Today the "Los Angeles Times" published a front-age article on the impending extinction of North Atlantic right whales. Unless drastic action is taken, the species is expected to perish (but perhaps not for a century, as each whale lives a long time).Compounding this tragedy is the way the whales sometimes die: from being caught in abandoned drift nets. The nylon nets slowly bind them and dig into their bodies, leading to months of pain, infection, and eventual death. Calves caught in the nets die when the nets tighten around their growing bodies.
It's almost to horrible to believe, but the disastrous consequences of drift net fishing have been well-publicized. What's truly sad is that we could end much of the killing of marine life immediately if we just stopped eating "seafood."
...And the chances of that happening are about as good as McDonald's switching over completely to veggie burgers. I tell you one and all, the human race (to paraphrase Lene Lovich) is a disgrace.
