Beatle Backs Seals

[StoneMtn]

Beatle Backs Seals

by Natalie Finn

Feb 28, 2006, 5:50 PM PT

Paul McCartney and his wife, Heather Mills, want Canadian seal hunters to get back.

The couple, longtime animal-rights activists, are heading to the icy Canadian Maritimes to spend time watching harp seals frolic in their natural habitat. They're hoping this magical mystery tour draws enough attention to the furry mammals' plight to end the centuries-old annual seal hunt in the region.

Rebecca Aldworth, director of Canadian wildlife issues for the Humane Society of the United States, told the Toronto Star that McCartney and his missus will be in touch with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the issue.

"They are taking a very strong stand against the commercial sea hunt and are going to be devoting their energies to making this a global issue," Aldworth said.

The McCartneys will travel by helicopter Thursday and Friday to the ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to reach the seals. The hunt usually runs from mid-March to mid-April, but unseasonably warm temperatures may delay it this year, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada.

A lack of ice might make the seal-spotting more difficult for Mills and McCartney, as well, since the harp seals use the bergs to give birth to their pups.

Whatever they do see will no doubt be adorable. However, the pups' fluffy white coats are what make them so attractive to hunters, who find use for the fur, skin and meat--and have been doing so for years. Ending the clubbing of baby seals was a hot celebrity cause in the 1970s and '80s, when stars like Martin Sheen and Brigitte Bardot appeared in ad campaigns featuring baby seals being bludgeoned in the ocean.

In the mid-80s Europe limited seal product imports, and Canada banned the killing of whitecoats (newborn seals) in 1987. But new markets opened in China and Russia in the '90s and the price of pelts started inching back upward.

Canada allows 325,000 seals to be killed per year and that quota was promptly filled in 2005, earning fishermen about $16.5 million in revenue. Those who support the tradition think the McCartneys should stick to rock concerts.

"He'll go out there and cuddle up to a whitecoat and they look beautiful, you can't get away from that, and it is cruel, you can't get away from that either, but it's something we've done for 500 years," sealer Jack Troake told the Toronto Star. "It's part of our culture, our history."

But maybe all you need is protest. In 2004, the Canadian government counted 5.9 million harp seals on the country's east coast, up from 2 million in the '70s. The British government is considering a ban on seal goods. And the European group Respect for Animals, which helped coordinate McCartney's trip, is discouraging taking trips to Canada as a sign of solidarity for the cause.

McCartney and Mills have had a standing reputation as friends of animals big and small. In November the rocker vowed he would never perform in China after seeing a BBC report on dogs and cats being killed there for their fur.

Mills, a former model, is an avid PETA supporter who launched a boycott of J. Crew last year, calling for the retailer to end sales of fur products--which it did, 11 weeks later.

article here.

[Freak By Night]

If they wear leather, or are not vegan, their argument holds no water.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Guest
Oops.. poor choice of words!

[bouche]

McCartney was on PBS the other night doing a private intimate show in the Abbey Road studios. It was pretty damn cool. He played with a bunch of toys from the beatle recording days, played Elvis Presley's bassists Bass and did a solo rendition of "That's Alright Mama", a killer slow version on piano of Lady Madonna, and a wicked campfire solo acoustic version of I've Got A Feeling.

story[/url

Check it out if it'll be on PBS again.

[StoneMtn]

Freak By Night:

Do you know that they're not vegan and do wear leather?

Besides, I disagree with your comment anyway. An argument has nothing to do with the person who says it. The argument, itself, is sound or specious; regardless of who says it. Your comment is addressing only whether the MacCartney's are the ones who should make that argument, rather than someone else. Pretend this article was about two people who are definitely non-leather-wearing vegans.

It's easy to put down someone else's efforts and argument without adding any comment of your own. Do you have any comment to add? For instance, it sounds like you are implying you support the seal hunt. Why?

[Im going home Donny]

my sister in Halifax recently sent me a request to request support in regards to the anti seal hunt movement. She appears to be apart of some organization and they are looking for people to help from across the country.

Being such a touchy fucking subject I decided to not really broach it but since its here now I'll just say if anyone here is against the seal hunt and is looking to get involved I can forward the e-mails she has sent me to your e-mail address if you pm me your info.

[rubberdinghy]

What's the difference between hunting baby seals, and hunting deer?

Nothing in my opinion...If a baby seal gets clubbed, and a deer gets shot, the poor animal is still dead.

So why do the baby seals get all of the attention? What about the baby cows that are raised for veal?

Man...I could go for a burger.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

what about the cod folks? is anyone thinking about the cod?

oh and RD- that just made me howl!

mmmm burrrrgerrrr.....

Edited March 1, 2006 by Guest
maybe a seal burger actually

[rubberdinghy]

gotta lighten things up sometimes.....

Just think of the baby carrots!

[Im going home Donny]

veal is disgusting and so are those who eat it...

haha hows that for lightening the mood....heehaw...

I heart baby carrots.

[TheGoodRev]

veal is disgusting and so are those who eat it...

I think that's a perfectly objective judgment to make, and you are perfectly qualified to make that judgment.

I won't even bother with the purple, it detracts from the seething bite I wish to add to the above sarcasm.

[Diggzz]

It's not like this is a fun past-time thing for the sealers(?), this is their livelyhood, it even states in the article that numbers are actually on the rise, it's not like they are going extinct. They rely on the money they make to living.

[Freak By Night]

Freak By Night:

Do you know that they're not vegan and do wear leather?

Besides, I disagree with your comment anyway. An argument has nothing to do with the person who says it. The argument, itself, is sound or specious; regardless of who says it. Your comment is addressing only whether the MacCartney's are the ones who should make that argument, rather than someone else. Pretend this article was about two people who are definitely non-leather-wearing vegans.

It's easy to put down someone else's efforts and argument without adding any comment of your own. Do you have any comment to add? For instance, it sounds like you are implying you support the seal hunt. Why?

My original post this morning, before I edited it, could have been interpreted as either uproaringly hilarious, or offensively insensitive. I posted it solely in the interest of getting a laugh, but decided I better change it before somebody really took me to task. What I changed it to doesn't really reflect my feelings on the matter. Nor does it get a laugh.

I'm against the seal hunt, not because baby seals are cute, but because I think fur coats are unnecessary in this day and age. Who wears these things anyway?

[Im going home Donny]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....seething bites....too funny.

qualifications...even funnier.

[Im going home Donny]

I heart baby carrotts....and this thread probably needs to move on over to the 'political' forum...

Edited March 1, 2006 by Guest

[Tooly]

yeah i agree that its pretty damn brutal to be clubbin baby seals, but, the ppl that do it are native ppls that have relied on this income for many many years, its just how things work

[Im going home Donny]

I know, I know....its soooo touchy because yup...the humans involved need to live too.

Canada should really be producing hemp and weed...would solve alot of problems in my not so humble opinion.

[Tooly]

I know, I know....its soooo touchy because yup...the humans involved need to live too.

Canada should really be producing hemp and weed...would solve alot of problems in my not so humble opinion.

agreed. on both points.

id happily be a hemp farmer

[StoneMtn]

yeah i agree that its pretty damn brutal to be clubbin baby seals, but, the ppl that do it are native ppls that have relied on this income for many many years, its just how things work

Yup. And the trade in slaves and human trafficking has gone on since before the beginnning of recorded history. It also continues, for economic reasons.

It's just how things work.

[dancingbear]

i own an "i club baby seals shirt".

lots of people in newfoundland own it. i wear it as it generates good discussion, and secondly it makes me look slimmer.

seiously though i support the hunt. it is the most regulated animal hunt in the world thanks to all the controversy surrounding it (talk is GOOD!).

seals are shot, not clubbed for the most part these days.

i support it as it seems engrained in the heritage here. it is people's livlihoods. the sealers know more and care more about this subject than most (your job is more than what you do, it defines you).

i object to IFAW.

the internatinal federation of animal welfare still posts out-dated picutres of the hunt on their 'propoganda'. salaries for thier top executives reached into six digits last year, with their major fundraiser being to stop the hunt.

most sealers earn under 30 000 per year, with i heard an average sealer making around 22 000 per year and with about 8 or 9 of that coming from the hunt.

for those of you who care, the hunt might not go on this year because of 'high' temperatures and less ice.

a great documentary is ...(scroll through the pictures and you might catch a glimpse of the unique and amazing place i live in is...not only physically but culturally which has so many implications for this thread)

My Ancestors Were Rogues and Murderers

Edited March 1, 2006 by Guest

[ollie]

(your job is more than what you do, it defines you)

I dunno. I think if Paul and Heather wanted to lobby the government to ban all computer programming I'd be behind them 100%.

[bouche]

I hate that "but it's my livelyhood" arguement.

Mainly because there are people that make a living doing things like Stripping, Prostitution, Gambling, Drug Smuggling, Destroying Businesses, Exploiting employees, outsourcing production to thirdworld countries that could say the same thing.

There HAS to be a better arguement than that, and I've seen that arguement 3 times today, and nothing else.

[bouche]

ewww!

It is important to note that each killing method is demonstrably cruel. Because sealers shoot at seals from moving boats, the pups are often only wounded. The main sealskin processing plant in Canada deducts $2 from the price they pay for the skins for each bullet hole they find—therefore sealers are loath to shoot seals more than once. As a result, wounded seals are left to suffer in agony—many slip beneath the surface of the water where they die slowly and are never recovered.

Perhaps the Seal skin buyers should be targetted a little more since they are the ones creating the industry.

[Im going home Donny]

I hate that "but it's my livelyhood" arguement.

Mainly because there are people that make a living doing things like Stripping, Prostitution, Gambling, Drug Smuggling, Destroying Businesses, Exploiting employees, outsourcing production to thirdworld countries that could say the same thing.

There HAS to be a better arguement than that, and I've seen that arguement 3 times today, and nothing else.

brave soul you are sir.

I'm impressed and fearfull for you as you enter this firepit.

[rubberdinghy]

My problem is, thier are greater problems in this world...

The hunt usually runs from mid-March to mid-April, but unseasonably warm temperatures may delay it this year, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada.

Global warming perhaps.

Click here.

How come Paul doesn't come around and check out my broken toe? it's cute and cuddly.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Perhaps the Seal skin buyers should be targetted a little more since they are the ones creating the industry.

Righto. The same applies to the demand end of the diamond industry as well, where there is clear (and brutal) human suffering on the supply end.