I guess one difference between whales and all the other animals we eat is that (with the exception of some fairly backward cultural practices) we try to kill all the other animals as quickly and humanely as possible; we don't just stick a grenade in their guts and wait for them to die. The other difference is that whales and other cetaceans are fairly intelligent; what sort of outcry would there be if gorillas or orangutans weren't already endangered and we started farming or culling them for meat?
