Something I enjoy watching is the mindless vox pops that occur in Stuff.co.nz daily. This is entirely because the researcher in me knows that someone who understands absolutely nothing about surveying is pulling questions out of a hat and whacking them online for what is basically entertainment.
But I figure that pointing out they’re stupid would make me a snob, and I thought it best to just walk away.
Until I saw today’s poll.
The question is, “What should happen to the baby humpback whale found abandoned on Sydney’s northern beaches?”
- It should be raised in captivity (75%)
- It should be put down (25%)
Now, let’s ignore that Humpback whales are highly social creatures because not everybody knows that. Let’s also ignore that the story doesn’t actually mention “raising the calf in captivity”, but focussed on trying to get it to another pod of whales, where it might have a fighting chance. Nope, let’s focus on the fact that it’s A FREAKING WHALE.
Adult Humpback whales grow to about 35 tonnes, and can be 16m long! How big a pool would you need to keep one of these things healthy.
Ohhhh… maybe as big as an ocean?
Idiots…
21 August, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I like to think the 75% people are imagining the whale could go and live with the dolphins at Seaworld for a while, then go back to the ocean, where rainbows would shine and unicorns would frolic on the beach.
22 August, 2008 at 6:39 am
robyn…. *everyone* knows unicorns don’t like salt water.
duh.
22 August, 2008 at 3:33 pm
How about this sensible suggestion from an Australian “whale whisperer”:
“All we have to do is get it out to sea, nurse it out there and guard and wait for pod of whales. Let the whales figure out if they can accept it. A mother may think it can feed two.
Yep, simple as that. Oh, and also the unicorns will sing a song for the whales to help.
23 August, 2008 at 5:48 pm
lol. i had a chat with a unicorn on the flight home from the bay of plenty this afternoon. he said, “what… are these people like…”