TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

An effective process which induces immediate unconsciousness andinsensibility or an induction to a period of unconsciousness without distressIn livestock slaughter, there is clearly the potential for the stunning procedure to cause pain ifperformed improperly. It is essential that unconsciousness is induced quickly, so that the animal isunaware of the process. It takes more than 100 milliseconds for the brain to register the perceptionand experience of pain. To be effective, and thereby painless, unconsciousness must be inducedwithin this period for the stunning method to be classified as humane. The only exception would beif the induction period of unconsciousness could be shown to be non-aversive (Wotton, 2001).Modern stunning practices in slaughterhouses using properly designed mechanical and electricalequipment and executed by trained professionals can achieve this level of effectiveness.For the killing of a whale to be classified as humane, immediate unconsciousness or immediate deathmust be induced and no pain and suffering should be caused during the pursuit and securing of theanimal. However, Norway reported for the 2002 hunt, an instantaneous death rate of 80.7 per cent(i.e. 19.3 per cent of the whales taken were not killed instantaneously) and an average time to deathof two minutes 21 seconds. For the Japanese Antarctic hunt, recent data compares unfavourably withthese Norwegian reports. During the 2002/2003 season, Japan reported that some 59.8 per cent ofthe whales killed did not die instantaneously, and average time to death during this season was twominutes 37 seconds. Maximum times to death during whaling operations can be excessive, asdemonstrated by the report of a minke whale that took 300 minutes to die (five hours) during theaboriginal subsistence hunt in West Greenland 3 (chapter 6).In comparison, legislation in the UK, for example, states that it is an offence to subject animals toavoidable excitement, pain or suffering before and during slaughter. Furthermore, with the exceptionof specific circumstances such as religious slaughter, animals are required to be stunned beforeslaughter (Druce and Lymbery 2002). Stunning is defined in this legislation as “any process whichcauses immediate loss of consciousness which lasts until death”. The IWC has no comparativerequirements, either for ensuring ‘avoidable excitement, pain or suffering’ or for pre-slaughterstunning. The only protection which cetaceans have been afforded during slaughter under theInternational Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was the ban on the use of the coldharpoon for commercial whaling implemented in the early 1980s. Japan (and the RussianFederation) still hold a formal objection to the ban 4 and are thus exempt from its effect. Japan stillpermits use of the cold harpoon in its scientific whaling operation under certain circumstances (seechapter 6). Russia’s objection is redundant since it only undertakes aboriginal subsistence whaling towhich the ban does not apply.A COMPARISON BETWEEN SLAUGHTERHOUSES AND METHODS USED DURING WHALING97The ban on the use of the electric lance during whaling operations is only voluntary 5 . Furthermore,the electric lance was never intended as a pre-slaughter stunning device. It was administered after thewhale had already been injured and secured using a grenade harpoon and was administered as asecondary killing method. Concerns regarding the inefficiency of this method in supplying sufficientcurrent to the brain to induce death (due to many factors, including the dissipation of the currentthrough the surrounding sea water, the inappropriate placement of the electrodes and the insulatingnature of blubber) lead to the voluntary ban on the use of this device 6 . However, Japan continues touse electricity during the hunting of small cetaceans such as the Dall’s porpoise (chapter 7).For livestock, EU and other state legislation demands accuracy in the slaughter process in order to