Makahs report death of whale was neither humane nor fast

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

SEATTLE -- A gray whale illegally killed in September by five members of the Makah tribe took nearly 10 hours to die because the hunters shot it 16 times in the wrong place, according to a tribal report delivered this week to federal fisheries officials.

The report says the hunt broke nearly every rule in the tribe's own whaling-management plans that are designed to ensure a quick, humane kill.

It also says it took federal officials more than seven hours to authorize a tribal request to put the whale out of its misery.

"This was very different from the 1999 hunt," the author of the report, tribal biologist Johnathan Scordino, told The Seattle Times on Thursday. In that hunt, which was legally authorized by the tribe and federal fisheries officials, the whale was killed with two shots from a high-powered rifle by a trained marksman. The animal died within eight minutes.

...

The most recent hunt "was not conducted in an approved manner, and because of that, and the outside influence of others, this whale had a much longer time to death."

Read more: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6600ap_wst_whale_shot.html

[AndyTiedye]

1. Somehow I Don't Think the Makah Whaling Traditions Included Automatic Rifles and Speedboats

:grr:

[Ian David]

2. They did everything wrong except shoot their lawyer in the face. n/t

[frebrd]

3. BASTARDS! That poor creature...

had to suffer in agony all that time just to prop up the egos of those pathetic lowlifes.

I'd like to put a harpoon through them!

If they don't do some prison time over this, something is terribly, terribly wrong.

[xchrom]

4. they had no idea what they were doing period -- all they had on their mind was

that some whale had to die to serve the interests of their little inconsequential dicks.