W. H. Auden reste till Island 1936 och bevittnade hur en val, ”the most beautiful animal I have ever seen”, slaktades:

To see it torn to pieces with stem winches and cranes is enough to make one a vegetarian for life. … A bell suddenly clanged and everyone stuck their spades into the carcass and went off for lunch. The body remained in the sun, the flesh still gleaming a little. It gave one an extraordinary vision of the cold controlled ferocity of the human species.

Ur Davenport-Hines, Richard (2003). Auden. London: Vintage: 154.