save the seals

[KarinGarage]

this is really shocking and disturbing. i can't believe this sort of thing is still going on.

Save Baby Seals: End the Seal Hunt

Each year, hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals are slaughtered on the ice fields off Canada's east coast for their pelts. Over 95% of the seals killed during this hunt are just days or weeks old.

If you were to witness this cruelty personally, your heart would break. Newborn seals skinned or bled alive ... clubbed to death ... or shot and left wounded to die under the ice.

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

Please help us show the Canadian government the rest of the world will no longer stand for this inexcusable and senseless hunt.

for more info go to:

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=21446

[CodyBanks]

Karin in Canada we take our built up aggression out on helpless baby seals. The good old USA likes to invade other countries and kill helpless people. you have your pass times we have our own.

[Schwa.]

that's bunk.

NOTHING justifies either.

First, its the American government that does the invading and killing, NOT the people. The two are becoming more and more distinct every year.

I can't honestly think you're serious Cody, but if you are, thats bullsh!t.

[MasterShake]

yeah! what she said!

[niffermouse]

uh, yeah, what she said...that kinda finishes it doesn't it. (actually I can't read that much text on a screen, but it looked good!)

It is a barbaric act and don't condone it in any way but if it continues to be done couldn't they at least make it more humane? Beating anything over the head with a club is...well I don't have the words for it....wrong period.

I have to print this out to read if that is okay with Sugar Megs. I think her paper sound very interesting.

[SaggyBalls]

nothing wrong with the clubbing...just do the job right.

it's not nice but really...there are more important things to fight for.

the seals are cute and all, but the hunters will have to deal with that when it's their time.

[Gr8FuL]

I've seen footage of this and its not done in a humane way at all, if they are gonna harvest the seals then they could make sure they Do it without causing the seals any suffering!

I've got nothing against em harvesting those seals except for the way they do it.

[Stapes]

Funny Related Link

Edited April 11, 2005 by Guest

[Diggzz]

It is no more inhumane than the way all other animals are killed, pigs, cows and chickens just aren't as furry and cute as seals. They hunt is strictly monitored by all relevant animal rights agencies, these people depend on the seals for their livlihood.

[Esau]

As a father of a Russian/Cree/Inuit 19 year old daughter who lives in Nunavut and who is opposed to the Canadian goverment contracting the hunting out to non-Inuit business,I have to disagree.If it was only the Inuit doing this for their livihood I wouldn't disagree but sadly it is not them making the majority of the money but non-Inuit people & businesses that are.

[Diggzz]

Alright i can accept that as I am no expert, I do stand by my statement that it is no more inhumane than the slaughter of beef, pork, chicken etc...sure it's not nice, but it's a fact of life that has been around forever.

[Esau]

Well intruth I am no "expert" but I have spent alot of time in the territories & having freinds who work for Dennigers,who also slaughters cows,pigs chickens at least those animals are not left to die slowly but instead are quickly slaughtered with what I call a glorified nail gun between the eyes.Still not pretty but more humane in my opinion then smacking an animal 4,5,6,7 or 10 times to killing it.

Maybe that has changed to a similar style of killing at these places now-a-days,honestly I wouldn't know though being as I do not work in that field.

I'm not against the seal hunt per se,just the killing of millions in the sole name of profit and sadly not by the people who really rely on the seal for mere survival.

As far as I have learned over the years the Inuit wouldn't kill millions as their beliefs in hunting are to take what you need and leave the rest for future generations since survival isn't as easy in the north & beef,chicken or pork cost tenfold what we would ever pay for it as it has to be transported north(this I know first hand going to Iqaluit in 1999),I know they sell pelts and what not for their livihood,but they also use as much of the animal as possible,somthing that is not happening here.

[KarinGarage]

Diggzz- at least the cow's already dead before they start carving steaks off of it. some of those seals are still berathing and crying out as their being skinned.

and i agree with Esau, i have no problem with native people trying to continue their way of life as they have for centuries, but not with just anybody who's trying to make a buck being contracted by the government.

[Diggzz]

Hey it's not just me, if it were really as inhumane as you say, the WWF would never let it happen which they have no problems with. Protesting is just as much about marketing as it is about the actual events they are protesting.

Read this...

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Ottawa/Michael_Harris/2004/04/16/422732.html

[Esau]

Ok,I've read that...didn't read anything about the Inuit though,just folks south of the 60th.

[Diggzz]

Seal hunt in general, original post was about seal hunting off the east Coast anyways. To touch on the point in the article about marketing, Greenpeace isn't even protesting this year beacause THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2004/tgr042604.htm

[Diggzz]

Hell Paris Hilton is the poster girl for the protesters, that should tell you all you need to know right there. She's probably got 6 pairs of sealskin UGG's sittin in her closet...

[Esau]

THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT.

Well that says enough for me to discontinue any conversation in this matter.

I believe that the survival of a people (economically or otherwise) who are losing their lanuage,traditions,food & basic way of life as it has been for alot longer then anyone below the 60th is VERY IMPORTANT.Especially when the prime objective is soley profit & not survival.Guess its important to me because I have blood living there.

That was my point in this whole thread.

[Diggzz]

I've never said anything against the indiginous (sp?)peoples rights in this matter. Maybe I'm just looking at it from a different angle than you. In fact I have been focusing more on the East Coast protesters against Newfoundlanders moreso than the Inuit. To tell you the truth I really don't know much about how the hunt affects the Inuit. In fact I would say most of the protesters don't even have the rights of indiginous people on their minds, they are protesting the "barbaric" seal hunt and nothing else.

[Esau]

Saving People and Seals: Renewed Call for A New "Made in Canada" Approach Says The Humane Society of Canada (HSC)

Over the next three years, the province of Newfoundland & Labrador, has sanctioned the killing of 975,000 seals in the largest taxpayer subsidized slaughter of marine mammals on earth. The Humane Society of Canada believes it's time for a new approach, because there are more seals being killed today than when the protests began more than 30 years ago," says Hickey.

Less than 3% of the total population of 517,000 people living in Newfoundland & Labrador hold sealing permits, and even fewer actually participate in the hunt itself. O'Sullivan says that protests drive home the harsh reality of the seal hunt, but not the futility and the reasons behind the largest taxpayer subsidized slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Those who kill seals for several weeks each year are fishermen for the rest of the year - or at least they used to be.

http://www.humanesociety.com/newsrel/newsrel.asp?thisrel=14032005&page=1

I don't see how it cannot effect the Inuit,given the statistics.

Anyway,our views obviously different as are our concerns.

[Diggzz]

I just never looked at it that way, and I truly feel that the people protesting don't look at it that way either, hence my Paris Hilton comment. If this was really about what's right for the native people, why would protesters use someone who's only claim to fame is being in a homemade porn that made it's way to the internet, they obviously just want the publicity, which in turn gets them more donations. That's my cynical, business brain working. I agree that the Inuit should be supported, I don't see how this protest really addresses their concerns though. Whatever, agree to disagree I guess.

[KarinGarage]

the seal hunting itself is not what really bothers me, it's the inhumane way in which it's carried out.

[Diggzz]

Well that goes back to my original comment that the killing of all other forms of food can be just as inhumane, you just don't get to see it out on public display like the seal hunt.

[Esau]

First,as I mentioned already I am not against the seal hunt per se,but against the people who are really profiting from it.Second,my point wasn't to debate whether the protests are right or wrong,I have stated for years that these protests are misguided,all the time forgetting the people (in my eyes this is an extremely important issue) who are effected most by this(protests & the hunt),mainly the Inuit,but as we read in the link I provided Newfoundlander's also,but sadly they are the only ones ever mentioned moreless not the Inuit.I still feel it is inhumane since they beat the seals to death and why? Becasue bullets leave holes in pelts and holes mean less profit...no other reason.Also,no matter what there are seals being killed that are not suppose to be killed,its definaltey not monitored as tightly people seem to think.

Edited April 12, 2005 by Guest

[Esau]

Ok since this board will not let me post everything I have to say in one post I will post the rest here....

...Sadly,a picture of an Inuit hunter or unemployed Newfoundlnader will only solicit so much support from the general public,so we are treated to dipshits like Hilton or Pam Anderson etc since its somthing that the younger generation relates to.Although that is my (perhaps misguided) opinion.

Edited April 12, 2005 by Guest