LA sushi bars busted for serving whale

[Cetacea]

Source: Climate Shifts via New York Times

From the NYT: Oscar winners try to keep whale off sushi plates

with video cameras and tiny microphones, the team behind Sunday’s Oscar-winning documentary film “The Cove” orchestrated a Hollywood-meets-Greenpeace-style covert operation to ferret out what the authorities say is illegal whale meat at one of this town’s most highly regarded sushi destinations.

Their work, undertaken in large part here last week as the filmmakers gathered for the Academy Awards ceremony, was coordinated with law enforcement officials, who said Monday that they were likely to bring charges against the restaurant, the Hump, for violating federal laws against selling marine mammals.

The sushi sting actually began in October, when the documentary’s associate producer and “director of clandestine operations,” Charles Hambleton, heard from friends in the music industry that the Hump, a highly rated sushi restaurant next to the runway at the Santa Monica airport, was serving whale..."

"...The samples were sent to Scott Baker, associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University. Professor Baker said DNA testing there revealed that the samples sent to him were from a Sei whale, which are found worldwide and are endangered but are sometimes hunted in the North Pacific under a controversial Japanese scientific program. “I’ve been doing this for years,” Professor Baker said. “I was pretty shocked.”

Read more: http://www.climateshifts.org/?p=4817

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ferret Annica]

2. Bastards, they should be skinned and served themselves

I hope they get as strong a punishment as possible to send a message. I hope they lose everything they own. Their property should be taken away, sold with the proceeds donated to Sea Sheppard or Save Dolphins Japan.

[LynneSin]

13. I'm hoping you're a vegan

else you're coming across as a hypocrite. I was reading some about the other side of "The Cove" and honestly they have a very valid point. How does their slaughter of whales or dolphins differ any from us eating Beef, pork, ham, turkey, bacon, VEAL, lamb, etc etc?

Maybe we should send the same type of punishment to the folks who run Smithfield, Purdue, Tyson and a host of other meat producing plants. Because I see no difference.

[KamaAina]

16. I might ask, How does that differ from people in southern China eating cat?

:shrug:

[LynneSin]

21. Actually it doesn't

I remember when all of DU had a hissy fit over some Italian Chef mention that he had eaten cat.

And I could understand if this was some endangered cat species but instead this was a common street cat.

Mind you, I could not imagine having dinner eating something that remotely resembles my pets. Hell I studied plant sciences just to avoid dissecting a cat my sophmore year in college. But to judge this chef when I eat common everyday animals, some which are considered sacred in other countries (like the Cow is in India) well who am I to judge?

[Codeine]

48. Not all of DU had a hissy fit.

I believe that one may either eat all animals or no animals, unless said animals are endangered.

I choose not to eat any. Others may choose to eat animals, but artificially categorizing animals into group that may lr may not be eaten is hypocrisy.

[vadawg]

55. well there is the cute animals versus the ugly animals catagory :)

but you are right, and how do you get to set the rules on other cultures and what their dietry habits are, americans eat cows which to hindus is a no no, we eat pork another no no to other cultures, chinese eat cats and dogs, northern peoples eat whales, some people eat rats, i guess its all down to what you think is a food source and what is a nice animal. :shrug:

[Boojatta]

60. Human beings are mammals and therefore animals.

The human species isn't endangered. Therefore, you offer two choices: vegetarian or cannibal.

[Boojatta]

61. Human beings are mammals and therefore animals.

The human species isn't endangered. Therefore, you offer two choices: vegetarian or cannibal.

[Ohio Metal]

69. In that case

come on over and let me give you the best KC Masterpiece back rub you've ever had.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030411071024.htm

This is why your logic is flawed.

[slampoet]

31. People in Southern China DON'T eat cat. People only eat cat during times of FAMINE

and there was a famine in the whole of China a couple of decades back.

But repeating that people in times of plenty are eating cat is just not true and the lie stays alive due to racism.


Read the book "Strange Foods" pub. 1999

The author looked far and wide for people eating unusual animals and while he was able to find people eating dogs all over, he learned that only people who are completely starving AND have eaten the rats the felines keep in check will decide to eat cat meat.

Cats protect food from vermin the world over and everyone (except Americans) seem to know this.

[KamaAina]

39. I just read something about this recently

I certainly can't vouch for its veracity, but the author asked a local, who told him, "Dog is cheaper and better-tasting. But yes, with a day's notice, we can get cat." Fortunately, it also said that Chinese cat lovers, especially in Beijing, were revulsed by the practice.

[slampoet]

42. Think about that statement. A "local" doesn't stock the item in a place as populous as CHINA

Assuming this is a local butcher, don't you find it odd that in a land where you can get bear's gall bladder as medicine, you have to wait 24 hours for cat?

I am getting a rabbit to eat this weekend, but I can't say people in Rhode Island eat Rabbit because this rabbit was a special order that took three weeks to arrive. Also you can't call me a rabbit eater because this is the first rabbit i will have eaten in nearly 30 years.

It sounds like the western reporter just created the market for cat meat themselves from someone who is old enough to remember how to clean the animal once it has been killed.

[KamaAina]

43. Alas, such stories have appeared in the Chinese press as well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_China_animal_consumption_incidents#Cats

A story was ran in the Southern Metropolis daily that said about 1,000 cats were transported to Guangdong daily. About 5,000 cats were sent via shipments from Nanjing to Guangzhou. Other places such as Shanghai, Hangzhou also rounded up cats to be shipped. According to the Chengdu Business Daily, people in Guangdong ate 10,000 cats a day.

:cry:

[slampoet]

70. In a province the size of Guangdong that is less than one hundreth of one percent.

[TexasObserver]

33. For one thing, whales are intelligent beings that matter to the planet.

The planet needs to keep its whales. Yes, it matters WHICH animal is being killed and eaten. No, it doesn't matter if cats are eaten, in China or anywhere else. They're cats. We have far too many, not far too few.

As for the killing of animals we raise for food, those are animals we raise for food. Pigs, goats, turkeys, chickens, cows, even fish are raised domestically and used for our food. Killing them is different because WE consider it different. We're not killing animals threatened with extinction or possessing diminishing numbers.

We also do not hunt and eat animals that are hunted not for food, but for ivory or as trophies.

[paulsby]

34. so, if the whales were farmed and it didn't affect the oceanic

whale population, would it be ok with you?

not stating my opinion either way, but if scarcity/necessity is the argument, then presumably farming and raising them for food would be ok

[TexasObserver]

36. I explained it.

[paulsby]

37. i admit i DOn'T necessarily understand

which is why i asked you a question

here's a hint. questions are designed to gather information, about things that the questioner is uncertain about

hth

[LynneSin]

54. Pigs are also considered very intelligent

but they are not worthy of you?

[TexasObserver]

59. But even more importantly, pigs are considered very tasty.

They're worthy of my plate.

[NM_hemilover]

65. Both smart and stupid animals are delicious.

[LynneSin]

66. I wonder if that is true with humans - if both the smart ones and dumb ones are both tasty...

:hide:

NO I AM NOT SUGGESTING CANNIBALISM - JUST A TASTELESS (or perhaps tasty) Joke

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

56. Last time I checked cats weren't an endangered species. -nt

[LynneSin]

67. But because we love our pet cats we perceive them to be bad food for us

Same thing with Dogs.

[Shell Beau]

18. We're all hypocrites. Whaling has caused for the

decline in much of the big whales' population. Many whales are endangered now due to whaling. So, even though I do eat meat, I can be pissed about this. No one should be eating an endangered species.

[LynneSin]

19. That's a valid reason, but to suggest we do inhumane things to the people who do this

springs a bit of hypocrisy on our part.

Animals are animals no matter how readily available or endangered they are.

And btw, not a vegan or even a vegetarian. I just recognize there is some hypocrisy out there

(goes back to munching on her can of tuna)

[Shell Beau]

24. There are at least 3 different kinds of whales that have

a population of less than 120. The North Atlantic right whale has fewer than 350. It is a shame that so many animals become endangered and extinct due to humans. Whales are one of the most fascinating creatures on the planet to me. I would hate to see us kill them off.

[Pithlet]

29. Well, the main difference is that cows, pigs, turkeys, etc aren't endangered.

:shrug:

[BreweryYardRat]

50. Because whales and dolphins are sentient/sapient, or extremely close.

I forget whether they've actually qualified or not. Eating anything that's almost as smart as a human being is wrong. Same goes for Africans who eat ape meat. Pigs and octopi are smart for animals, but they're not sentient/sapient.

[LynneSin]

68. So who made those arbitrary rules. Why can't we have grilled cat or dog?

(and no I'm not suggesting we have grilled cat or dog, just asking a rhetorical question to spark discussion)

[panzerfaust]

3. Cannot be true. Remember, Japan only kills the whales for research purposes...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

52. Actually the the IWC requires that whales killed for "research" be consumed

I personally think if it was the other way around, there would be much less "research"

[DainBramaged]

4. Unintended acceleration (check), whale hunting (check) disregard for consumers (check)

japan, what society has come to..........

[Shell Beau]

6. They aren't looking so good lately.

[marmar]

5. That's infuriating......

:mad:

[Cetacea]

7. Andy Richter, after reporting this story: "I'd eat whale"

Maybe he should have mentioned that in our country it is a Federal crime to import or sell whale meat and the punishment is one year and/or a twenty-thousand dollar fine.

[Ferret Annica]

8. This gives me the same reaction as the thought of promoting cannibalism

Otherwise I wouldn't of reacted so strongly at the post musing about eating cetacean.

My apologies to the person who was wrong in talking about eating intelligent creatures. I should not have ad hom attacked and caused my first ever sub thread deletion. And as the thread parent, my apologies to you for my part in creating that scar on your thread.

This topic generates strong emotions in me. Many of us involved in this issue feel deep anger, grief, and revulsion with few places to discharge it.

Thank you for enlightening us to this crime. There is no place in this country where it is legal to eat whale or dolphin meat, and this is as it should be.

[Cetacea]

9. Many confuse the legal food dolphin fish with the mammal

I've often heard people say that they had "dolphin" in a restaurant in Florida and so forth. They think they are actually eating the mammal :(

No need to apologize. I'm sure you intended no harm and I think I know how you feel. I consider it cannibalism as well, and consider whaling and dolphin slaughters genocide. And I refuse to accept the argument that certain cultures have the right due to their history. BS. They are wiping out another culture.
Let's hope that this is the last year of barbarianism.

[KamaAina]

12. I freaked out the first time I saw "dolphin" on a menu in Fla.

I was maybe 11 or 12.

Most places now refer to it as mahi-mahi.

[Cetacea]

14. It would be nice if they'd call it "mahi-mahi" and/or "dolphin FISH"

It's difficult to expect people to change their eating habits. There would be a lot less arguments if people KNEW that they weren't actually eating dolphins. It doesn't help to have popular TV personalities supporting eating whales either.

[onenote]

15. mahi-mahi is "dolphin fish" which is a totally distinct species from dolphin the mammal

[nashville_brook]

47. this is mahi

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

57. A cross between a fish and a VW minivan? -nt

[formercia]

10. Does that mean that Teabaggers are still on the menu?

Not that I would eat one.

[Coventina]

51. I'm very disappointed that he would say that.

I used to be a fan, but as of today, no more.

:-(

[Shell Beau]

11. Keep the whales free swimming in the ocean where they belong.

Not in amusement parks or on menus.

[Ignis]

17. K&R

Thanks for posting this, Cetacea--horrible though it is.

[onenote]

20. also of concern: US restaurants serving shark fin soup

[Dogtown]

22. Righteous thread, Cetacea. n/t

[arcadian]

23. If forced to pick. I'd eat breast milk cheese before I'd eat whale.

[Shell Beau]

25. Me too, and that says a lot because I could puke at the thought of

the booby cheese.

[xchrom]

26. Booby cheese!11

Oh dear lord god that was funny.

[underseasurveyor]

27. Who in their right mind would ever knowingly eat a whale!!!

Bastards! :grr:

I hope these people are prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows.

[zappaman]

28. I have eaten there quite a few times

But haven't been in well over 2 years.
I will never set foot in this restaurant or TYPHOON(sister restaurant with same owners located one floor below)again.
Horrible.

[slampoet]

30. If a whale came into my Sushi Bar I'd serve him as much fish as he could pay for.

Their money is as green as the next mammal. Maybe even greener with mildew and kelp.

[onestepforward]

32. K&R

[paulsby]

35. i repeat: FUCK YOU DOLPHIN AND WHALE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-7a12QV4Y0&feature=PlayList&p=E30732CC977B8103&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=61

[Shell Beau]

38. Only Southpark

[Bluebear]

40. A whale walks into a sushi bar...

Never mind.

[TexasObserver]

41. The waiter says "I'm sorry, but we don't serve whales here."

The whale replies "that's not what the news report said!"

[Bluebear]

44. Rimshot! We're here all week.

[TexasObserver]

45. Reminds me of Bob and Ray.

Maybe the last real comedy duo.

[chollybocker]

46. If you're eating at a restaurant called "The Hump"

you're getting what you paid for.

[flvegan]

49. Shut them down and place proper criminal charges against them.

[aikoaiko]

53. Our Federal law should make an exception for legally caught and processed whalemeat.

But the law is the law and it sounds like they broke it.

[vadawg]

58. i wonder if there is an exception for native people eating whale meat

there has got to be as i cant imagine the inuit passing up the chance of getting a whale.

[Javaman]

62. A whale walks into a sushi bar...

sorry, couldn't resist.

[Nailzberg]

63. Yummy!

[NM_hemilover]

64. A sushi bar named "the Hump " ? giggity giggity