South Korea wants to kill whales for research purposes. The reason? Fishermen have complained that whales are eating all the fish.
It's widely understood that whales dine on fish, but now South Korea proposes to kill and carve open a few whales just to determine that, yes, they eat a lot of fish.
Environmentalists are rightly concerned that the proposal for scientific whale butchery is just a back-door plan to harvest whales for meat. Japan kills whales "for science," but they end up on restaurant tables.
Tell the International Whaling Commission not to approve killing whales for dubious research!
We the undersigned are outraged at the proposal to kill whales off the shores of South Korea for "research purposes." At a time when most of the civilized world is learning to respect whales, South Korea seems to be taking a step backward.
There is no need to hunt and kill whales to determine if they eat fish. We already know they eat fish--a lot of them. Whales are big. They need a lot to eat.
Environmentalists are rightly suspicious that this is just an excuse for commercial whaling. South Koreans have not even said what they will do with the whale carcasses. Will they end up in the meat market as happens to Japanese whales that are harvested "for research"? Don't allow this pointless whale killing!
