...... I would rather be a minke whale

Peter Sandøe, philosopher and leader of the Danish Ethical Council concerning Animals:

"...obviously, it is extremely difficult to compare the whale's relatively short-lasting, but intense pain when being killed, with the other more long-lasting but less intense forms of suffering experienced in cattle farming. Personally, I have no problems in making such a comparison. The conclusion of this comparison is that I would rather be a minke whale living in freedom until the final few minutes of pain, than a ...pig or hen..." (From the magazine "Dyrevennen" - Animal Friends, no.5, 1993.)

"...unless one completely rejects that we have the right to kill animals in order to produce human essentials, and thereby choose to become vegetarian, there are no significant arguments against the Norwegian harvest of minke whales...as far as double standards are concerned, my view is based, among other things, on an extremely strong feeling that we cannot allow ourselves to attack other peoples on the basis of principles which we ourselves cannot or will not live up to..."

(From the Danish newspaper "Politiken", Nov.7, 1993)