Largest Seal Cull In Half a Century Reaches Bloody Climax

[chlamor]

Largest seal cull in half a century reaches bloody climax
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
The Observer

A vast armada of trawlers will fan out among the ice floes off eastern Canada tomorrow as hunters embark on the final phase of the largest seal cull for half a century. By first light on Tuesday the huge ice shelves of the Gulf of St Lawrence will be stained crimson. Permission has been granted by the Canadian authorities for at least 319,500 harp seals to be shot or clubbed to death over the next month. About 95 per cent of these will be less than three months old. Images of young harp seals being bludgeoned to death around Quebec's Isles de la Madeleine in the Gulf will be beamed around the world. This year tensions over the hunt are running higher than ever. Activists have organised a boycott against Canada's seafood products.

However, news emerged yesterday that appeared to contradict claims that this week's culmination of a three-year programme to cull 975,000 seals would never be sanctioned again. Instead the Canadian authorities appear to be on the verge of announcing a five-year culling plan which critics believe could involve the slaughter of more than a million animals. 'They have shown no sign of changing their stance or revising their position on this. We believe it will continue to increase,' said Rosa Hill of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Throughout this week, hunters will trawl the floes of the Gulf before moving east to the more remote ice sheets off Newfoundland. Two decades ago international outrage nearly finished the hunt. In 1985, just 13,334 pups were culled but, with the emergence of new markets in Russia and China, the number killed for their pelts has gradually climbed. Seal genitals are often hacked off and sold to the Far East, where they are prized as an aphrodisiac.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1446302,00.html

[baba]

1. This is so upsetting.

I can't watch. The poor seals....

[livinginphotographs]

2. Kick.

Outrage over the reality of the hunts is the only thing left when the truth is clouded by BS propaganda from the Canadian government that would make Karl Rove proud.

[SemperEadem]

59. perhaps

if humans would quit interfering in the habitats of sea creatures so that orcas, humboldt (or even archetheusis) squid, and sharks could control seal population, maybe culling programs wouldn't be necessary.

[bonito]

3. Our onlly hope is ourselves folks

and that means only, YOU. Peace.

[Hand]

4. I'm Canadian... and I'm ashamed of my country for allowing this.

Basically, it's one of the few dependable sources of income for a lot of Newfoundlanders since the federal government allowed the cod stocks to be essentially wiped out. That doesn't make it right or decent--and the BIG LIE that harp seals contribute to cod stock depletion only makes it worse.

Most obscenely, as the article mentions, it's really not the pelts that make money--it's the penises. That's why bear are poached in large numbers, too.

Mother Earth, Sister Sea, Father Sun, will you ever forgive us for murdering your children? Or will you just decide you've had enough of us?

:cry:

[alarimer]

18. Depletion of cod is mostly due to overfishing

Some commercial fishermen choose to blame anything but themselves. I am sure there have been studies on seal diets and their impact on fish population and I don't really know the stats on that but in other studies of seals or sea lions, usually the imapct on any particular fisheries species is minor. They are generalists- they will eat just about anything.

[TrustingDog]

19. I cry in shame as well. n/t

[anarchy1999]

31. Just my personal belief, but I think they've all had enough, it is just

a matter of time till we are punished.

[Maple]

5. Different from your lamb or veal dinner....

how, exactly?

[Minstrel Boy]

6. I'm Canadian, and it doesn't bother me in the least.

To me, it's the Tyranny of the Cute.

I'm sure mine is a minority position, but those who get over-excited about hunting harp seals look as foolish as me as protesters outside Terri Schiavo's hospice look to most people here.

As I posted on another thread, I don't mean to belittle or dismiss anyone's concern about the hunt, but the seal hunt doesn't move me. And many things do. I worry about the disappearing cod, honey bees, tigers, and frogs. Hundreds of thousands of needless deaths in bogus wars. I find much in the world that alarms me.

But a managed and monitored seal hunt, when the seal population is five million and near its historic observed high, just doesn't bother me.

From Oceans and Fisheries Canada, "seal hunt, myths and realities":


Myth #1: The Canadian government allows sealers to kill adorable little white seals.

Reality: The image of the whitecoat harp seal is used prominently by seal hunt opponents. This image gives the false impression that vulnerable seal pups are targeted by sealers during the commercial hunt.

The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is illegal - and has been since 1987. Marine Mammal Regulations prohibit the trade, sale or barter of the fur of these pups. Furthermore, seals cannot be harvested when they are in breeding or birthing grounds.


Myth #2: Seals are being skinned alive.
Reality: The most recent Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) Report and numerous reports mentioned by the Malouf Commission (1987) indicate that this is not true.

Sometimes a seal may appear to be moving after it has been killed; however seals have a swimming reflex that is active - even after death. This reflex falsely appears as though the animal is still alive when it is clearly dead - similar to the reflex in chickens.

Myth #6: The club - or hakapik - is a barbaric tool that has no place in today's world.
Reality: Clubs have been used by sealers since the onset of the hunt hundreds of years ago. Hakapiks originated with Norwegian sealers who found it very effective. Over the years, studies conducted by the various veterinary experts, and American studies carried out between 1969 and 1972 on the Pribilof Islands hunt (Alaska) have consistently proven that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely. A recent report in September, 2002, by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, had results that parallel these findings.

Myth #12: The seal hunt is not worth it - seals are only taken for their fur and the rest of the animal is wasted.
Reality: Seals have been harvested for food, fuel and shelter and other products for hundreds of years. The subsistence hunt is a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage. Canada exports seal products in three forms: pelts, oil and meat. Traditionally, the pelts have been the main commodity, but production of seal oil for human consumption has grown substantially in recent years. Seal oil markets remain positive, and a large percentage of seal oil is finding its way into areas other than traditional marine and industrial oils.

DFO encourages the fullest use of seals, with the emphasis on leather, oil, handicrafts, and in recent years, meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil capsules rich in Omega-3. Any seal parts that are left on the ice provide sustenance to a wide variety of marine scavengers such as crustaceans, seabirds and fish.


more:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/myth_e.htm



Millions of harp seals on the ice floes off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/Photo/Photo7_e.htm

[Maple]

7. Thank you!

The seal hunt is another victim of media hysteria, and uniformed commentary.

Meantime malaria alone kills a child every 30 seconds.

[maxsolomon]

42. one could argue

that malaria is merely culling these children, thereby keeping the human population from growing exponentially & thereby exhausting the planets' resources. it provides a valuable service in many ecosystems.

i think i just DID argue that. i convinced myself!

[chlamor]

8. This is just slaughter and deplorable utilitarian killing

I am a meat eater and not affected by the Bambi syndrome but this particular massacre is done in a way that is an embodiment of the culture of death. hunting and indeed all manner of animal/food relationships should be in the sense of the sacred. This is not a ritualistic harvesting. This is industrial slaughter. Reconsider this in light of the behaviors of the trophy recreationists who "hunt".

[Maple]

9. Read the article posted by Minstrel boy

and check any abattoir, anywhere, for 'industrial slaughter'

[chlamor]

10. Read It-Don't support abbatoir'

and I do not support any abbatoir' nor condone what is done there. I know where my meat comes from and how it is harvested. I avoid almost everything, for a number of reasons, that are processed through the industrial mode of production. This slaughter of the seals is just one of many examples of how humanity considers itself as the dominator. I'm not even against the hunting of seals. It is debasing.

[livinginphotographs]

13. And consider the source of Minstrel Boy's article.

I responded to most of those points in the other thread he mentioned.

One point I didn't make is that trusting the Canadian government to be truthful about this is about as naive as trusting the Bush administration claiming that they were protecting us from big bad Saddam.

[jasop]

24. Absolutely correct! n/t

[Kool Kitty]

16. Industrial slaughter is disgusting, too.

That's why I am a vegetarian. This seal slaughter is inhumane and not necessary.

[entanglement]

74. Totally agree.

I also find that people only worry about the welfare of animals deemed 'cute' and forget about the rest.

[Catchawave]

60. MSNBC has weighed in....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7327419/

Controversial Canadian seal hunt begins
Nearly 1 million seals will have been harvested since 2003
****

Though haven't seen it in their broadcasts ? Maybe Keith will Olbermann this story as he does so well with the running of the bulls segments: Idiots vs Bulls

[jasop]

23. The tabacco, alcohol and prescription industry also release these stats

[bleedingheart]

26. A seal population out of check means that the predators are the

ones that need protecting....

I know that not as many people are concerned about the shark population but I have heard that they are endangered...

[Catchawave]

28. I'm sure it does upset the eco system,

as these babies are an important food source for whales too!

[XemaSab]

66. And the polar bears

They're in decline due to the melting of the polar ice

[Catchawave]

27. It's a government website

a little partisan in favor of the industry, doncha think?

[GliderGuider]

32. I've been involved in the same argument on another web board

I have to say I agree down the line with Minstrel Boy's position. I've felt this issue was the Tyranny of the Cute (nice phrase BTW) ever since Brigitte Bardot and crew glommed onto it. Of all the truly egregious things happening in the world today, this is too miniscule to make even a decent distraction. The protest has legs only because of the photos of the seal pups' eyes. A managed and controlled hunt of the magnitude they're doing is no threat to either the ecology or our mortal souls.

I wish they'd do the same thing with all the damned whitetail deer that are chewing their cute little way through North America.

[AFSCME girl]

53. With regard to The Canadian Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans...

they insisted that Capt. Watson & crew come into the Magdalen Islands (I am unclear on reason - poss. to obtain permits?) This is where a number of death threats had been made against the crew AND where they had been violently assaulted some 10 years ago......

[htuttle]

11. Are there too many seals?

What eats seals? (I know that several sharks do, orcas probably do, and of course, polar bear and inuit do). I know that polar bear populations have been dwindling, and probably orcas too, but is there a good 'game management' reason for boosting the numbers of seals killed, or is the reason economic in nature?

I have no problem with appropriate taking of wild game -- if we don't allow natural predators to live around us, we're going to have to take their place in the eco-system -- but wonder why this would be needed in the case of seals?

Are the seals' predators going missing?
If not, we are stealing their food...do we need to?

[rolleitreks]

12. OK with me. n/t

[Nevernose]

14. What is it with the Chinese and aphrodisiacs?

Tigers, lions, rhinos, elephants, narwhales... now seal testicles? Is there an endangered animal that some limp-dicked Chinese guy doesn't want to consume?

Have these fuckers never heard of Viagra, fot godssake?

[Minstrel Boy]

15. Just to be clear, seals are not endangered.

There are five million of them off Newfoundland right now, just about the highest number ever observed.

[Maple]

17. Vegetarians are outright barbarians....!

"Not only can plants communicate with each other and with insects by coded gas exhalations, scientists say now, they can perform Euclidean geometry calculations through cellular computations and, like a peeved boss, remember the tiniest transgression for months.

To a growing number of biologists, the fact that plants are now known to challenge and exert power over other species is proof of a basic intellect."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0303/p01s03-usgn.html


You, you, you...murderers!

[TrustingDog]

20. You, you, you... ( )

[livinginphotographs]

25. You, you, you....

Plants don't have a central nervous system. This is one of the most ridiculous assertions that people keep on bringing up. I'd laugh at it if people didn't keep bringing it up just to needle vegetarians.

Why do we threaten you so much? Were you attacked by a gang of vegans as a child and beaten mercilessly with cauliflower? Seriously, I'd like to know why you have such issues with this...

[Maple]

43. LOL you don't threaten anybody

and apparently others think about plants differently than you do.

Qualified people to boot.

I'd prefer eating sheep to eating a plant that does geometry...at least I know that sheep are dumb.

And this item gets such a nice rise out of the pretentious. :D

[jasop]

22. ugh! rub stick make fire! Lets smash them and use them in a trendy fad!

[anarchy1999]

37. I think you may be right, it is not the seals that are endangered, it is

us humans, and deservedly so.

[anarchy1999]

36. Same question I had. Why are they in such desperate need?

I can't wrap my mind around the BS!

[jasop]

21. Life is precious we must save the Shiavo corpse...

[Catchawave]

29. IFAW - Government Subsidized Cruelty

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=129307

Government Subsidized Cruelty


"A sealer near us quickly clubbed every seal within a small radius, to immobilize each of the pups, and then dragged the bodies to the center of his circle. One by one he flipped a seal on its back and skinned it. If the seal flipped around or fought against the skinning he'd flip it back to its stomach, club it several more times and then finishing the skinning."

IFAW Hunt Monitor


Documentary evidence – in the form of two veterinary reports (one sponsored by the Canadian government), and video footage of the seal hunt obtained by IFAW over the past decade – simply does not support claims by the Canadian government that the hunt is “humane” or “well regulated.”

Seals are routinely clubbed (often with illegal weapons) or shot and left to suffer on the ice, before being clubbed again some time thereafter. Seals are still skinned before being rendered fully unconscious and few sealers are observed checking for a blinking reflex to confirm brain death prior to skinning an animal. As one of the veterinary reports concluded: Canada’s commercial seal hunt results in “considerable and unacceptable suffering.”

[Catchawave]

30. Sea Shepherd International Conservation Society - Seal FAQ's

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_faq.html

Seals eat fish as a main source of food, so do you think the hunting of seals would affect the number of fish found in the ocean by a great amount?

Paul Watson: Only 3% of a harp's seals diet is made up from Cod. There is a very complex food chain in the ocean and this diversity and interdependence has worked very well throughout time. The cod was not destroyed by the harp seals. The species was depleted by human fisheries.

At the time of Jacques Cartier, there was no shortage of fish and there were ten times as many seals. The fact is that the largest predator of cod aside from people are other species of fish, the very fish that harp seals prey upon. When you lower harp seal populations you increase predatory fish populations thereby contributing to a further decline in the cod. Rather than more seals less cod, it is more seals = more cod and less seals = less cod.

...much more at link...

[Spazito]

33. Actually both side lie equally in this case, imo

The government puts it's best face on the issue by embellishing the basic truths.

The animal rights groups put the worst face on the issue by embellishing the basic truths.

The truth is somewhere in the middle.

[slackmaster]

34. O Canada!

:argh:

[AFSCME girl]

35. Scapegoats of the Deep....

http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_050328_2.html

[Minstrel Boy]

38. The seal population has tripled since the 1970s, to five million, and

the hunting of "white coat and so-called bluebacks, the young harp and hooded seals," has been banned since 1997.

If the seals were endangered, I would be up in arms about this. But they're not. They're just cute.

[SOS]

44. Re: "The Tyranny of the Cute"

1. Tyranny is absolute power especially when used unjustly or cruelly. So how exactly do the dead baby seals "tyrannize" their human killers? It makes no sense.

2. If the expression is meant to imply that humans only rally to "cute" animals who are being slaughtered for money, there may be some truth in that, but it discounts those who follow the teachings and philosophies of people like Da Vinci, Tolstoy, Gandhi, Pythagoras, Plutarch, Shaw and Buddha. Buddha said it best in his First Noble Precept:

I will be mindful and reverential with all life, 
I will not be violent nor will I kill. Avoid killing or harming any living being.
I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.  
I shall endeavor to protect and take care of all living creatures.
Do not do harm to other beings.   

To alleviate the suffering of sentient beings is a calling from which some do not deviate, regardless of the person's or animal's appearance.

[Minstrel Boy]

45. here's what I mean, by way of anecdote

The only cause that motivates my sister is the seal hunt. The anti-hunt cause is the only one she supports. She doesn't get worked up about famine, war, torture, the environment or truly endangered species. It's the seals. And it is only because they're cute.

She's not a vegetarian, she's not an animal rights activist. She's a conservative who wears fur. But the seals are soooo cute.

The world is looking at a convergence of catastrophes right now. The seal hunt is not one of them.

[flvegan]

47. My compassion is boundless.

To me it's all important. Maybe with your sister, this is the case. You're using a very broad brush to paint everyone the same color, or rather, the same disposition to only side with the cute.

Maybe, just maybe, folks care because it's right vs. wrong, not cute vs. ugly (or not-quite-as-cute).

[Minstrel Boy]

48. I'm not a vegetarian. I wear leather.

I'm a bad person.

[AFSCME girl]

49. Noone is saying that n/t

[flvegan]

50. I didn't say that, nor did I imply that. Don't project.

You stated that there were plenty of catastrophes out there, and the seal hunt wasn't one of them. I agree that there's a whole world of shit happening, and we're all together on one, two or several of them. However, I don't limit my definition of catastrophe. The cruel bludgeoning of sentient beings to suit a luxury market is bullshit, and it's a moral catastrophe.

[Catchawave]

55. I'm sorry you feel that way.....

not sure who's making you feel bad about yourself, it certainly isn't anyone here.

Please don't go near those anti-Animal Rights sites, they are full of corporate greedy lying bastards.

[AFSCME girl]

51. Exactly, flvegan.

This is a complete matter of principle for me. People don't like being portrayed as idiots that only embrace this issue because infant harp seals are "cute".

[XemaSab]

67. We shouldn't let the perfect

be the enemy of the good.

I agree with you that the seal harvest isn't the biggest ongoing environmental crime occuring right now in the world.

However, that doesn't mean it's right or okay to kill these animals. This isn't subsistence hunting, it's market hunting. Arctic ecosystems should not need to be "managed" by humans, they should regulate themselves. Not so for white-tailed deer in the eastern US. But if people weren't making big money off of this, the government would not allow it.

I think the simple lesson of the arctic is "stay out of the arctic."

[Minstrel Boy]

69. This isn't the Arctic, it's in the Gulf of St Lawrence and

off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Good points, though.

[Mother Jones]

39. Another Canadian horrified! Pls use your $$ to boycott

as appropriate.


Canada isn't nearly as progressive when it comes to animal rights/welfare as many people think.

[Catchawave]

40. Greenpeace Press Release

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0329-05.htm

Global Outrage as Seal Hunt Begins

TORONTO, CANADA -- March 29 -- Greenpeace today expressed outrage that the Canadian Government has chosen to proceed with the Atlantic seal hunt on the ice floes in the Gulf of St Lawrence, despite evidence that the hunt is unsustainable and scientifically unjustifiable.
"The arrogance of the Canadian Government is beyond comprehension. The Atlantic Seal Hunt Management Plan is based on bad science, incorrect assumptions and flawed modelling and does not take many vital issues into consideration. Hundreds of thousand of seals will be killed over the next few weeks with no clear understanding of the ecological impacts," said Mhairi Dunlop, Greenpeace International.

The hunt opened at 6am (Atlantic Time) this morning in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A further hunt in Labrador, known as the Front, will begin on April 12. The total allowable catch (TAC) for this year is 319,500 harp seals, 95% of which will be under one year old. This brings the total to 975,000 seals that will have been killed and officially registered over the three-year management plan produced by the Government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

The herd, currently numbering between 4 and 6 million according to DFO figures, has recovered from its near collapse in the 1980's when over-hunting took the herd population to 1.3 million. This year's hunt will be the largest hunt of any marine mammal in the world. New census data on the current size of the herd has not been released by the DFO.

more..........

[xxqqqzme]

41. what is it w/ 'far east'

cultures and genitals as aphrodisiacs? Will the genitals of ANY animal do? Is there any animal, whose genitals R exempt from this practice? Is this a one liner added 2 stories like this because 'everybody knows' those asians love their genital aphrodisiacs?

[blindpig]

46. more dick medicine

Ah, the mysteries of the East! How can a culture that has given humankind so much persist with such harmful idiocy?

As far as the Newfoundlanders are concerned I have little pity, they have shit in their easter basket and are now looking for another basket to shit in. It's hard for me to be concerned about people who deplete their livelihood in the face of constant scientific warnings. They can get jobs in restocking projects or go on the dole.

As has been said, there's something wrong with the ecosystem if the seal population is far out of whack, the problem of melting sea ice and polar bears quite likely factors in here. As for the claim that the seals are depleting the cod stocks, that's lame and contemptible.

Yes, we certainly need to be concerned about species other than those charismatics, hell, my favorite beasts aren't even fuzzy. The African bush meat crisis comes to mind. But the sheer uselessness of this event, make-believe medicine, fashion, and make work make it repugnant.

We should kill only for need, not for want.

[Catchawave]

52. Well stated, thank you!

It also made me think of the Alice Walker quote:

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."

[Catchawave]

54. Coast Guard Icebreaker Amundsen Attempts Ramming of the Farley Mowat

http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_050329_1.html

Photo and article

[flvegan]

56. Boy, oh boy, but I DO love Capt. Watson and Sea Shepherd.

Glad the govt. up there is standing up for what's right...greed.

[Catchawave]

57. Buy the shirt ! It supports their efforts not to mention

it is really a cool looking shirt ! See it here:

http://store.estreet.com/seashepherd/Detail.bok?no=53

[Catchawave]

58. Boycott Canadian Seafood

http://www.sealhunt.ca/home.html

Excerpt:

Please do all you can to help end the Canadian commercial seal hunt. Here individuals, organizations, government officials, and businesses can find suggestions, information, and materials (printed information, advertising, radio and television spots, and more) to help you do more to help the seals.

[Catchawave]

61. Tuesday Night Kick for the Seal Babies :)

Rest their little "corporate" bodies :(

[MrSlayer]

62. Heartless motherfuckers.

How anyone could club this animal to death is beyond me.

[Minstrel Boy]

63. nobody is!

It has been against the law since 1997 to hunt the seal you depict.

It's not that I'm an advocate of the hunt, so much as I am of an informed opinion.

[MrSlayer]

64. Why does the story say it then?

"Permission has been granted by the Canadian authorities for at least 319,500 harp seals to be shot or clubbed to death over the next month. About 95 per cent of these will be less than three months old. Images of young harp seals being bludgeoned to death around Quebec's Isles de la Madeleine in the Gulf will be beamed around the world."


:shrug:

[Minstrel Boy]

68. Because the seal in your picture has a white coat.

"Harp seals can be legally hunted once they have moulted their white coat, which occurs at about 12-14 days of age. However, they are not usually hunted until they reach the "beater" stage of development at around 25 days old."
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/faq_e.htm

I know, that's still young. But your picture misrepresents which seals are hunted.

[MrSlayer]

70. How's this?

[Minstrel Boy]

71. I'm not really up on my seal species, but

that looks more like it. All I know is the little white pups are off limits.

[MrSlayer]

72. Those are harp seals.

Cute little buggers even after they shed the white coat.

[chlamor]

73. Hunting in a sacred manner

With care for your surroundings and the spirit manifest in your actions.

Industrial agriculture is toxic and dispiriting.
Industrial fishing is a recipe for depletion and poisoning the waters and your body.
Industrial logging leads to a bombed out landscape, siltation and mudslides.
When all the debris is cleared from these discussions you see the seal clubbing as part of the same picture in the horrific show of savage capitalism.

We have lost the way.

The arrogance of humanism.

[Catchawave]

75. That brown spot on the side of his face

may make him club worthy ? That would indicate moulting is occuring which is within the rules.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

65. I told myself I wouldn't read this thread

But I just had to. I am outraged by this horrendous practice. I really HATE people so much of the time!