Endangered whale meat imported from Iceland used for Japan dog treats

[The Straight Story]

TOKYO —

Meat from endangered whales caught by Icelandic hunters is being sold in Japan as luxury dog treats, environmental campaigners said Tuesday.

Michinoku Farm, a Tokyo-based company, is offering chews made from North Atlantic fin whales on its company website, with the meat described as a “low calorie, low fat, high protein” snack.

Japanese campaign group IKAN said selling products made from endangered species as treats for pampered pooches was the worst kind of conspicuous consumption.

“The most likely reason for shops to sell the whale meat dog treat is to target affluent Japanese who want to show off their wealth with something different,” said Nanami Kurasawa, executive director of the pressure group.

Michinoku’s website, which also sells pet goodies it says are made from Mongolian horses and from kangaroos, has three different sized packets of whale chews, with a 60-gram bag selling for 609 yen and a 500-gram bag for 3,780 yen.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/endangered-whale-meat-caught-by-iceland-used-for-japan-dog-treats-ngos

[sharp_stick]

1. Whaling in Japan is a government

sponsored boondoggle of really epic proportions. I suspect the survival of this industry in the rest of the whaling nations is just as subsidized by governments in support of shrinking special interests.

Japan can't even sell the shit they bring back anymore.

[d_r]

2. about $3-4 an ounce

[Crepuscular]

3. Not a fan

of whaling but an annual harvest of less then .002 of the existing population is not going to pose any kind of a substantive threat to the species. Hard to get too worked up about this.

[byeya]

4. There are many species of whales and related water living mammals. This post mentions Iceland

killing the endangered species(probably Right or Bowhead is my guess) and selling the meat to Japan and its ending up as pet food.

I don't think there should be whaling at all and certainly don't want whales killed for pet food.

[Crepuscular]

5. The article was specifically about Fin whale harvest

Iceland harvested about 130 Fins a year, estimated global population of Fins according to Wiki is 100K to 120K and has been rebounding from a population as low as 37,000 a number of years ago. The Icelandic harvest is a drop in the bucket. I'm also a little skeptical as to whether it's whale meat being used for dog chews or some other byproduct from the whale such as skin or connective tissue but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter that much. It provides about $3 million in exports for Iceland. Like I said, not a big whaling fan but on the outrage meter in terms of threat to an endangered species, this does not even move the meter a twitch.