All animals are worthy of our respect and maybe stories like this one out of Alaska will help others begin to grasp that.

A 50-ton bowhead whale was caught off the Alaskan coast last month.  In him was a very old weapon fragment that experts used to place the age of the whale at between 115 and 130-years-old.  A hundred years ago, this whale survived a shot by whale hunters and roamed the oceans for a century, wearing the weapon fragment like a badge of honor.  Bowhead whales can live to be 200-years-old, making them “perhaps the most aged animals on Earth.”

Unfortunately, this particular whale met his match last month when hunters killed it with a similar weapon, which is described in the following terms:

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

“Harvesting” is one of those terms that should limited to grains and vegetables, not sentient beings.

According to the article, whales are a primary source of food for Alaskans and a hunting quota has been renewed to allow 255 whales to be killed by ten Alaskan villages over a five year period.