Seal slaughter in Canada

Is it possible that nobody here cares enough about that barbarity to post about it? (Just a question.)

I am not including any links because I am sure that everyone here knows - or should know - how to retrieve information themselves.

And anyone hoping for a heated argument should be warned that I am not going to be sucked into any kind of dispute. There is nothing to discuss; and, quite frankly, I owe it to myself to refuse "discussion" with anyone who doesn't see for himself or herself what is "wrong" with the situation.

It is a crying shame that seals are being slaughtered, and it seems like there are people out there in the world, who don't care when that is just the opposite.

I hate to see it as well and it does shock me,
I don’t know the full in's and outs of it though but I do feel it’s very cruel,

If they are killed properly then I have heard it’s very quick and it causes no distress,
But I fear it’s the ones that don’t really carry out the proper procedure,

Just like anything else though people lives depend on such trades,
Europe are trying to take a stand possibly in the future by not allowing seal imports, this may effect the amount killed every year,

I personal hate to see any animal hurt; I don’t think a topic like this can really not go in to a heated discussion,
There are so many ins and outs and rights and wrongs from all sides,
What does concern me is that the media have been banned from this,

Seals are very prolific. The cull is necessary to ensure the fish stocks are not further depleted. And yes, there are some that don't kill the animals properly. Enforcing that is damn near impossible though.

THANK YOU (and yes, I am shouting ; )) for your reaction.
It clearly shows who you are...

I HATE quoting and name-dropping, but Gandhi really was right when he said that people's treatment of animals is the ultimate measure of any society or "civilisation".

I am sure the two of you are aware of it, but for the benefit of others I'll include this URL to a click-to-donate (free) site:

Save Baby Seals


You know, clicking - and, in my case, a two-year (so far) boycott of Canadian goods (which pains me for all those wonderful Canadians out there) - may not help.

But NOT clicking (and boycotting) is SURELY not going to help.





[edit on 28-3-2008 by Vanitas]

What a typically assinine comment from a typical {snip] Let's all post something on a discussion board- not for discussion!

You want to cry about the propaganda pics from Newfoundland etc, where this has been happening hundreds of years and is an essential part of these villages economies? Go ahead. You won't get any discussion from me...

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Edited out name calling

please read Courtesy is mandatory

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 28/3/08 by masqua]

reply to post by Vanitas

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Do you eat fish? How about veal? Pork anyone?

There is a lot more to do with this than just the baby seals. Many (almost all coastal) northeastern villages entire economies' depend on the seal hunt, which they have been participating in for hundreds of years. Although the seal hunt is am large issue, it pains me to see how little respect our peoples of the north and their culture get from people, based on the fact that seals are cute. People have been surviving (and hunting seal) in the arctic/subarctic long before any Europeans ever showed up in North America, and now it is our right (as people who have never lived in the arctic/SA) to tell these people how to live?

I am not saying that the seal hunt is right or wrong, but for gods sake keep in mind that peoples food, heating oil, and ultimately the roofs over their heads are dependent on this hunt.

If anything, these people absolutely need to be provided with an alternative means of income before any steps are taken to quell the hunt.

But hey, seals are cute, so these people should not be allowed to feed there families through this. They should be shipped south into a rez so the ignorant natives don't do any more damage to their environment (/sarcasm).

EDITED: I never knew the seal hunt took place only in ATL waters, I thought the hunt extended much more to the NW and into the Arctic ocean. I guess the anti hunt propaganda (all over bus stops here for some reason) is filling my head with unnaccurate information.

Here is a great non biased story on the hunt from CBC that includes the facts agreed on by both sides of the hunt issue.

[edit on 28-3-2008 by WuTang]

reply to post by WuTang

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You hit the nail on the head with that one.

Unfortunately, it doesn`t matter. The counter to all of those statements is banter about "moving forward", "joining the community of nations", government subsidies, economic replacement with baby seal watching tours, and so forth. I wonder if sea shepherd will make an appearance this year?

reply to post by WuTang

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I am not talking about "cute", WuTang.
(I am not THAT fascist.)

I am talking about LIFE being willfully, arbitrarily - AND with brutal sadism - taken away from animals who have every right to live, regardless of how inconvenient that may be for Homo ignorans - the only animal on this Earth who really needs "culling" (and dutifully gets on with it every single day, but that should not concern other living creatures).







[edit on 28-3-2008 by Vanitas]

reply to post by Vanitas

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How about when every seal willfully eats a cod.

According to your arguement (the preservation of life), we should extinct the seals, as one seal over its lifetime must slaughter 1000s of cod in its never ending quest to satisfy it's greedy belly. I find cod to be an amazing animal and value its life over those greedy mammals, who violently slaughter schools of this wonderful creature.

That is right, I can write paragraphs of rhetoric too. I can emphasize words that make people think negatively about the issue at hand without inserting any real information or logic into the discussion.

To deny any animal the right to kill any other would be to deny nature. Maybe you should shift the focus of your arguement towards how many seals are killed vs how many these people need to hunt to sustain themselves (are they overhunting?).

Inserting rhetoric about how killing animals is wrong does nothing to help either side of this debate (although the ads on my bus stops beg to differ).

Would you mind answering my questions?

As much as it pains me to say so. Culling of seals is necessary to keep a balance. Much like white tailed deers are culled in Ohio and other parts to prevent their starving to death in winter and cut down on auto deer collisions. Seals are voracious predators. A recent story I read in Wyoming? of some crafty ones that lay in wait at dams to feast on chinook salmon runs.
Do I wish this wasn't necessary. Of course I do. Do I wish our environment was so pristine fish populations were abundant enough to suffice mans and seals appetite, you betcha. But that just simple isn't the case anymore. I would be all for strict regs on just how these seals are culled with large penalties for non compliance. Baseball bats don't count as humanitarian. I can't even believe myself as I type this, jpm the baby seal killer supporter, but it is what it is.

I hope you weren't addressing me, because there is a good chance I won't be returning to this thread (and others) very often, and I wouldn't like to come across as impolite (by lack of reply, that is).


Do I eat fish, veal, pork?

No.
I haven't eaten red meat since August 1986 (and fish for a few years now), even though I adored eating meat.

And I didn't give it up for my health (although it has some very obvious benefits); if anything, I did it for the animals' "health".

(OK, mine too: my moral and spiritual health. )





[edit on 28-3-2008 by Vanitas]

I don't like the seal cull, but I understand why it happens. Canada is a country that depends on natural resources and we need to keep a balance.

We kill thousands of tons of fish each year in a much crueler way (dump them live in slush) and nobody ever complains about that.

Bumping for visibility purposes only.

(Hate me if you must. ; )

OK, fine. Do you object to the rest of us eating fish or veal?

reply to post by intrepid

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Not at al Intrepid. AS a matter of fact, I support the cull.

Sorry, I was referring to Vanitas. For some reason my "reply to" button isn't working.

reply to post by intrepid

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I have to agree with Intrepid on this one. You also have to realize that for starters, humans are the cause of natures unbalance. We have taken more than we need for survival over the years because of greed and $.
So now we try to balance it out by culling masses of animals so others may survive. I don't agree with harming any animal yet I do like a good BBQ steak every once and a while.

Hmmm maybe the answer to all our problems is the cloning of all the life stock that is near extinction. Providing it was proven to be safe, I would eat a slab of meat grown in a lab as opposed to killing the original species to fulfill my meatatarian needs.

There are two sides to every argument and I can see the point on both sides of this one.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by QBSneak000]