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From: WADE DOAK
_: 5
Date: 02-09-10
Time: 11:45
SHOULD CETACEANS, DOLPHINS AND WHALES, HAVE SPECIAL STATUS?
It’s pretty simple really. Humans have been accorded very special status by cetaceans. With our global communication system we know instantly if an untoward event takes place. In the wild it should by now have become obvious: humans are a protected species as far as our closest big brain rivals are concerned.
It is hard to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. It is equally hard to see our species through the eyes of another. But eventually one would think it might occur to a creature that calls itself Homo sapiens- the wise ape, that he /she is getting a special deal. That certain sea mammals, streamlined like fishes to live in a liquid world by convergent evolution, have put humans on the restricted list. One would think that the penny would drop one day and Homo sapiens would reciprocate.
Having studied the history of encounters with humans and cetaceans for many years and written four books on the subject, [ older posts: http://wadedoak.blogspot.com/ ] I think it is high time this concept got some very serious planet-wide consideration. This is a question of ethics. There is no scientific reason not to cook and eat our grandparents. But we don’t. Ethics is above science. Science gives us precious information. We see patterns in it. Ethics advances very slowly as a shared consensus emerges. Sometimes, for a hairless ape creature with a history of anthropocentric errors, it needs a nudge along such as Galileo and Copernicus gave us.
In future pieces I intend to present some ideas that are emerging on a new deal for cetaceans. Like how dolphins have stun guns but don’t use them on US…
Last changed: 23-Jul-2011