But you eat cow, why can't Japanese eat whale and dolphin?

If we eat cows and pigs, why can't the Japanese eat dolphins?

The Japanese people do eat cows and pigs. If these same cows and pigs were as contaminated with mercury as the dolphins, they would stop eating them. The Japanese public who have become aware of the danger have stopped buying dolphin meat.


The recently released report "Troubled Waters" aims at clarifying whether commercial whaling operations are incompatible with animal welfare standards and should raise animal welfare concerns based on aspects of cruelty and unnecessary suffering. The report thus underlines the amount of animals that do not die instantaneously and inadequate out-dated killing methods, criticising the current IWC criteria for determining the exact time of death in cetaceans. The report singles out Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling as one of the gravest welfare concerns, which — according to the report — so far has been inadequately addressed by the Commission. *The study also points to that no regulations — similar to those existing for farm animals — currently exist to protect the welfare of whales during the hunt.* Peter Davies, Director General of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) argues that "the cruelty behind whaling has become obscured in recent years by abstract arguments over population statistics. The fact is that, whether it is one whale or a thousand, whaling is simply wrong on cruelty grounds alone".