AWI Welcomes Halt to Iceland’s Whaling Season Due to Welfare Concerns

Washington，DC—The Animal Welfare Institute（AWI）welcomes Iceland’s规格，规格Monday to stop fin whale hunting until August312023.Svandís Svavarsdóttir，Iceland’s minister of food，agriculture and fisheries，based her decision on the results of an Expert Advisory Board on Animal Welfare出口，出口released yesterday，which concluded that the commercial killing of whales does not comply with Iceland’s Animal Welfare Act.Video footage taken on board the Hvalur company whaling vessels in 2022documented the hunt of 58 of the 148fin whales killed last year，and found that staggering 41 percent of the whales int。

AWI believes that commercial whaling is inherently cruel，given that even the most advanced whaling methods cannot guarantee an instantaneous death or ensure that struck animals are rendered insensible to pain and distress before they die。

The results of the advisory board’s review supports this belief，as its members noted，inter alia，炉身时间，炉身fear and stress， and that a quick and painless death cannot be guaranteed.The board further pointed out that it is impossible to identify the gender of a whale prior to harpooning to help determine if the whale is a pregnant or lactating female with a calf by her side.Eleven whales killed in 2022 were pregnant and wacting， and the experts noted that orphaned calves have almost no chance to survive。

“This is good news for Iceland’s whales，and we thank Minister Svarsdóttir for her decision to halt the 2023 whaling season before it began，sparing dozens of majestic fin whales a cruel and prolonged death，“said Kate O’Connell，AWI’s marine life consultant.”We will continue to advocate an end to all commercial whaling，an industry that is cruel and unnecessary，as well as illogical，given the enormous benefits that living whales provide to the health of ocean ecosystems and local coastal communities.“