Member Article

Whale Meat in Japanese School Meals and Dog Food

Japanese whale meat is so abundant it is being turned into dog food, according to a British conservation group.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) claim that Japan’s stockpile of whale meat has doubled in the past decade, and selling the meat as dog food is an attempt to shift the hundreds of tonnes of whale meat piling up in Japanese warehouses. Whale burgers, whale ice-cream and whale meat is already sold in schools. Despite having stockpiles of 4,800 tonnes of whale meat last year (an increase from 673 tonnes in March 1998), this year Japan has doubled its hunt of minke whales in Antarctica, and plans to add humpback whales and fin whales – the second largest animal on the planet – to its list of target species.

Mark Simmonds, director of science at WDCS, said: “Whaling is a cruel activity and the fact that Japan is killing these amazing animals to produce dog food is shocking. “We have heard many arguments from Japan over the years about why whaling is necessary to them but they have never stated that they needed to kill whales to feed their dogs.” Hunting wales for scientific research is permitted under the rules of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .