Did they uses these guys?

Asploded whale (new window)

It's a freaking whale. A WHALE. They're BIG.

What did you expect, a hanging?

Please tell me there's a video of this like the last time a whale was blown up.

Whalesplosion!

time to start a campaign to stop this brutality.

/what a douche canoe.

Not like a .22 to the head is gonna do it, assuming you could even find a whale's head.

/poor bugger

Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Should they given it a bunch of pills to shepherd it into the good night or something? It's a goddamn whale.

"I don't want to be buried, I don't want to be cremated, either. I wanna be blown up! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! 'There he goes! God love 'em.' Thud thud."

-George Carlin

Alphax: "I don't want to be buried, I don't want to be cremated, either. I wanna be blown up! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! 'There he goes! God love 'em.' Thud thud."

-George Carlin

Did he get his wish?

The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Explosives are quite probably more humane. Certainly it would be quicker and less painful than shooting it with any rifle you could legally own in Australia.

dittybopper: The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Explosives are quite probably more humane. Certainly it would be quicker and less painful than shooting it with any rifle you could legally own in Australia.

Well, I meant shoot up in the sense giving the poor damn thing some drugs to help it shuffle off this mortal coil.

Ron T Davenport: Alphax: "I don't want to be buried, I don't want to be cremated, either. I wanna be blown up! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! 'There he goes! God love 'em.' Thud thud."

-George Carlin

Did he get his wish?

Probably not. Well, he probably changed his mind since he said that bit in the 70's or so. But I don't remember hearing what actually happened to his remains.

dittybopper: The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Explosives are quite probably more humane. Certainly it would be quicker and less painful than shooting it with any rifle you could legally own in Australia.

What do you need guns for in Australia with all the other weapons available. For instance, this knife:

'even while terminally sick, was still strong enough to present a serious safety risk to DEC staff and volunteers'

1.) Ok, I'm ignorant as to how fast of land mammals whales are, but I have to assume that if they just... elected to... not go anywhere near the farkin thing... it PROBABLY wouldn't hurt anyone.

2.) Australia huh... was this a... baby whale? Were there dingos around?!

YEAAAAAH A DINGO ATE YO BABY WHALE SUCKA!

Alphax: Ron T Davenport: Alphax: "I don't want to be buried, I don't want to be cremated, either. I wanna be blown up! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! 'There he goes! God love 'em.' Thud thud."

-George Carlin

Did he get his wish?

Probably not. Well, he probably changed his mind since he said that bit in the 70's or so. But I don't remember hearing what actually happened to his remains.

He was cremated.

I see you've played knifey spoony before.

Crosshair: The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

What are they gonna do? Back up a tanker truck of potassium chloride and spend a few hours pumping it into the whale? Something tells me that would be a hell of a lot more painfully for the whale than 50 pounds of dynamite. Not like you could find an artery on the whale anyway.

Well, if I remember correctly...they have several options at hand for taking an animal like that out that do not involve explosives. I've read they use medical euthanasia darts in many cases.

The Shatner Incident: dittybopper: The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Explosives are quite probably more humane. Certainly it would be quicker and less painful than shooting it with any rifle you could legally own in Australia.

Well, I meant shoot up in the sense giving the poor damn thing some drugs to help it shuffle off this mortal coil.

Oh, OK, but what do you use and how do you figure the dose? I imagine that it would take a very large amount of drugs to kill even a sick whale, and you'd probably end up blowing the thing up after it's dead anyway.

I doubt there has been much research in anesthesia and chemical euthanasia in big-winged New Englanders.

What you all seem to miss is that they don't say they blew the whale up, just used explosives to kill it. 2 different things. They use explosive tipped harpoons to hunt them and the whales don't get blown apart. A shaped charge with very little power strapped to the whales head would do the job and leave little mess.

They certainly wouldn't assplode the whale all over the beach.

I wonder how many more years it will be before a significant number of people don't associate Australia with that episode of the Simpsons ;-)

Found the video
Whale explosion

The only humane way:

Harpoon to the head

I'm a whale!
I'm a Whale!
*BOOM*
Oh crap, I'm dead!!!

Despite being 'gross,' killing it with explosives was probably about as close to painless as it could have gotten, unless you could shoot it directly in the brain (and even then...) which seems hard to do with a whale. And it's still vastly more humane than letting it starve (for longer anyway).

Hoboclown: The only humane way:

Juan-huuundred

What's that thing making that crackling sound? I think I'll call that... a fuse. Fuses are sparkly. What's that interesting smell coming from it? I'll call that smoke. Never smelled smoke before, I kind of like it. Those things rushing away from me? Those can be people. "Hey people, where you goi-"

Unavailable?

dittybopper: The Shatner Incident: Explosives? Really? Couldn't they shoot up the poor bastard with something instead of making him all...asplodey?

/farking gross

Explosives are quite probably more humane. Certainly it would be quicker and less painful than shooting it with any rifle you could legally own in Australia.

Wasn't familiar with Australia's gun laws...

Category H: Handguns including air pistols and deactivated handguns. To be eligible for a Category H firearm a target shooter must serve a probationary period of six months using club pistols, and a minimum number of matches yearly to retain each pistol.

Target shooters are limited to handguns of .38 or 9mm calibre or less and magazines may hold a maximum of 10 rounds

Mother of God. 6 months probation and required yearly target shooting to own an air pistol (or...deactivated pistol)? Do they really require you to participate in target shooting to own (with??) a deactivated firearm?

/You also need a genuine reason to own 'class A weapons.' Like paintball guns

Why not call the Japanese to come do "RESEARCH" on it?

MYitAt4: 'even while terminally sick, was still strong enough to present a serious safety risk to DEC staff and volunteers'

1.) Ok, I'm ignorant as to how fast of land mammals whales are, but I have to assume that if they just... elected to... not go anywhere near the farkin thing... it PROBABLY wouldn't hurt anyone.

2.) Australia huh... was this a... baby whale? Were there dingos around?!

YEAAAAAH A DINGO ATE YO BABY WHALE SUCKA!

The comment you posted above was the reason why they did not consider euthanization before. It was not a statement that the whale posed any kind of general risk, just that it was not previously safe to approach the whale close enough to euthanize it. Yes, they could just have stayed away from it and let it die more slowly.

Just before it's demise the whale was thinking "oh no, not again". Pitunias sympathise.

Not impressed

tommygunner: Found the video
Whale explosion

That was the first thing posted on this thread. Not buried in the middle of it all. The very first thing.

dingo et mah baby: Just before it's demise the whale was thinking "oh no, not again". Pitunias sympathise.

its demise, not it's - sorry grammar lovers everywhere

dingo et mah baby: dingo et mah baby: Just before it's demise the whale was thinking "oh no, not again". Pitunias sympathise.

its demise, not it's - sorry grammar lovers everywhere

What about the spelling nazis?

Petunias sympathize

Several Taliban were humanely euthanized by 155 mm artillery a few days ago in Afghanistan.

If it's good enough for a whale then it's good enough for the Middle East. If we did it from orbit it'd be cleaner still.