Suffering animals and being humane

[Ferbian]

I have just watched the news, there were a specific situation where we have a 7 ton 5 meter whale stranded in Denmark, believing to be suffering from internal injuries and slowly dying.

It's been said that exploding one of the primary blood veins would be the most humane thing to do, and the whale would die relatively quick, where as I went "Pfft" over because I wouldn't necessarily consider that humane.

But then the news story continued, and there was a guy from some Danish nature / animal Green peace wannabe kind of society saying they were left in charge of what would happen to the whale, and that they would let it die itself.

The whale has been stranded there for 2 days now, and they're already discussing what to do with the skeleton of it, museums wanting to get it all across the country.

And it got me thinking, what is really the most humane thing to do in such a situation?

What is the most humane thing to do in general with animals that are suffering / dying?

Should we intervene or should a natural death be the way to go?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Whales advertently and inadvertently beach themselves all the time – it's part of the evolution of the animal and how it deals with death – not all manage to sink to the bottom of the ocean, in that respect.

If you ask me, unless the dying whale is in some what a danger to it's surroundings (like washing up on a popular beach, for example), or unless it's presence draws too much attention to it being there, subsequently causing traffic congestion, etc. then I say let the animal die on it's own as it intended to.

Exploding one of the primary veins doesn't actually seem that humane at all – I'd sooner see what could be done to inject it with a lethal dose of some type of sedative before I considered strapping explosives of any kind to it's body.

 

[LigerBomb]

IF the animal is suffering from internal injuries and it has beached itself to basically forfeit it's life, then we should perhaps try to help it along in the most humane and painless was possible, as that's all it's looking for in the first place. I'm not sure if the whole exploding vein thing fits that bill though. I can't imagine that's the best thing we can come up with. Then again, whale euthanasia was never my real area of expertise.
Maybe it's the most cost effective for whomever has to foot the bill in this situation? Who would that be I wonder? I'm not familiar with the Danish governmental structure on any real level so I really don't know.
Exploding vein? The more I think about it we're just giving the poor thing a severe --albeit controlled-- aneurysm. Cripes, that's sounds like a terrible way to die.

 

[Vash21]

I agree with the idea of lethal injection, how they could come up with blowing up the animals blood vessels is beyond me.

The idea of just letting it sit there and spend days suffering is just fucking cruel.

I don't know much about whales but if intentional beaching is a way that they end their life, we should help them do it.

I have heard though of cases where whales have beached themselves on accident. Guess it just depends on the situation.

 

[Vash21]

I know that if my boston terrier had untreatable lethal cancer I know I would put it down. I couldn't stand to sit there and watch it suffer.

Should do the same with this whale.

 

[SavageTaker]

I think the best thing to do if an animal is dying is to just put them to sleep humanely. If they’re suffering then I don’t think there is any reason to make them suffer some more. Just put them to sleep in a way that won’t cause them more pain and let them rest in peace knowing that you did the right thing no matter how much it’s going to hurt you in the inside.

As far as the whale story, I agree that exploding one of the veins doesn’t seem humane. They could do something else that is just as efficient and won’t make the whale suffer some more. I know some people wouldn’t want to waste the money since the whale is already going to die, but if you were in a position like that, wouldn’t you want to be put to sleep in the best possible way?

 

[Ferbian]

The whole blowing the blood vein is due to that the people suggesting it considered it to be the most humane way, which I still disagree with.

To those who asked about the attraction of crowds, it attracts insane masses, or well at least above the regular attractions, there's people out there "saying goodbye" to it, hell I saw someone patting it.

The problem is that there's been said to be constant guarding over it to make sure it doesn't end up in a horrible accident, because some people believe it could very well regain some life energy and become dangerous.

I don't really know what the most humane way to do this would be, because any kind of death in a stranded position where it's just suffering, is an inhumane move, but so is the explosion really, so I do agree the injection could very well be the most humane thing.

But that's not gonna happen obviously, due to the nature / animal group that I mentioned earlier, who firmly believes it should die naturally, which has become the final "verdict".

 

[Remix]

To anybody suggesting a lethal injection as a plausible alternative to blowing the whale up, please think about the reality of such a thing. It is rediculously impractical for the below reasons:

1) The dose would be massive. The anaestetic drug used in lethal injections is normally used at ratio of 3-5 mg (0.003 - 0.005 g) per kilo of body weight, with the dose in a lethal injection being 14 times that. The whale weighed 7,000 kg, that'd mean you'd have to dose it with 28g of anaestetic (for clinical use), and 392 g at the levels of a lethal injection. These drugs are expensive (the drug used costs $22.82 per gram, or $8,345.44 for a lethal injection), and it's not worth the cost. Also, that's at a human level. Whales may (read, will) metabolise the drug diffrently, so we can't be sure how it will react to it. Coincidentally, this is a no-no therapeutically.

2) An injection like this is ludicrously impractical. The whale didn't exactly have the most accessible veins in the world. I suppose you could inject in the tail, but even then it's not going to be easy. Not to mention, you'd need a HELL of a lot of saline to inject the drug in - long story why. don't ask, unless you want a lecture on tonicity - which reduces the practicality even further.

So yeah, while this might not seem like the most huimane thing in the world, it is. A calculated explosive in the right place would be like a bullet through the heart for us quick, and relatively painless. There's a reason that explosives have been in whaling harpoons for generations, and it isn't because whalers are creul, heartless bastards.

As for other animals, if the case is terminal then by all means euthinase it. I know I'd rather die of a calculated, painless OD than slowly and painfully of a terminal disease.

What happened to the whale anyway Ferb?

 

[Ferbian]

What happened to the whale anyway Ferb?

They let it die of natural courses while they fought over who would get the right to bring it to their museum.

It was constantly being guarded by the police watching over the whale, until they had a vet going out to the whale to check whether it was truly dead now, and it was, I do not officially know what happened to it after that, but I believe it was taken away to what I believe is the museum closest to the place that it died at.

There were a lot of critique of the capital zoo wanting to get it, and actually being allowed, until the mayor of Vejle city stepped up and said no and from what I know it was decided that it stayed in Vejle.