more about the canada seal cull ( DO NOT READ IF EASILY DISTRESSED)

[AA grumpy]

hello again and welcome to a special aa grumpy column.

i may be accused of reaction mongering but i have just picked up on this from the daily mail and felt i must post it as it shook even your seemingly hard hearted grumps.



the baby seal looks into the eyes of her executioner. Barely a flicker of emotion shows on the fisherman's face as he smashes a steel-tipped club into her mouth. She lies whimpering on the ice, blood pouring from her jaw and nose.

But she is not yet dead, so the sealer hits her in the face another four times before slamming a hooked "hakapik" club into her stomach and dragging her across the ice towards the ship.

Yet even this savagery is not enough to kill the poor creature.

A few seconds later, the pup starts wriggling furiously. She is clearly still alive, though in terrible agony. The fisherman smashes her head another three times.

I pray to myself that she is dead before she is skinned - but from where I am standing, it is impossible to tell.

Savage:'It's quite clear that the sealers are failing to adhere to the new regulations. It's the same old hunt we've seen in the past'

Sad to say, this pitiful scene was far from unique when I visited the Canadian ice floes last weekend to see whether the introduction of new rules designed to make the country's annual seal cull "humane" have been properly implemented.

Under these regulations, a pup must first be shot or battered into unconsciousness.

The fisherman then has to check that an animal is fully "insensible" before slicing open the arteries near its flippers, allowing the creature to "bleed out" before it can be skinned.

These rules were brought in to forestall a possible EU ban on the import of sealskins.

The European Commission is currently mulling over a ban which, if it becomes law, would destroy the sealing industry.

As Phil Jenkins, spokesman for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, explains: "We're trying to make sure there is no possible way that a seal could be skinned while it was irreversibly unconscious but not dead.

"It's really going the extra mile to make sure that it's as humane as it can be."

Having travelled to Nova Scotia to investigate the slaughter at close range, I can say categorically that the new rules are being completely ignored by the fishermen.

They are not even paying lip service to them.

To make matters worse, not only are the Canadian authorities making no attempts to enforce the legislation, they are also desperately trying to prevent the media and other observers witnessing what really goes on.

i spent almost a week on the east coast of Canada trying to observe the cull but at every step the local authorities did their best to stop me.

They consistently refused to issue the media and animal welfare campaigners with the necessary permits to observe the cull.

On Saturday afternoon, though, I finally managed to get hold of one (which has since been withdrawn).

Such obstructions are matched by the hostility of the sealers themselves, who have become increasingly aggressive towards independent observers.

On previous trips, Canadian fishermen have threatened me with knives, guns and hakapiks. Two years ago, when I visited the floes with a group of MEPs, we were involved in a high-speed car chase in which sealers repeatedly tried to force us off the road.

We were eventually forced to barricade ourselves into a hotel, where we remained for eight hours while officials from the European Commission and the U.S. embassy negotiated our release.

The authorities justify reporting restrictions by claiming that animal welfare campaigners and the media have consistently misrepresented the cull.

They claim that the images used to accompany reporting are, in some cases, decades out of date.

Loyola Sullivan, Canada's fisheries ambassador and head of the delegation to the EU, says: "We are not going to be bullied or blackmailed into forcing people who depend on the sealing industry out of their livelihoods using baseless allegations."

Yet when I finally made it to the ice floes on Saturday, in a helicopter provided by the Humane Society of the United States, the carnage was every bit as horrific as the pictures suggest.

seconds from death: An unwary seal is inches from safety as a hunter sneaks up behind it

It's a goner: The hunter washes blood from the seal's lifeless body in the icy waters

Swathes of ice were drenched in blood. Piles of carcasses lay steaming in the sunshine. Fishing boats were off-loading men armed with hakapiks.

They fanned out across the ice, killing all that came within range.

Many of the fishing boats were pouring seal blood into the sea, turning it scarlet. Other sealers were casually tossing the skinned bodies of pups into the sea.

A few will have been cutting the hearts out of the baby seals ready to eat for breakfast - an age-old tradition amongst sealers.

I witnessed dozens of seals being battered to death.

At "best" only one was killed in full accordance with the new regulations. About a quarter were tested for death before being skinned but we saw only one pup having its arteries sliced open and left to "bleed out".

Such scenes will be repeated hundreds of thousands of times over the coming weeks.

At least 275,000 baby seals will be killed so that their skins can be made into cheap fur coats, leather shoes and tacky trinkets.

The great tragedy of the slaughter is that it was stopped 25 years ago, following a ban on the import of seal pelts into the European Union - a ban that destroyed the economics of the industry.

But the Canadian government eventually found a loophole and ruthlessly exploited it.

Five years ago, the cull re-started with a vengeance when the authorities ordered the battering to death of a million baby seals.

I was there to watch the horror unfold - the first British journalist in a generation to document the cull.

Since then, another 1.5million baby seals have been slaughtered - almost one-third of the seal population.

Every year, British and European politicians have rushed to condemn the slaughter. Yet every year they have failed to take concrete action.

Now, at last, there is a glimmer of hope.

Stavros Dimas, the EU's Commissioner for the Environment, said this week that the European Commission would soon propose an outright ban on the import of seal pelts.

"The Commissioner is very concerned at the inhumane way that baby seals are killed," said a spokeswoman. "Last year, we sent a team of expert observers. What the team saw did not alleviate the Commissioner's worries."

These may turn out to be just weasel words designed to ward off action for another year - but this time there is a sense that the end of the slaughter could be near.

Several countries have already taken independent action to ban seal pelt imports.

But our own Government is dithering, saying that ministers have "written again to Environment Commissioner Dimas and others reiterating UK support for an EU-wide ban".

British animal welfare campaigners are wary of such words.

Mark Glover, of the Humane Society International, says: "We've heard the same excuses for three or four years now. A European ban is crucial but the UK should also act on its own.

"We cannot see any reason why they won't do so.

"It's quite clear that the sealers are failing to adhere to the new regulations. It's the same old hunt we've seen in the past."

After witnessing the slaughter at close hand, it would be impossible to disagree.

AAG

there is only one word barbaric ban the seal trade now and come together to condemn canada for its actions possibly to the point of sanctions or a tourist boycott of canada ,

this would make them sit up and take notice but will the cull go on next year ?

AAG:mad::mad::mad::mad:

[mikeinie]

All very true, but just think how that beautiful while pelt will look on your wife as she wears her new fur coat to the movie premier along with her nice shiny diamond ring and necklace which was dug out of the ground by some kid who was kidnapped by militants and forced to work as a slave in the diamond mines.

:-5:-5::-1

[hoppy]

mikeinie;824900 wrote: All very true, but just think how that beautiful while pelt will look on your wife as she wears her new fur coat to the movie premier along with her nice shiny diamond ring and necklace which was dug out of the ground by some kid who was kidnapped by militants and forced to work as a slave in the diamond mines.

:-5:-5::-1


Yes. Far easier to just ban gems than to go after the slaver thugs. We face the same train of thought here in the USA over firearms. Ban guns, but be oh so gentle and humane to the murderers and scum who use them to prey on others.

[koan]

I always like to look at both sides

THE CASE FOR A CULL ...

METHOD The majority of seals are already shot, not clubbed to death. In 2002, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association issued a "Special Report on Animal Welfare and the Harp Seal Hunt in Atlantic Canada", which concluded that virtually all harp seals are killed "humanely".

POPULATION Harp seals are not an endangered species. There are currently 5.8 million animals and the herd is three times the size it was in the 1970s. Culling quotas are set at levels designed to keep the herd sustainable and stable.

NECESSITY The seal hunt supports about 15,000 sealers and their families in eastern Canada, and also brings economic benefits to remote, coastal communities where there are only limited employment opportunities. Sealing has become an increasingly important economic activity , especially in Atlantic Canada, because overfishing has depleted fish stocks and there has been a moratorium on cod since 1992.

PUBLIC OPINION An opinion poll in February 2005 concluded that 60 per cent of Canadians are in favour of a responsible seal hunt.

... THE CASE AGAINST

METHOD Seal cubs are clubbed to death or shot, many while still conscious. A veterinarian report in 2001 found that almost half of the seals it examined seemed to have been conscious when skinned, causing "considerable and unacceptable suffering". In the past three years 97 per cent of seals killed were less than three months old.

POPULATION More than 300,000 seal cubs are to be slaughtered this year. Almost one million pups have been killed in the past three years.

NECESSITY In Newfoundland, where more than 90 per cent of the sealers live, the cull accounts for less than 1 per cent of that province's GDP and amounts to only 2 per cent of the value of the province's fishery. Only 4,000 fishermen, out of a population of half a million, take part in the hunt.

PUBLIC OPINION Recent polling for the Humane Society International suggests that 48 per cent of the public would support their supermarket boycotting Canadian seafood in an effort to stop the annual cull.

source

It appears that global warming may force some changes. Warming is being presented as a bigger threat to the seal population than the cull. It is also thinning the ice making it harder for the hunters to get at the cubs safely. As far as the method of slaughter goes, I suppose it depends who you believe as far as whether or not they've changed their technique. Catching one hunter being a brute can make the whole trade look like they are ignoring humanitarian requests.

[spot]

Surely their being under three months old is a good thing, not a bad thing. I'd much rather see 300,000 3 month old children killed than the same number of young adults, seal or human. If they're going to be killed before they can breed then the younger the better.

[sunny_bunny]

spot;825172 wrote: Surely their being under three months old is a good thing, not a bad thing. I'd much rather see 300,000 3 month old children killed than the same number of young adults, seal or human. If they're going to be killed before they can breed then the younger the better.


Crap! They kill those under 3 months old purely because they still have beautiful white pelts. I thought killing those under 1 year old was banned? Why can't they inject the mothers with something to stop them ovulating then there would be no need for a cull.

CULL THE BLOODY HUNTERS INHUMANELY INSTEAD!

RID THE WORLD OF A BUNCH OF LOWLIFE SCUM!

[Pheasy]

spot;825172 wrote: Surely their being under three months old is a good thing, not a bad thing. I'd much rather see 300,000 3 month old children killed than the same number of young adults, seal or human. If they're going to be killed before they can breed then the younger the better.


Spot (my little almond) that's not nice - but if your kids had be killed, would clubbing them to death be ok?

[spot]

Rather that than the electric chair or - worse still - lethal injection, thank you.

[RedGlitter]

I think this thread just veered off into no sense land.

[spot]

In what way? I'm sure I can justify anything I said, I'm sure the other contributors can as well. What's puzzled you?

[YZGI]

spot;825308 wrote: In what way? I'm sure I can justify anything I said, I'm sure the other contributors can as well. What's puzzled you?
I got puzzled when Pheasy linked seals with kids. Sorry Pheasy but I can't take that leap.

[spot]

I can't see that it matters what species is being discussed. If you're removing individuals before they're of breeding age then the earlier you do it the less resource they take from the others.

As for this method of death everyone's up in arms about, it seems a consummation devoutly to be wished. Surely having your skull suddenly shattered is far quicker and definitively painless compared with the way most of us go out. Rather that than what else is being touted anyway. Being shot, in particular, seems far more questionable. Perhaps I saw too many westerns as a child, they were full of last lines after the shoot-out.

[Pheasy]

YZGI;825325 wrote: I got puzzled when Pheasy linked seals with kids. Sorry Pheasy but I can't take that leap.


I didn't make the link, somebody else not so many posts away did

[hoppy]

Why not just kill the surplus seals that are of use? I worked on the kill floor of a hog processing plant long ago. those hogs could smell the blood as they were prodded along the chute. They knew what was coming. Their final squeals were deafening. I still love pork, bacon and ham. People need to stop idolizing animals. They are not gods. They are here for our use. It's in the book. Look it up.

[koan]

There are so many people being slaughtered in different parts of the world I just can figure out how the seals call for outrage. If they wore turbans people would be buying tickets to go club them.

[AA grumpy]

koan;825106 wrote: I always like to look at both sides

THE CASE FOR A CULL ...

METHOD The majority of seals are already shot, not clubbed to death. In 2002, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association issued a "Special Report on Animal Welfare and the Harp Seal Hunt in Atlantic Canada", which concluded that virtually all harp seals are killed "humanely".

POPULATION Harp seals are not an endangered species. There are currently 5.8 million animals and the herd is three times the size it was in the 1970s. Culling quotas are set at levels designed to keep the herd sustainable and stable.

NECESSITY The seal hunt supports about 15,000 sealers and their families in eastern Canada, and also brings economic benefits to remote, coastal communities where there are only limited employment opportunities. Sealing has become an increasingly important economic activity , especially in Atlantic Canada, because overfishing has depleted fish stocks and there has been a moratorium on cod since 1992.

PUBLIC OPINION An opinion poll in February 2005 concluded that 60 per cent of Canadians are in favour of a responsible seal hunt.

... THE CASE AGAINST

METHOD Seal cubs are clubbed to death or shot, many while still conscious. A veterinarian report in 2001 found that almost half of the seals it examined seemed to have been conscious when skinned, causing "considerable and unacceptable suffering". In the past three years 97 per cent of seals killed were less than three months old.

POPULATION More than 300,000 seal cubs are to be slaughtered this year. Almost one million pups have been killed in the past three years.

NECESSITY In Newfoundland, where more than 90 per cent of the sealers live, the cull accounts for less than 1 per cent of that province's GDP and amounts to only 2 per cent of the value of the province's fishery. Only 4,000 fishermen, out of a population of half a million, take part in the hunt.

PUBLIC OPINION Recent polling for the Humane Society International suggests that 48 per cent of the public would support their supermarket boycotting Canadian seafood in an effort to stop the annual cull.

source

It appears that global warming may force some changes. Warming is being presented as a bigger threat to the seal population than the cull. It is also thinning the ice making it harder for the hunters to get at the cubs safely. As far as the method of slaughter goes, I suppose it depends who you believe as far as whether or not they've changed their technique. Catching one hunter being a brute can make the whole trade look like they are ignoring humanitarian requests.


thanks for that koan

i saw the photographs at the daily mail online thats our british daily paper not as good as the sun but thats just my opinion

and the pictures are pretty distressing.

if they must be culled to protect fish stocks so be it but surely there must be a more humane way? in this day and age rather than clubbing with a hapik.

AAG

[koan]

Anti sealing vessel crew are being charged for violating laws on how close they can sail to the sealing boats. They endangered the lives of the sealers and had a conflict with coast guard. story