Desecrating bodies of intelligent animals is just wrong to me, i dont blame them for not knowing but humpbacks are one of the few animals intelligent enough to be altruistic, they have been found to hunt down and fight killer whales due to the fact they are apex predators, and over 80 percent of the time they've been viewed doing this it was during a killer whale hunt where they were actively attacking seals.

So yeah, whalers may know how to hunt whales, but that doesn't mean they know shit about whales, just like the guy at a factory farm doesn't know how intelligent pigs are. Don't underestimate the intelligence of animals just because we can't understand them, altruism is a massive indicator of intelligence.

Also, is there any evidence these are whalers?

Here is the quickest citation I could find for my statement, if you need more scientific info I'd be happy to dig for it.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/07/humpbacks-protect-seals-and-other-animals-killer-whales-why