to take liberty away from sentient beings. One of the basic foundations of modern society is “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, amongst them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Before you remind me that these are cetaceans, not men, let ME remind you that the Founding Fathers didn’t see slaves as Men. It would be quite some time before blacks and native people weren’t considered sub-human, and it was only within the past 50-60 years that there was the beginning of equality for blacks in the U.S. So our definition of “men” is still changing, growing, expanding, as we come to understand that “men” isn’t just we who have already claimed those rights, but ALL sapient (and perhaps all sentient) creatures.
If they can comprehend their impending death, it’s wrong to kill them. (It’s worth noting that at least most prey species do not seem able to grasp that concept.) Dolphins and whales (amongst creatures) are most certainly aware of their plight. Their spirit may be different than ours, (more evolved, it would seem) so they tolerate it better than we would, but that doesn’t mean they are not aware of what we have done to them… and it certainly doesn’t make it any less wrong to abduct them, kill them, imprison them (in any way, but especially in those relatively tiny concrete puddles,) and force them to perform inane physical tricks in order to get meager survival fare. To put an echo-locating creature in such containment is in and of itself cruel and unusual punishment. In many ways, it’s more horrible than anything we did to those “enemy combatants Gitmo, and much of that was wrong as well. How can we possibly justify doing things at least as cruel, let alone doing it for decades, to an intelligent, loving social creature that hasn’t done anything at all wrong to us?
Throughout history, dolphins have demonstrated their friendship with men, (which they seem to perceive as their handicapped land-based brothers.) The orcas and whales have NEVER attacked a person, and are nearly always very tolerant of our intrusions. Even when being protective of a calf, they do precious little towards us in warning us off (considering that they could easily crush our boats or kill us off with a flick of a fluke.) How dare we to treat our friends this way?
Killing whales and dolphins, imprisoning them, keeping them captive on a long-term basis for ANY excuse, is inherently wrong, whether they are endangered or as common as grains of sand. Let us not forget that we are still learning, still defining the term “men,” (and that we, too, are animals.) There are many creatures besides us humans which living upon this planet and are likewise, by definition, homo sapiens (wise/knowing men). They are all our brothers. At the very least, they, too, are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. ALL sapiens are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
