TROUBLED WATERS - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Information regarding the adherence to the ban on using the cold harpoon (Article III, paragraph 6)and abstinence from the use of the electric lance must, in addition, be taken in good faith, since thisis also not supplied by independently verified sources.There are no regulatory requirements for ‘avoiding excitement, pain or suffering’ in the ICRW, asthere are no maximum pursuit times, no limit on the number of weapons or bullets that can bedeployed on one animal, no upper limit on the acceptable time to death, no specific requirement forthe rate of instantaneous kills and indeed, in many hunts, there is no upper limit on the number ofanimals that can be struck and lost (Anon 2003a). The only binding requirements on contractinggovernments consist of those listed in Table 1.ConclusionWhen assessing the welfare potential of whale killing methods using accepted principles of humaneslaughter, it is clear that current whaling operations have a low welfare potential, and are thereforelikely to cause severe pain and suffering in the hunted animal.Emerging international law governing the commercial slaughter of livestock animals has evolved overthe past quarter century or more and gained much momentum in the last five years. This emergingcustomary law may eventually become as binding upon countries as the ICRW itself. Currentnational and regional legislation imposes standards to avoid pain and suffering during slaughter. Thedevelopment of standards for the slaughter of livestock has shown that improvements in welfare aremost likely where strict enforcement exists. Such standards and mechanisms for enforcement arecurrently not available for modern whaling practices. However, even if such mechanisms were put inplace, due to the nature of whaling operations and the potential for poor welfare, it is consideredunlikely that the slaughter of whales for commercial or aboriginal subsistence purposes would be ableto comply with the standards now expected for the slaughter of livestock species.A COMPARISON BETWEEN SLAUGHTERHOUSES AND METHODS USED DURING WHALING101ReferencesAnon 1980. Report of the Workshop on Humane Killing Techniques for Whales. International WhalingCommission Report IWC/33/15.Anon 2003a. Welfare implications for ‘struck and lost’ cetaceans. Submitted by the UK to the IWC Workshopon Whale Killing Methods and Associated Welfare Issues. Berlin, Germany June 7-9, 2003. IWC/55/WK21.Anon 2003b. Evaluation of current methods used to kill whales in relation to species taken. Submitted by theUK to the IWC Workshop on Whale Killing Methods and Associated Welfare Issues. Berlin, Germany June 7-9,2003. IWC/55/WK20.Appleby, 1991. Do Hens Suffer In Battery Cages? The Athene Trust: Petersfield, UK.Broom, D.M. 2001. Evolution of pain. In: Pain: its nature and management in man and animals. Eds: Soulsby,Lord E.J.L. and Morton, D. Roy. Soc. Med. Int. Cong. Symp. Ser., 246, 17-25.Butterworth, A., Sadler, L., Knowles, T.G. and Kestin, S.C. 2003. Evaluating Possible Indicators of Insensibilityand Death in Cetacea. Submitted to the 2003 IWC Workshop on Whale Killing Methods and AssociatedWelfare Issues. IWC/55/WK4.Chairman’s Report 1978. Report of the International Whaling Commission 29: 32.Chairman’s Report 1979. Report of the International Whaling Commission 30: 36-37.