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Canada approves of killing baby seals

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Stop Canada's Cruel And
Senseless Baby Seal Hunt
ThePetitionSite.com
2-25-5

Nearly 1 million baby seals will be clubbed or shot to death in Canada in just three years. Shockingly, the hunt is subsidized by the Canadian government!

Every winter, Northwest Atlantic harp seals migrate to Eastern Canada to give birth and mate. Following their birth in late winter, mothers leave in search of mates, while the pups remain helpless and vulnerable on the ice until they can swim and catch their own food. It's during this time when they are most vulnerable that they are mercilessly slaughtered for their pelts!

Hunters armed with clubs and rifles will bludgeon to death hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals. About 96% of the seals killed will be less than three months old and more than 40% may be skinned alive!

Canada's seal hunt is the largest deliberate slaughter of marine mammals in the world. But the killing of baby seals doesn't make sense economically or ecologically, nor is it sustainable. It's simply a tragic slaughter of defenseless animals that benefits a small minority of boat captains armed with big ships, snowmobiles and even personal helicopters. This isn't about small town survival or tradition, it's an industrial killing machine for profit.

But Canada wants the media and public to believe that no one cares about the innocent blood spilled each year across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This year's hunt will continue until the industry reaches its quota of 319,500 seals.That's why we must raise a public outcry.

Please tell the Canadian government that you do care and that this practice is unacceptable. We must show the Canadian Parliament that the rest of the world will no longer stand for this cruel and senseless hunt!

Sign petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3105






Sad sad individuals. I realize it's part of their economy, but skinning them alive is inhumane; actually the whole thing is just wrong. I thought we had moved beyond killing innocent animals for fur....well, at least for the most part. There are very few places in the world where fur is actualy needed for survivial. Most of these killings are being done for people's own sick desires. Patheitc poeple!

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Sure, it's tough to support skinning ANYTHING that is still alive. I'm against that...I think we all are.

But the hunt itself may be needed. There are lots of places that use hunting to limit the size of deer herd. They do it because the herd gets so big that the local food supply is not adequate. Eventually the much of the herd will stave. When they get desparate for food they start crossing highways and get hit by cars...thus they become a hazard to people. In case you are wondering, the insurance industry is the main supporter of this, not the hunter. Hitting a deer with your car costs them a ton of money!

So I won't sign this petition until i hear from the other side. Anybody in Canada know the details behind this program?

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>Nearly 1 million baby seals will be clubbed or shot to death in Canada
>in just three years. Shockingly, the hunt is subsidized by the Canadian
>government!

As long as they are not putting the species' gene pool at risk, I'm not shocked. Rats are closer to us, evolutionarily, than seals are, but no one blinks when an exterminator poisons ten thousand of them.

It would be a crime to drive either species to extinction through harvesting, sport killing, poisoning etc. But as long as care is taken so that doesn't happen, it's no more evil or horrible than 'slaughtering' any other mammal, from rats to deer to cows.

>But the killing of baby seals doesn't make sense economically or
>ecologically, nor is it sustainable.

That's the one valid point I saw in this article. If it is truly unsustainable, or is taking a big chunk out of a local ecosystem, then that's a problem. But they'd have to explain why they think that.

>This isn't about small town survival or tradition, it's an industrial killing
> machine for profit.

As are most farms/ranches in the world.

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That is pretty barbaric,and I understand it's being going on for years.........perhaps there are facts that are not being publicized...........any Canadians care to explain?



As I look up from my seal flipper pie.....;)

As far as I know the government has brought in guidelines to make the hunt as humane as possible. It is sustainable and a much needed source of income for the people in that region.
--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

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Reminds me of a cadence in basic training we'd march to...

Way up north where the air is cold
People up there ain't got no gold
So I gotta make my living
Killing baby seals

Bake'em broil'em fry'em
Any way you like'em
Gotta make my living
Killing baby seals

My wife and kids they hate me
The liberals try to break me
But I gotta make my living
Killing baby seals


:ph34r::S:):P

I don't agree with it, but I could not care less about what Canada does. The fact that they subsidize it is hysterical in light of their attempts to be so "humane" a society. :S
So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

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more than 40% may be skinned alive!

I think I'll call Bull on this piont

Have you seen the old Green peace tape where they used the skinning alive argument to make their piont.
In the course of a 30 minute documentary they showed one (1) hunter who skinned a live seal and showed it over and over many many times to imply that it was happening in a regular manner.
I not saying it didn't happen then and that it doesn't happen now. I saying that the emotional side of this argument is guilty of a gross misrepresentation of facts and blatant manipulation of missleading images to push thier piont across.

The people doing the hunting are earning a living. Though I've never been a hunter myself I would assume it's a hell of a lot harder to skin a live seal then a dead one so why would anyone do it that way other then when the occasional mistake is made and the hunter starts to skin one he thinks is dead? Which was allegedly the case in the incedent shown on the Greenpeace tape!
Watch my video Fat Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWkEky8GoI

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shaddup fer chrissake if you do not live in the region then you know nothing about it.

Yer in my bakyard now ya yellers........

But seriously. Let me see, we hunted seals for 200 years, became part of the ecological order, Bridget Bardot gets on TV holding a poor baby seal and the hunt goes to shit, pelts prices plummet, and the seal hunt comes to an end.

Now we are up to our asses in seals, the fish stocks are down, if not decimated (only partly due to seals), we have seals in places where they have not been seen in 100 years (looking for food) and by now everyone has forgotten about it anyway.

Greenpeace execs finally confess they needed the seal hunt coverage every year to pay for the whale campaign every year and that it was not really a big problem. So after a few years, everyone gets over it. Demand for pelts starts to rise, and we start the hunt again.

Let's compare -
- I have no idea where the 1 million number comes from, garbage I think, the quota is quite small.

- http://www.cattlerange.com/world-beef/world-beef.html we consume some 10929 (1000 tonne increments, that is 10929000 TONNES) of beef every year. That's a buttload of beef. They get raised in pretty good conditions, but they die with a bolt shot through their head and we eat them, you just do not see it (and cows are ugly)

- http://www.fas.usda.gov/dlp/tradecharts/pork2.gifI if am not mistaken that is 700,000 TONS of pork exported, that's a lot of pigs. I wonder how much on top of that we really eat? Raised in tight conditions and killed with either a bolt through the head or a throat slit while they are still alive. Oh yes, and they are ugly too.

- http://www.meatami.com/content/presscenter/factsheets_Infokits/FactSheetMeatProductionandConsumption.pdf
Looks like we kill BILLIONS of CHICKENS EVERY year, many of them raised in 12" cube pens and then hung by their feet and throats slit.

- just got back from Belize. Guys in canoes spend their days snorkeling for lobsters that supply Red Lobster and Olive Garden, some http://www.globefish.org/index.php?id=2278&easysitestatid=-925680757 37000 Metric tons of lobster have been produced. You figure it out, that is a buttload of lobsters. We boil them alive (and they are ugly).

Now the reality is that we eat food, some of that food comes from animals. We eat animals. For that to happen, we KILL animals, of all kinds.

When I pet a deer at the zoo, it is cute and I think what a great animal that is and how cool it is to be near it and to experience it.

When I line that deer up in the crosshairs. I think, what a great catch and what a load of meat in my freezer - that's going to taste really good!"

I accept it for the way it is. Seals are killed quite humanely, we eat the meat, and we sell the furs (Do you wear leather shoes)?

Stay away. we do not appreciate the bad-mouthing of our 'industry'. Many rely on it to make a living. If you stand outside with a sign to protest Iowa Pig farmers, then I might respect your point of view.... But I expect that is not the case.

TK

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Q: "What do Nova Scotians drink on baby Harp Seal seal hunts?"

A: "Canadian Club."

I for one, am proud to be a Late Neolithic Hunter-Gatherer. I am an OMNIVORE. As a bumper sticker so eloquently puts it: "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables."
Like Billvon remarked: Do we only care about these animals because they are so cute? Are you a vegetarian? If you aren't, you are a hypocrite. That being said, I oppose needless cruelty and suffering. Let the beeves lead contented lives, with a brief surprise at the end. The fact is, it's a cycle. No, we need not take delight in it, but nature is harsh.

A friend of mine was a medical student, and he spent a lot of his Summers experimenting on rats. One of the things he specifically researched was ways of recovering from massive blood loss without the usual trauma...

As always, DYOC.
"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

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>If you aren't, you are a hypocrite.

Nothing wrong with disagreeing, but please do not call other posters names.



William,

Please excuse my question, but is addressing a person in the manner in which I have done (referring to someone as a hypocrite) a perjorative / insulting term?

If so, I apologize. I'm being sincere here.

Perhaps I am engaging in name-calling if I presume that the person making the post is not a vegetarian.

That would perhaps be an arrogant presumption for me to make, in which case I stand duly corrected.

More properly, it should be less absolute, personal, or declarative; e.g., "Your remarks are hypocritical." This would be in keeping with the spirit of debate - to criticize ideas, and not people.



Respectfully,

mh

.

Main Entry: hyp·o·crite
Pronunciation: 'hi-p&-"krit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritEs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
- hypocrite adjective
"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

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>but is addressing a person in the manner in which I have done
> (referring to someone as a hypocrite) a perjorative / insulting term?

Yes. I should put this in bold on the top of this page:

You cannot call someone a denigrating name EVEN IF YOU ARE POSITIVE THAT THEY DESERVE IT. You can't call someone a nazi even if they think Hitler was the best thing since sliced bread. You can't call someone a bastard even if their parents weren't married, and you can't call someone an idiot even if they think that George Washington freed the slaves.

The best test for this is to ask yourself if you'd like to be called the name (in this case, hypocrite.) If the answer is no, you probably shouldn't post it.

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and you can't call someone an idiot even if they think that George Washington freed the slaves.



Sheesh...I know I wouldn't make that mistake. We all know it was John Adams. :S:P
So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

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How many tons of fish would a million baby seals eat in a year? In ten years how many offsping and generations would come from a million baby seals? How much fish would all of them eat? How much revenue does Canada make from fishing? Are you sure this does not have any economic impact?

Baby Seals approve of killing little fishys!
When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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>but is addressing a person in the manner in which I have done
> (referring to someone as a hypocrite) a perjorative / insulting term?

Yes. I should put this in bold on the top of this page:

You cannot call someone a denigrating name EVEN IF YOU ARE POSITIVE THAT THEY DESERVE IT. You can't call someone a nazi even if they think Hitler was the best thing since sliced bread. You can't call someone a bastard even if their parents weren't married, and you can't call someone an idiot even if they think that George Washington freed the slaves.

The best test for this is to ask yourself if you'd like to be called the name (in this case, hypocrite.) If the answer is no, you probably shouldn't post it.



Very well. I stand duly corrected.

My most humble apologies to all for my misconduct.

And no, Bill, I honestly don't know why I was bending this way. I have been absent from SC for quite a while, but for some reason, this thread (and one other) pushed my "irrational" button, and I allowed my emotions to overrule my respect for myself and other individuals, to the point where I was disregarding the "Civility Maxim", where one criticizes ideas, but not people. I think Josh's passing has been a major factor. His departure has affected me in ways I didn't expect; I think that my haranguing posts of late have been at least somewhat related to that situation. However, that does not excuse my behavior. Once again, and with the utmost regret - Mea Culpa, Maxima.

mh

.
"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

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The thing about baby seals are that they're cute. It's easy for a human to see "human" emotions in them. Little soft furry things, quite defenceless.

Of course, rat kids are little soft furry things too. Except most don'tthink they're cute.

Pretty sad that an animals inherent worth is proportional to how cute or human it is.

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Don't anyone kid themselves, if a baby seal got a hold of a machine gun, he'd kill every human he could find. Same with cows. And clowns.

It's them or us.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Hunters armed with clubs and rifles will bludgeon to death hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals...
This isn't about small town survival or tradition, it's an industrial killing machine for profit...



If someone wasn't buying the fur, skins and/or meat, there wouldn't be any profit. And if there wasn't any profit, there wouldn't be hunters killing baby seals.

Yet, in that article I didn't see any outrage at all directed at the consumers of those products which are driving this hunt. Why is that?

Oh, and I also noticed that the government sets a quota - in other words, they control the hunt to make sure that the survival of the species is not impacted. It's controlled hunting. That's just like deer hunting in the U.S., where state wildlife departments set the rules to control how many deer are taken, to prevent overpopulation.

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>Never met anyone with a baby seal as a pet, so can't say
>anything about that.

We had Sprouts at the LMMRC, who was a juvenile harbor seal. And while he could be very cute when he wanted to be (which was usually when he wanted fish) he was often cranky and ill tempered. You had to be careful when you approached him when he was in one of his moods. If he bit you, you were guaranteed a pretty nasty infection. And seal poop is about the worst poop there is.

(Picture of Sprouts attached.)

On the other hand, our rats (Puny, C4, Squeaky and Pig) were four of the most happy-go-lucky animals you could ever meet. The only time I got bitten was when they were happily chewing holes in a cardboard box that I picked up. One of them chewed through the cardboard right where my hand was.

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Don't anyone kid themselves, if a baby seal got a hold of a machine gun, he'd kill every human he could find. Same with cows. And clowns.



Some of you may think he's joking, you'd be wrong. ;)

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May Contain Nut traces......

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