A whale is equal to a cow?

Japan is doing what it was expected to do at the International Whaling Commission talks in South Korea and is claiming it has the same right to slaughter and eat whales as other people do cows. It is insisting countries such as Australia and New Zealand, countries close to Japan's whaling waters, are "imperialistic" in their anti-whaling stands.

In the past Japan has culled many more whales than the agreed-upon number and claimed it was for scientific research, a loophole that allows the taking of whales for scientific advancement and study.

I am a vegetarian and don't eat cows either, and don't see the need for it, so saying eating a whale is the same as eating a cow particularly bothers me.

Japan has threatened to walk out of the talks, which it might as well do anyway since they are not going to listen to other countries' appeals to stop the slaughter.