In Reply to: Calif. gray whale shot with machine gun posted by Max Bottomtime on September 12, 2007 at 16:59:33:

This is a shame! The last hunt back in '99 turned out to be nothing but a farce when viewed from the perspective of cultural fulfillment. They used a 500 HP boat to chase the whale, then they shot it with a 50 caliber rifle--hardly traditional methods of hunting. The makah had to hire an Inuet from Alaska to butcher the animal and then had a hard time giving away the meat...

I remember having serious debates on this issue on the High North Alliance web page back in those days..I tried to convince them that killing a whale in this day and age would not reflect well on their tribe. revivint one's historic culture in these modern times is as much about symbolism as it is about reality.. None of the circumstances of an authentic hunt still exist. There is no need for the meat to fend off starvation. The historic abundance that once made the individual kill insignificant has been altered forever.

My suggestion to them at the time was to do something uplifting and entirely symbolic, something that would offend no one, yet be substantial enough to give them the pride they are yearning for. I suggested that they straighten out a small hook and tie a thread representing every individual in the tribe to the hook. Then they could row their canoe next to the whale and in a symbolic jesture of harpooning the whale, only leave the tiny hook with a thread for every member to go along on the whale's journey..

That idea didn't go over so well--they wanted to kill something..

I hope that they are arrested and jailed for this senseless act of cruelty!