What is it about whales?

I have been known to kill things. Never humans but a variety of other animals have met their end at my hands. Cows, sheep, dogs, chooks, ducks, turkeys, snakes, rats, mice and even a bird or two.

I don't enjoy killing things. Most of the animals I have killed have been eaten by me or mine. Some have been in great difficulty and needed to be put out of their misery and a couple have been a threat to me or mine that couldn't be dealt with any other way.

The point is that I have nothing against killing animals provided that there is a purpose, the animal is given proper respect and there is no threat to the species. I can understand that others don't share this view and will abhor killing of animals or, perhaps, some animals.

I know that some will react with horror but what precisely is the difference between a whale and a cow, or a dog or any other animal? Why are whales sacrosanct? Certainly those that are threatened or endangered should be protected along with every other animal that is similarly under threat but what of those that are not?

I have seen many whales in their natural state. I have enjoyed watching them leap out of the water, slap their tails, look after their calves and generally swim about. I have also enjoyed watching cows with their calves mooching about the paddock, chooks scratching about in the gravel and dogs playing in the floodwaters.

Is it that we don't like the idea of eating whales? Certainly, we seem to be offended by people who do eat them and seem to enjoy doing so. Japanese, Icelanders, Inuit, Norwegians and Jamaicans all cop a flogging because they like to eat the flesh of whales. Do Indians who regard cows as sacred get upset with us? Do we get upset with Chinese who eat dogs - and a raft of other things that we don't?

Or are we simply demonstrating our insensitivity for other people's cultures? We don't do it so no one else should. Are we cultural imperialists? It sounds like it to me.