I came across a lovely story today. It’s over eight years old, but it beautifully sums up the passion and love so many have for the creatures we share our planet with.

Back in 2005 a group were attempting a world record in domino tipping when a house sparrow joined the crew – landed on one of the domino bricks and knocked over some 23,000 dominos. If the group had not set up safety gaps in the domino chain the sparrow could have knocked over all 4million and set his very own world record.

The unfortunate sparrow, part of a protected species, was hunted down and shot dead before it could do any more damage. He was just one bird.

Shortly after news broke, thousands of people came together in protest and over 24,000 people left tributes on a website that was set up for the ‘domino sparrow’. An animal protection organization took the exterminator to court for shooting and killing a protected species. They won the case.

It seems the death of this lone little sparrow triggered more than one domino effect. He won the hearts of thousands and gave some much-needed publicity to the cause of this beautiful but underrated bird that is facing such extreme population decline.

I read today that Korea have anounced they will be hunting whales under the guise of 'scientific research'. Apparently, they need to hunt and kill them to count them. They claim to be hunting in order for "the proper assessment of whale stocks". Korean officials have stated that "The Korean government has been conducting a non-lethal sighting survey of the whale population to assess the status of the stock in Korean waters. But it has turned out that this survey alone cannot identify the different whale stocks and has delayed the proper assessment of the resources." It's important to note, however, that other nations seem more than capable of counting whales without killing them.

The document also stated that "[non-lethal surveys] cannot correctly identify the feeding habits of these animals and thus the impact of the whale population on the fisheries resources as a whole." This is probably partly true, but I suspect there is a motivation to try desperately to prove that whales are causing the decline in fish stocks as has been claimed by some whaling nations. This theory has been debunked by many respected scientists and environmentalists. “Making whales into scapegoats serves only to benefit wealthy whaling nations while harming developing nations by distracting any debate on the real causes of the declines of their fisheries” said fisheries biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly, director of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre.

It seems obvious to me (and I am far from alone!) that these whales are being systematically hunted down for their flesh. Why hunt an animal that is so important, so rare, and so impossible to kill humanely? apparently because whale meat is a delicacy; a traditional dish. I've always hated the 'because it's tradition' argument.

cruelty, environment and tradition aside I wonder if the poor people being sold this whale meat have any idea how bad it is for them? Some whale meat has been found to contain over 1970 micrograms of mercury per gram of liver. That is nearly 5000 times the Japanese government's limit for mercury contamination, 0.4 micrograms per gram. I certianly wouldn't want to have to face all of the horrible symptoms of excessive exposure to mercury.

Anyway, I digress - yet another blog engry about animals used for food and I didnt even realise until I was half way through. Well I suppose that's what happens when working at Compassion in World Farming. The plight of food animals consumes most of my time.

For anyone interested in cetaceans I would highly reccomend:
Watching - The Cove
Supporing - Sea Shepherd