If there is one thing that I cannot tolerate its the abusive relationship humans have with the animals that share the planet with us. Recently, I watched the documentary "The Cove" which is a film about the annual dolphin hunt in Japan.  In the movie, the Japanese government's representatives to the International Whaling Commission tried to justify the continued slaughter of whales and dolphins for a variety of reasons including:

1. Whales and dolphins eat fish that we like to catch.
2. Whales and dolphins are a nuisance species.
3. We have always hunted these animals so it is a cultural custom.
4. It's only being done for scientific research

And on and on they go.  The movie mentions the real reason this is happening, and you may or may not be surprised to hear it (spoiler: it involves the US).

I have also been watching the show "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet.  The show follows the whale activist vessel Sea Shepherd as they follow a fleet of Japanese whaling ships that hunt and kill over 1,000 whales each year in the Antarctic Circle. The Japanese consider them to be sea going terrorists but I think that they are true heroes.  The team on board the Sea Shepherd is almost completely made up of volunteers who are out there risking their lives to save a species that humans hunted to the brink of extinction.

Scientist have also discovered recently that humans have brain functions that whales have, such as dreaming, communication, self-awareness, etc.  I say that we have brain functions like theirs because whales have been here millions of years longer than we have. Their survival strategy has been brilliant throughout the years: live in harmony within your environment.  That worked really well up until the time humans discovered how to hunt them.

So, I recommend that you watch the program and rent the DVD "The Cove" so that you can see how much we need to put an end to whaling and the slaughter of the dolphins.

I also strongly urge you to donate money, any amount of money to the Sea Shepherd to help support their cause, which is not just about saving the whales, its about saving ourselves.