320,000 Seals to be killed in Canada

[Zuni]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1448808,00.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I think that already happened wednesday

[flvegan]

2. The hunt started March 29th and goes through May. 320,000 is the quota.

http://www.protectseals.org/

[Yupster]

57. Honestly, I hadn't heard of this in years

I really thought it had been ended years ago.

I'm surprised and disgusted that it's still allowed to go on.

Isn't Canada better than this?

Canadians - is this going to be stopped soon? Is there a serious movement to stop it?

[elare]

59. Another article to read

This one put out by Fisheries and Oceans Canada

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/infomedia/2005/im01_e.htm

Form your own opinions after reading it.

[xultar]

3. 42% were alive when skinned. THAT IS EVIL!!! n/t

[Maple]

4. They're not alive

It's reflexes, like when you cut the head off a chicken

[flvegan]

8. You must be one of the fisheries officers that are supposed to make

sure that the sealers are following humane guidelines. You know, the ones that, this year, aren't even getting off the friggin boats, you're so bloody sure of yourself.

A good number of them are alive, and your post shows your ignorance.

[Maru Kitteh]

16. Zoologist are we? Seal expert perhaps?

How do you know? Chicken does not equal seal.



is not a



Does it make you feel better to believe, contradictory to the veterenarians on the scene that they are not alive when they are skinned? Just because it makes you feel better does not make it truth. I'll take the words of the educated professionals who are present first hand, myself.

[flvegan]

23. BTW, here's a quote from Rebecca Aldworth

who, as a rep for HSUS, is ACTUALLY OUT THERE, witnessing this bullshit:

"We've seen seals that were moving around and breathing, that have been left in these piles, some left conscious and crawling,"

But..."they're not alive" right? Crawling is the result of reflexes.

[HEyHEY]

25. Bullshit

Who told you that fucking lie?

No, I don't support this hunt.

[flvegan]

27. You should read the article BEFORE going into meltdown.

Quote from the article:

"She said tests carried out in previous seasons on cubs that had been clubbed and skinned showed that 42% were still conscious when skinned."

[HEyHEY]

28. I read the article, I'm not going into meltdown

In fact I'm following this story today and am currently awaiting a call from someone on the ice floes.

[flvegan]

29. Your post sounded like meltdown to me. This call...sealer? protester?

Canadian Coast Guard?

[HEyHEY]

30. Protester

[flvegan]

31. Excellent. Please post what they say/tell you, be it

good, bad or indifferent.

[HEyHEY]

33. yup

However I must warn you if this person doesn't get back to me by four I won't be able to post as I'm leavng ASAP to drive four hours to Vancouver.

[flvegan]

34. Of course. But if you'd be kind enough to either

post it whenever at a later date/time in the veg group, or PM it to me, I'd be much obliged.

Drive safe.

[xultar]

54. It was in the article? Did you even read the article??? n/t

[HEyHEY]

56. The article is bullshit

[ryan_cats]

50. That's for damn sure.

There's a special place in hell for these people who torture animals.

[flvegan]

5. The truth behind the hunt, shown in picture format.

WARNING: Graphic content.

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/seal.html

[Maple]

6. Take photos of your supper

at the abbatoir.

[flvegan]

9. As a vegan, none of my supper suffers to feed me.

[NickB79]

58. That's odd

I've seen plenty of animals run through combines and other farm machinery while grain is being harvested. Field mice, songbirds, gophers, raccoons, possums, pheasants, turkeys, even whitetail deer (very messy). I'm pretty sure that wasn't a very pleasant way for those animals to go.

[Kool Kitty]

13. The seals aren't being slaughtered for their meat,

they are being killed for their pelts. (Not that it makes the suffering of animals in the abbatoir in any way right.) And, being a vegetarian, animals don't suffer for my meals.

[Zuni]

17. killing animals for food is natural for omnivores, carnivores

killing animals for fashion is not. My cat does not kill the occasional mouse to show it off.

[flvegan]

24. You're right. This (graphic) photo shows the "remains"

lots of leftover seal, but no skin...

[Maru Kitteh]

18. As another vegan, (yay vegans!) I can tell you

I have no problem looking my potatoes square in the eyes, or seeing photos of slaughtered cabbages and carrots.

:thumbsup:

[HEyHEY]

26. I'm tired of this shit

(Seal - Fur - 21) It's not hard to interpret the expression on the face of this innocent baby harp seal. "Why are you doing this to us? Please stop the killing."

Stop putting words in Animals mouths. Take this seriously and stop treating them like they are human. This whole thing is terrible, but that seal isn't saying "Why are you doing this?" It's sying "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

[Maru Kitteh]

61. Some of those go to far but you are also equally wrong

If you do not realize that inteligent mammals like this are perfectly capable of thought and feelings it's because you've closed your heart, your mind or both. Either that or you just haven't spent much time with animals.

[Kool Kitty]

7. This is a cruel and

unnecessary slaughter.

[Minstrel Boy]

10. And 300,000 human beings have been killed in Darfur.

March 30: "Darfur Death Toll Nears 300,000"

Oh, and nine billion chickens are killed every year in the United States.

But seals - OMIGOD! - those big, watery eyes....

[flvegan]

11. Back with your limits on compassion again, I see.

[Minstrel Boy]

12. Just a little perspective.

Sorry you find it so objectionable.

[Kool Kitty]

14. Mintrel Boy, I do see your point.

I am horrified by both.

[Zuni]

15. does that make clubbing seals ok?

beating a sea mammal to death is ok because Sudan is a genocidal slaveocracy?
I have been speaking out on the Sudan as one of the world's most severe human rights issues long before it started recieving press attention. There is no doubt that it is beyond awful.

But the Sudan does not make seal beating ok.

[Minstrel Boy]

19. Seals are a sexy cause. Africans aren't.

That was my point.

There is a lot of cultural imperialism regarding this issue. Both issues, in fact.

A lot of people object to the blood on the ice. The far greater bloodshed in the abattoir, not so much. Because it's out of sight, and they are consumers of those products.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. abattoir is a sexy word

for a slaughter factory. I for one am very happy that you bring up the factories of barbarism and death that exist in the dark and well guarded areas of our nation and it's conscience. The more people are moved to feel some measure of compassion for these seals and see that comparison, the better to make them think of the suffering brought about by their own eating habits. More people adapting more compassion in their lives the more likely we are to have a world with fewer horrors such as those of Darfur.

Less of this:

Could lead to less of this:

The only thing you get by limiting compassion is less compassion. There's already far too little of that.

[flvegan]

21. Excellent points.

[Minstrel Boy]

37. I appreciate your compassion, but I think we need to triage.

Prioritize the injuries to the world, and to ourselves. Attend first to the most desperate situations.

While emotions get whipped up over the managed hunt of an abundant population, whole species are vanishing, people are being slaughtered in the hundreds of thousands, and the Earth teeters on the brink of catastrophic systems failure.

In the context of the planet and humanity's converging crises, the amount of energy expended here and elsewhere by well-meaning people on the seal hunt is - I'm sorry - absurd. It's a distraction. A moral luxury we can't afford.

[flvegan]

43. I understand what you're saying.

What would be your top three? Seriously, out of curiosity.

[Minstrel Boy]

47. I don't think I could narrow it down to the top three right now.

I might if I had time, but I need to get going soon. It would probably be easier to list a hundred alarming situations that deserve more attention than the seal hunt.

[Crunchy Frog]

60. For someone who doesn't think the seal hunt

deserves much attention, you seem to be giving it quite alot. Rather than expending so much of your psychological energy worrying about what other people think about an issue you don't regard as important, maybe you should be focusing your attention more on those issues that you regard as most important.

I'm only pointing this out because I've noticed that your posts seem to dominate most of the threads that deal with this issue. If it's so absurd to be focusing attention on it, then your behavior is, by your own definition, absurd.

Frankly, I intend to decide for myself which moral luxeries I can and can't afford. I'll expect you to make the same decisions for yourself.

[Maru Kitteh]

62. THANK YOU CRUNCHY FROG

You posted my next post for me.

[Minstrel Boy]

63. Dominate the threads?

I don't think so. This is my seventh post in this thread; flvegan, for one, has more than twice that. Maybe my posts appear to stand out because they're contrary to the consensus.

And of course, decide for yourself. That's, basically, my point. I have. And I'm sorry some people are upset by it.

[HEyHEY]

38. Dennis Leary

"what do you do?"
"I'm an otter I make cute little human gestures with my hands and swim around."
"YOu're free to go."
"What are you?"
"I'm a cow"
"No you're a bseball glove, get on the fucking truck"

[Dutch]

49. Beyond cynical, just plain sick

Trying to hide this orgy of savagery bedind the tragedy of Darfur. Hey, believe it or not, some people somehow manage to have compassion for both humans AND animals! Does prioritising humans over animals mean we should simply abandon animals to the most sickening, unnecesary cruelty? Both the Darfur and what's going in Canada are avoidable tragedies, even if of different orders- and decent people should be working against both, even if it involves the horrifying admission that bad things happen in their country, too.

[FrankieBud]

22. Seals are mammals just like us.

They deserve our respect.

[SidDithers]

32. That's it, I'm turning vegan...

Where does one go to hunt veegs?

Sid

[flvegan]

36. Have you got a veeg hunting license?

The season is very short, by the way (thankfully).

[rowire]

35. We Don't Want Them to Starve

Isn't this done to prevent overpopulation and starvation of the seal population? Maybe it's the humane thing to do. It certainly is being done for sport .... is it?

[flvegan]

39. It's done for two reasons:

1. Money. Pelts bring in some cash, seal oil some more, "meat" a little more;
2. The cod. Cod fishing is a huge industry, and it's been overfished for decades by the human fisherman. Cod makes up about 3% of the seal's diet. So, it's easier to kill any/all competition rather than doing the ecologically responsible thing.

It has nothing to do with overpopulation. It has even less to do with anything remotely humane. As for sport, bashing a defenseless seal, that's less than even a few months old, in the head with a spiked pole is little sport. I would guarantee that any real hunter would agree with me.

[HEyHEY]

42. The Cod thing is a lie

Seals hardly take any portion out I'm told, but the sealers blow up the impact

[flvegan]

45. That's exactly the point I was making.

3% is pretty diminimus, considering. Maybe that's just my perception?? That's what I meant to communicate, that the fishermen blame the seals, setting this whole hunt in motion.

[HEyHEY]

51. They try the same shit on the west coast

Blaming seals.. every biologist says they're wrong... but that doesn't stop em

[rowire]

44. Clothing and Feeding People Is Not So Bad

Pelts bring in some cash, seal oil some more, "meat" a little more;<<

I don't think clothing and feeding people is a bad thing.

[flvegan]

46. No, it's not. Vanity is, though.

If pelts were going to clothe poor/needy natives or Inuit, you'd hardly get a peep from me. The pelts are going to luxury fashion houses to clothe the wealthy.

[HEyHEY]

41. That can be a straw argument depending on who you speak to

Awful convenient that animals without valuable fur are never in danger of starvation.

[MisterP]

55. quite right

[ArkDem]

40. Somebody needs to tell Jesse Ventura!

[Dutch]

48. utterly sick and tragic

But I'm distrubed by the comments of some of our Canadian friends here who seem to be downplaying this atrocity; it's easy to paint Canada as a northern Utopia to which all right-thinking Americans shoudl flee, but God forbid you should actually have to do a bit of self examination.

[Minstrel Boy]

52. about painting Canada as a "utopia"

I think I've said it before on the board, such talk embarrasses me.

As for self-examination, that's what I'm doing. I have no personal stake in the seal hunt. It would be easy to adopt, without reflection, the majority opinion, or not to say anything at all. But it's because I have reflected on this that I chose to speak up, even though I knew my perspective would be unpopular.

[Synnical]

53. Humane Society US to Announce Global Boycott

http://tinyurl.com/6kfc2

The Humane Society of the United States to Announce Global Boycottof Canadian Seafood In Response to Seal Hunt

To: Assignment Desk and Daybook Editor

Contact: Tracey McIntire of the Humane Society of the United States, 301-548-7793 or [e-mail]

News Advisory:

WHAT: Press conference to announce plans to implement boycott of Canadian seafood products.

A 10-person team from The Humane Society of the United States will be returning from Eastern Canada where they documented Canada's annual seal hunt. They saw weeks-old seals being clubbed and shot for their fur. The Canadian government supports the hunt despite strong worldwide opposition.

The boycott announcement coincides with the implementation of country-of-origin labeling requirement for seafood products.

WHO:

-- Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president & CEO

-- Rebecca Aldworth, HSUS director of Canadian wildlife issues

-- Aldworth, a native of Newfoundland who has observed Canada's annual seal hunt for the past six years, will discuss her experiences and her efforts to campaign against the hunt, which has increased significantly in recent years. The quota for the 2005 hunt is more than 300,000 seals.

-- Wayne Pacelle will discuss how consumers can join The HSUS' campaign against the seal hunt, and why ending the commercial seal hunt has become one of the organization's top priorities.

WHERE: National Press Club, Lisagor Room, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. (13th Floor).

A telephone line to the press conference will be available. Please contact Tracey McIntire for instructions and reservations.

WHEN: Monday, April 4 at 10 a.m.

MEDIA CONTACT: Tracey McIntire, 301-548-7793 or [e-mail]

For more information, visit http://www.protectseals.org. An FTP site is also available for video footage and images. Contact Tracey McIntire for more information.



http://www.usnewswire.com/

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/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/