When people were saying they had a whale to feed the villagers, I didn't realize there would be a choice. I'm a firm believer in saving the whales and gained goody points instead but I'm not sure what I would have done if the villagers were still only foraging and the tree was empty!

Have others made the same choice I did? Actually, I had to make the decision twice, fairly early in the game. In the first game, the whale never appeared.