I too support tribal sovereignty because they fought for it and have gone to court for their rights but not all cultural practices are necessarily good for example: the sacrificing of human beings has been an ancient cultural practice in many parts of the world. ie. Mexico, Middle East, Europe. This is an extreme example but cultural practices should only be encouraged when ethical and moral. I guess what I'm getting at is there had better be a sustainable population of grey whales for them to be ethically harvested to practice their culture and I don't think that culture is always an ethical or moral argument necessarily.kuttkilla wrote:Haha, I love whales. I remember looking a gray whale right in the eye off the coast of Vancouver Island in the summer of 2002 off Carmanah's lighthouse. The Makah tribe were hunting the animal and it looked me square in the eye after blowing water all over my face right next to our Alumweld 20' boat...red stip. That was nearly 6 years ago, and I still am fond of whales and I always slow down and go well around whales when traversing local waterways in Puget Sound and on the open ocean...they are magnificient creatures that should be protected very tightly. However, legal hunting thru tribal premits should be allowed, because this is part of some cultures...kevinb wrote:Yes,they are....I love them too.
Culture is an interesting and emotionally charged subject. We protect dogs, cats, and horses almost like Hindus protect cows. It would be very much against the grain of our culture for someone to propose that all dogs, cats, and horses being put to sleep be prepared to feed the homeless yet its a huge food source put to waste. We won't even round up the explosive population of geese and give them to the homeless. It even turns my stomach to think of some old cat cooked up but that's due to our cultural norms.
Getting Back to the subject. We should have harsher punishment for harvesting native species on the endangered list.