TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

the emphasis during some whaling operations (particularly Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling (ASW))is often on securing the animal rather than on killing it with speed. This means that in ASWinsensibility or a lethal shot can usually only be achieved after the animal is secured, and hence, oftenafter a protracted period of time.Appropriate equipment which is fit for the purposeThe humane slaughter of livestock animals is traditionally a two-stage process. First the animal isstunned to bring about unconsciousness, and this is immediately followed by severing of the majorblood vessels in the neck (carotid arteries and jugular veins) to bleed out the animal (exsanguination)and induce death by circulatory collapse. Stunning and killing can be achieved in a one-stage processby using a ‘stun-kill’ technique that induces both immediate loss of consciousness and cardiac arrest.This technique is only achievable with the use of complex and well regulated electrical stun-killequipment in slaughterhouses.The normal slaughter of livestock animals takes place within a controlled and often purposelydesignedenvironment. At the time of slaughter, animals are moved from the holding pen to thestunning point. Cattle are usually moved singly to a stunning box where the animal is restrained toenable an accurate stun. For sheep and pigs, a relatively small-group stunning pen is often used.Animals are not physically restrained within its confines and move around until they are in a positionto be stunned.96A REVIEW OF THE WELFARE IMPLICATIONS OF MODERN WHALING ACTIVITIESStunning can be achieved by:• Mechanical means – the transfer of energy delivered by a cartridge or compressed air poweredcaptive bolt or percussive head, via the skull, to the brain and spinal cord.• Electrical means – the application of electrical energy to the brain via electrified stunning tongs(mammals) or a water bath (birds).• Gas stun/kill methods – the use of Carbon dioxide, Argon or Nitrogen mixtures to induceinsensibility and death in birds and pigs.Modern commercial whaling activities involve the capture and killing of whales with a grenadetipped harpoon fired from a cannon. The harpoon is targeted to strike the animal in the thorax,however, in practice it may strike a range of locations on the animal’s body, including, on occasion,the tail. If this primary method has been unsuccessful in killing the whale, then either a secondharpoon may be fired, or a rifle used as the secondary killing method. Finally, once the whale isassessed by the whalers to be dead (chapter 11) it is winched aboard the whaling vessel. There is nomethod for non-invasively securing cetaceans before a killing method is applied during whalingoperations. In addition, even when a cetacean has been secured using a harpoon (either a coldharpoon or an exploding harpoon that has failed to render the animal instantaneously dead), thisdoes not guarantee the efficiency of the slaughter, since the cetacean is not ‘restrained’ in the sensethat the whale may still be moving and the medium in which it rests (the sea) may also be moving.The gunner will also be aiming at this moving object from a moving platform compounding themargin for error in any given shot (van Liere 2003). Sea conditions and visibility (chapter 8) andmarksmanship, can therefore have a significant impact on the efficiency of any killing method usedduring whaling.