Greenpeace

Although man has manifestly believed himself to be the highest intelligence on the earth, scientists have speculated that the great whales, mammals with brains six times the size of humans', are beings with higher than human intelligence. The behavioral similarities between whales and man have long been established by the scientific community, and these similarities have raised considerable concern about man’s reluctance to allow these creatures to live beside us unharmed.

The Federation of American Scientists has noted that, "there is a good deal to be said for empathizing with whales, as the area of the whales brain associated with the control of emotion is equally well developed to that of man." Tom Regan, All That Dwell Therein: Essays on Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics (1982) (citing a Federation of American Scientists 1977 Public Interest Report). Additionally, whales, like man, communicate with others of their same kind in a language that has been described as an "abstruse mathematical poetry." Anthony D’Amato & Sudhir Chopra, Whales: Their Emerging Right to Life, 85 Am. J. Int’ L. 21, 22 (1991). And unlike man, whose ability to communicate with other species is rudimentary at best, whales have developed interspecies communication with other sea creatures such as dolphins. Like man, whales care for their young and the young reciprocate affection after being reared and finding independence form their mothers. Whales are social animals who live in large groups, and some species live monogamous lives, taking only one mate. Documented evidence exists of incidents in which a whales is harpooned and taken ashore and its mate has lingered, waiting offshore for days, and sometimes weeks before departing out to sea.

All of the scientific evidence gathered about whales has led to serious questions regarding the morality of killing such beings. If whales are, as scientists believe, sentient, intelligent beings who, like man, can feel pain and suffering, is it just to destroy such animals? This question has resulted in intense conflict between governments but inevitably, it is the whales who have suffered. Each piece of legislation, and each international declaration which is enacted to preserve whales through the punishment of those who unjustly hunt these creatures is a step in the right direction, to preserve the future for these incredible beings. See Lessoff, Jonah Swallows the Whale, 11 J. Envtl. L. & Litig. 413 (1996).

The steps taken by the international community may be the only thing that stands between the whales and extinction. Many countries are now focused on "saving the whales" more than ever. But, until other countries follow their lead and consider the ethical standpoint of threats to whales rather than profits that come from whaling, net fishing, chemical using, etc. the future of whales is still, sadly, unknown.