eonomine

This is a picture of him before he started working out.

I'm not Jón, but I am Icelandic. From what I gather, there is a great difference of people's perception of whales between those who grow up in societies close to large whale populations and those who don't.

The whales hunted around Iceland are not close to extinction and they are hunted in the most humain way possible.

My question is why so many people are obsessed with the hunting of this specific species of mammals. Researches show that cows are equally intelligent as whales and yet most of the same people that are publically vocal against whaling are willing to buy beef that was grown and killed in far worse conditions.

Edit: Since many people are curious about the cows vs. whales statement I listed a few articles supporting the statement here. It was an overstatement to call the animals equally intelligent, but there seems to be evidence supporting that both species manage to surpass each other in their relative areas. The third article listed, which seems to be open for some readers but behind a paywall for others, claims that we may have overestimated cetacean intelligence for the last decades. This is of course just one research and there may be a good reason to be sceptical regarding its validness, but it's still an indicator of division within the academic community.

Edit 2: It's also important to state that I believe humane methods and self-sustainability are more important factors than the cognitive abilities of animals that are hunted for their meat and skin.

Do we have permission to fund the idea with your body?

Which is more humane in your opinion?

To keep an animal in capture from the day it's born until you kill it or to let an animal live free and then hunt it where it has a fair chance to escape?

Nope, but pigs are indeed considered to be among the smartest farm animals.