Whaling and gnashing of teeth (From Bournemouth Echo)

Whaling and gnashing of teeth

9:00am Wednesday 23rd September 2009 in

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IT came to Bournemouth for a few days, arousing national attention and making a lot of people feel good while it it was here. But, sadly, it had no future.

And no, I’m not talking about the Lib Dem conference whose delegates will, doubtless, leave Bournemouth today fortified by the sea air and in robust spirit for the challenges ahead.

I am talking about Gilbert the whale, who this week, swam into Poole Bay but, depressingly, ended washed up at Alum Chine.

There is something fascinating about our human response to creatures like Gilbert, as well as seals, dolphins and other marine mam- mals. They arouse mysteriously deep feelings in us. As Gilbert proved, we want to help them.

The trouble is that just saying, “Oh look! A whale!” is not enough to protect them. There’s no point in our delighting in their existence but doing nothing to help their conservation.

Each year countries like Japan slaughter umpteen whales in the name of “scientific research” while other nations, including ours, turn blind eyes to the butchery, leaving protest groups like Greenpeace to carry the fight.

But in Britain, perhaps, we are in no position to preach when our chemicals, plastic and litter pollution has such a devastating effect on coastal waters, making it a struggle for many marine creatures to survive.

The brain of some whales, they say, is just 0.02 per cent of its body mass. Small by comparison.

The brains of some humans, I would guess by their behaviour, are much tinier still.

(And, for the record, I am still not talking about politicians... of any of the parties.)