The gunners themselves admit that if whales could scream, the industry would stop for nobody would be able to stand it”
-Dr. Harry D Lillie
Each year, Japan, Iceland, and Norway, together kill up to 2500 whales, despite the international whaling moratorium set in 1986. Unfortunately, by the time the International Whaling Conservation (IWC) ban on commercial whaling came into force, some whale species had been reduced by more than 95%. Since the commercial ban, 25,000 whales have been killed and whaling nations increase their whale numbers each year, by working through loopholes in the IWC. Many countries are pressing for the restrictions of whaling and trade to be lifted and currently, Japan, Iceland, and Norway are trying to overturn the moratorium, but do not have enough secured votes. Japan has resorted to recruiting new countries, who support whaling, to join the IWC and outvote the whale conservationists, although whaling has been repeatedly called cruel, unnecessary, and unsustainable. Until 1997, when Japan switched certain killing methods to the rifle, whales were electrocuted in the sea. Currently, exploding harpoons are used in whaling.
"The head of the exploding harpoon has two or four claws to which an explosive grenade is screwed. The grenade is designed to explode at a given depth inside the whale, and will shatter whatever part of the body is struck. The claws are released by a spring mechanism on impact, and open when the line is strained. This prevents the harpoon from being pulled out of the body." (Whales of Australia)
The 1980 IWC Workshop on the Humane Killing Techniques for Whales stated that "humane killing of an animal means causing its death without pain, stress, or distress perceptible to the animal."Hunters aren't guaranteed that their shots are effective as a combination of visibility, state of the sea, ship motion, and marksmanship all impact an instantaneous kill. In 2002, Norwegian whalers killed 80.7% of their targets instantaneously, while Japanese whalers killed on 40.2% instantaneously. In some cases, it may take an hour after harpooned before the whale actually dies. But, if the whale is not retrieved for some reason, and can dive to extreme depths for long periods of time, they likely experience a significantly longer period of pain than one hour.
Because whales have highly developed nervous systems, comparable to that of humans, it has been concluded that they are capable of feeling pain to an extreme extent.
