The parties included in the article “Thinking Critically about Ethical Issues, Case 1, p. 60” are the Makah, Sea Shepherd, the US government and Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS). The Makah is one of the Native American tribe whose culture is characterized by killing gray whales. The Sea Shepherd is a group that deals with protection of environmental and animal rights. PAWS is an organization that is vocal against the practice of whaling. The US government (1855) is the regime that permitted the Makah people to hunt whales in Near Bay.
Loss of biodiversity
The Makah people should not be allowed to continue the cultural practice of whaling. This is because whaling negatively impacts ecological balance. Whales play a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity by facilitating the process of nutrients cycling. The decomposing whales supports many different kinds of sea vegetation and small animals to thrive. Whales avail a large amount of carbon in the sea when it dies and this carbon enables sea vegetation such as planktons to grow. The planktons would in-turn provide food for small animals living in the sea. If Makah people are allowed to continue whaling, it means that planktons and small animals in the sea would not thrive. Therefore, denying the Makah people the opportunity to kill gray whales would serve a greater common good (Peace 7).
Suffering
The Makah people have been hunting whales in ‘inhumane’ manner because the methods used to inflict a lot of pain. A whale is a large animal meaning that the tools that were used by the Makah people to hunt prolonged the pain inflicted on it. There is a high possibility that many whales were injured by the hunters but they did not die immediately. The whales that escaped with severe injuries suffered the most and this is an immoral act. If whales should be killed, the tools used should inflict less pain. In this regard, the practice of whaling should be banned if there are no effective tools to kill them. I think the time is a good parameter for determining the magnitude of pain that a whale is subjected before it dies.
Commercial whaling
I’m persuaded that the Makah people want to be allowed to continue with their cultural practice of whaling for commercial gains. This is because the Makah people are copying from commercial whaling from Japanese because they think it is a profitable business. Everybody has a right to do business but whaling is an illegal business. I support the efforts made by the Sea Shepherd as they are ready to protest against such illegalities. In this regard, the Makah people ought to participate in whale conservancy campaigns to enable their future generations to inherit such endangered species. In addition, there are no economic losses that have been experienced by the Makah people for over 70-years since whaling was banned (Eichstaedt 145).
Outdated culture
The ancient society of the Makah people was hunting the gray whales as a primary source of food and also for religious practices. The rapid depletion rate of the gray whales forced the Makah society to explore the alternative source of food since the 1920s. I also believe that they must have found other materials to replace the usage of gray whales for religious purposes. Therefore, it is evident that the culture of hunting gray whales among the Maker people is outdated in the modern society. In this regard, the Maker people should abandon the practice as well (Nocella, Anthony and Mahatma Gandhi 127).
Works cited
Peace, Adrian. "The whaling war: Conflicting cultural perspectives (Respond to this article at http://www. therai. org. uk/at/debate)." Anthropology Today 26.3 (2010): 5-9.
Nocella II, Anthony J., and Mahatma Gandhi. "A Critical Animal and Peace Studies Argument to Ending All Wars, in." Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex (2013): 127.
Eichstaedt, Richard Kirk. "Save the Whales v. Save the Makah: The Makah and the Struggle for Native Whaling." Animal L. 4 (1998): 145.
