TROUBLED WATERS A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES Foreword by Sir David Attenborough Edited by Philippa Brakes, Andrew Butterworth, Mark Simmonds & Philip Lymbery TROUBLED WATERS A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES A report produced on behalf of a global coalition of animal welfare societies led by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). www.whalewatch.org Foreword by Sir David Attenborough Edited by Philippa Brakes, Andrew Butterworth, Mark Simmonds & Philip Lymbery Contributors: Philippa Brakes, Craig Bamber, Kitty Block, Andrew Butterworth, Sue Fisher, Dr D.W. van Liere, Jennifer Lonsdale, Philip Lymbery, Barbara Maas, Andy Ottaway, E.C.M. Parsons, N.A. Rose, Laila Sadler and Mark Simmonds. Project management by WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society www.wdcs.org Production Editors: Sheena Bose and Jonathan Owen Cover photo: © Jean Gaumy/Magnum I Published by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) © 2004 WSPA ISBN Number: ISBN 0-9547065-0-1 Designed by Lawrence & Beavan Printed by Creasy Flood This book has been sponsored and promoted by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and other animal welfare non-governmental organisations to stimulate and promote public debate on cruelty issues which may arise within whaling operations, to ensure that any unnecessary suffering or cruelty is prevented. WSPA is established as a charitable body in the UK to prevent and alleviate the suffering of animals and believes that current whaling practices often involve unnecessary suffering and cruelty which should be avoided. Hopefully, this work will assist in highlighting those issues so as to enable members of the public to have a more informed view on whaling operations and the potential cruelty to which those operations give rise. Further information, contact: World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) 14th Floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP, UK Tel: +44 (0)207 587 5000 Fax: +44 (0)207 793 0208 www.wspa-international.org List of contributors Craig Bamber, Ballistics Consultant to the Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. Kitty Block, Special Counsel to the UN & Treaties Dept., The Humane Society of the United States (the HSUS), Washington DC, US. Philippa Brakes, Marine Consultant, c/o WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society), Brookfield House, 38 St Paul Street, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1LY, UK. Andrew Butterworth, Research Fellow, Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol Veterinary School, Langford, N Somerset, BS40 5DU, UK. Sue Fisher, US Director, WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society) USA, P.O. Box 820064, Portland 97282 – 1064, Oregon, US. Dr D.W. van Liere, CABWIM consultancy, Gansmesschen 33, 9403 XR Assen, Netherlands. Jennifer Lonsdale, Director, Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), 62-63 Upper Street, London, UK. Philip Lymbery, Director of Communications, World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), II 89 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP, UK. A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES IMPLICATIONS A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE Barbara Maas, Chief Executive, Care for the Wild International, The Granary, Tickfold Farm, Kingsfold, West Sussex, UK. Andy Ottaway, Campaigns Director, Campaign Whale, PO Box 2673, Lewes, E Sussex, BN8 5BZ, UK. E.C.M. Parsons, Marine Mammal Biologist, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, US & The University Marine Biological Station Millport (University of London), Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland. N.A. Rose, Marine Mammal Scientist, The Humane Society of the United States, Washington DC, US. Laila Sadler, Scientific Officer, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Southwater, Horsham, UK. Mark P. Simmonds, Director of Science, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Brookfield House, 38 St Paul Street, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1LY, UK. Contents List of contributors II Foreword IV ONE Introductory section 1 Chapter 1 Executive summary 2 Chapter 2 A background to whaling 6 Chapter 3 An introduction to animal welfare 13 Chapter 4 Whales – individuals, societies and cultures 15 Chapter 5 The IWC and whale welfare 30 TWO Whale killing 37 Chapter 6 Commercial and Aboriginal subsistence whaling 38 Chapter 7 The small cetacean dimension 54 Chapter 8 Weather, sea condition and ship motions CONTENTS affecting accuracy in whaling 63 III Chapter 9 The potential stress effects of whaling and the welfare implications for hunted cetaceans 69 Chapter 10 Euthanasia of cetaceans 78 Chapter 11 Review of criteria for determining death and insensibility in cetacea 84 THREE Whaling in the twenty-first century 91 Chapter 12 A comparison between slaughterhouse standards and methods used during whaling 92 Chapter 13 Ethics and whaling under special permit 104 Chapter 14 Legal precedents for whale protection 111 FOUR Conclusions 123 Chapter 15 Whaling and welfare 124 Chapter 16 Summary of conclusions 134 Glossary 136 Appendix I Global coalition members 137 Appendix II Colour plates 140 Foreword Whales are highly evolved animals with all the sensitivities that that statement implies. They have a complex social life. They call to one another across the vast expanses of the oceans. They are the largest animals that have ever existed, far larger than any dinosaur. There is nothing in the body of a whale, which is of use to us, for which we cannot find equivalents elsewhere. The following pages contain hard scientific dispassionate evidence that there is no humane way to kill a whale at sea. Dr Harry Lillie, who worked as a ship’s physician on a whaling trip in the Antarctic half a century ago, wrote this: “If we can imagine a horse having two or three explosive spears stuck in its stomach and being made to pull a butcher’s truck through the streets of London while it pours blood into the gutter, we shall have an idea of the method of killing. The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream, the industry would stop for nobody would be able to stand it.” The use of harpoons with explosive grenade heads is still the main technique used by whalers today. I hope you will read the following pages and decide for yourself whether the hunting of whales in this way should still be tolerated by a civilized society. IV A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES IMPLICATIONS A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE Sir David Attenborough, November 2003. © BBC Section One Introductory Section 1 Executive summary 5002 2 A background to whaling 5006 3 An introduction to animal welfare 5013 4 Whales – individuals, societies and cultures 5015 5 The IWC and whale welfare 5030 WHALE WATCH.org 1 Executive Summary This review examines the welfare implications of the methods currently used to hunt cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) for commercial, special permit and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW) purposes. The welfare implications are assessed and the question raised as to whether whaling could be conducted in a reliably humane manner. The report calls on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to urgently address the severe welfare problems attendant in modern whaling activities. The welfare implications of modern whale killing methods • The physiological adaptations of cetaceans to the marine environment have significant implications for whale welfare during whaling operations. Adaptations for diving may make it difficult to determine when these animals are dead. Their sheer mass, complex vascular systems and specific anatomical features may also impede efforts to kill them swiftly and humanely. • In general, current killing methods are not adequately adapted for the species being killed. Morphological features such as size, blubber thickness, skeletal structure and location of vital organs significantly influence the efficacy of a particular killing method. These differences may effect the course of projectiles through the body, as they travel through different thicknesses of blubber and 2 A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIES IMPLICATIONS A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE muscle and encounter bone and vital organs at specific locations. Such factors may also vary between individuals of the same species, according to age, sex and season. During whaling operations, where accuracy is often poor, these specific characteristics may greatly increase the margin for error and influence the time to death (TTD) and associated suffering. • Lack of due consideration to species specific killing requirements may be a major contributory factor in protracted times to death and may be a particular cause for concern where larger species, such as fin and sperm whales, are killed using methods developed for the much smaller minke species. Commercial and special permit whaling • The main killing method used during commercial and special permit whaling is the penthrite grenade harpoon fired from a cannon mounted on the bow of a ship. The harpoon is intended to penetrate about 30 cm (12 inches) into the minke whale before detonating. The aim is to kill the animal through neurotrauma induced by the blast-generated pressure waves of the explosion. However, if the first harpoon fails to kill the whale, then a second penthrite harpoon or a rifle (minimum calibre 9.3mm) is used as a secondary killing method. • Despite the similarity of the killing methods used, there are marked differences in reported killing efficiency between Japan and Norway. According to Norwegian data, in 2002, 80.7 per cent of minke whales were killed instantaneously. During the 2002/2003 Japanese minke whale hunt in Antarctica, only 40.2 per cent of whales were recorded as killed instantaneously. • Recent data show that, for commercial and scientific whale hunts, the average time to death is over two minutes. Secondary killing methods • The common use of secondary killing methods, such as the rifle, during whaling operations reflects the inefficiency of primary killing methods. The IWC has not established any formal criteria for determining when to apply secondary killing methods, and the decision, including which method to use, rests with the hunter.