Commentary and Editorial

Responding to the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans On the Death of the Narwhals

By Captain Paul Watson

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans does not respond to me or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society but one of our supporters received the response below in regard to the Narwhal slaughter.  Also my rebuttal to the narwhal killer's second response is below.

DFO: Re your e-mail regarding the unfolding narwhal situation in Nunavut, Canada.

DFO: I want to assure you that Fisheries and Oceans Canada is taking this incident very seriously. Fisheries and Oceans Canada works hard to protect whales throughout the Arctic so, like anyone else, we are obviously distressed by the numbers involved. We were in contact with our Nunavut government partners in Pond Inlet as soon as these trapped narwhals were discovered and there were extensive discussions to look at options of saving the whales. We also flew our officers to the area as soon as it was possible to do so in order to assess the situation.

Captain Paul Watson: The DFO may be saying they took the situation seriously but they did not have a single officer on site when the slaughter of the Narwhals began. That is NOT taking the situation seriously. The officers arrived after the killing began so how could they have possibly assessed the situation prior to the order for execution of the whales.

DFO: There are, however, a number of issues that limited our options in response to the situation.

Captain Paul Watson: The first issue is simply a complete lack of empathy for the whales.

A Conversation with the Narwhal Butchers

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson

This is his response with my comments added where appropriate.

-----Original Message-----

From: Terry Audla
Sent: Mon 12/1/2008 1:04 PM
Subject: Narwhals

This is in response to Captain Paul Watson's Commentary titled: The Canadian Slaughter of the Unicorns

A sad sad commentary. To say that "Inuit killers roared and laughed barbarously as they inflicted torturous death upon these gentle creatures" points to the true ignorance of Inuit culture and our current state of affairs as Canadian Inuit. This statement from an organization that puts the plight of animals before the plight of its fellow world citizens is the true definition of ignorance. Sad to see it being perpetuated through a hazy rose-colored outlook of life on earth. Grow up !! How it that what the Inuit are doing is any less humane than say a pig/cow/chicken/lamb slaughter house!?!?!?!  Cultural ignorance at its prime!!

Captain Paul Watson: Of course it is a sad commentary. The slaughter of 500 defenseless Narwhal that could have been saved but were butchered instead is a very sad affair indeed. I would ask Mr. Audla to release video of the slaughter to prove that the killers were not taking pleasure in their sadistic kill. I have seen aboriginal kills in Siberia, Alaska, the Faeroe Islands and off the coast of Washington and I have witnessed the laughter and the amusement that the killers demonstrated. Mr. Audla, you can of course prove me wrong by releasing the video of the slaughter to the public. As for his accusation that we put the plight of the Narwhals before the plight of humans, I must agree. We do. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society represents our clients - the whales. And by the way Mr. Audla, the Narwhal are "fellow world citizens." We defend, speak for, and work for the welfare and the survival of marine wildlife. We are not a people organization although I should add that if we fail to protect and conserve marine wildlife, it will diminish diversity in the oceans and if the oceans die than all of humanity will perish, so ironically we work more directly for the interests of humanity than most anthropocentric organizations.

The Canadian Slaughter of the Unicorns

Commentary from Captain Paul Watson

Before reading this, please understand that I write this essay with a smoldering rage deep within my heart. Canada, my country, a nation in which my family has resided since 1648 has just committed one of the most savage and disgraceful crimes against nature imaginable, and once again they have spilled innocent blood into the sea and filled the air with the screams of the most gentle and social of animals - this time it is the Narwhal, the unicorn of the sea.

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans is the most evil, insidious, incompetent and dangerous bureaucracy in Canada. Nothing in our oceans is safe from the cold, calculating, greed motivated bureaucrats that control Canada's most destructive governmental department.

What they have done in the past with the destruction of the fisheries, the slaughter of the seals, the damage to marine eco-systems and their abuse of the laws of the nation has been trumped this week with their decision to murder 500 trapped and defenseless Narwhals.

500 whales trapped in Arctic ice. Could they have been saved?

The answer is absolutely, they could have been saved. But hearts as dark as the foul breath of demons from the bottomless pit of hell have prevailed and where Canada could have delivered the gift of life, they have instead unleashed a torrent of violence that has spewed the hottest of blood into the frigid seas of the high north.