Seal hunting is back

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , CAP-AUX-MEULES, QUEBEC
Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004,Page 16

Commercial hunting of baby seals is back and even bigger than when it stirred a global outcry two decades ago.

Horrified by the clubbing of adorable infant harp seals, animal rights advocates swayed public opinion against the hunt. Environmentalists joined the campaign, fearing the species was being depleted. World sales collapsed. Even Canada reacted with revulsion and began stiffening regulations on the kill.

Now, Canada has lifted the quota to a rate unheard of in a half century, buoyed by brand-new markets in Russia and Poland, and changing environmental calculations. A recovering market has turned into a quiet boom.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/04/06/2003116928

It amazes me the pain and suffering people will inflict on other beings all for the sake of fashion and appetite. Not a good reflection on us.

leaving the brutality aside (which it is very, though veal etc is also just as disturbing). Did I read they have approved 1 in 3 baby seals to be taken for fur? THat just doesn't seem like a very responsible number considering that disease and natural predators will take their toll as well on the seal population. Unless the seal population is grossly inflated that number seems quite irresponsible.
Scott

and in fact has been blamed (fairly or unfairly) for the collapse of some of the fisheries stocks (seals eat alot of fish!!)

much information here:

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/reports-rapports/mgtplan-plangest2002/mgtplan-plangest2002_e.htm

in any event, the charges of cruelty ring a bit hollow coming from americans (or taiwanese, who provided the original article) who engage in factory farms where billions of animals, including very intelligent animals such as pigs, suffer incredibly from day 1. in the case of the seals, the lead a fairly good, "free-ranging" life up to the moment of death. also, i suppose it's arguable whether being killed by a human or killer whale is more humane (or do most seals die of old age? somehow i think not).

Somehow I don't think so. Those populations have apparently been in balance in previous times. If it is the case the reason could well be depletion of seal predators(polar bears& sharks). That angle should be examined. More likely humans are depleting these fisheries and scapegoating the seals.
If the above mentioned number of 1/3 of the years crop to be harvested is correct then that is almost surely unsustainable, the sort of shit we'd expect from the bu$histas.
The issue of cruelty while deplorable is secondary to the species population sustainability.

Industrialized farming and slaughter of animals such as pigs and cows are more terrible than the clubbing of seals. There is the cuteness factor that will sway some people who don't think twice about where their food at the grocery store comes from. My main concern is with high cull rate of the 1 in 3 but honestly I don't know enough about that particular ecosystem's current balance to say for sure. In most cases when an animal gets too populous its because of the lack of a counterbalance like larger predators. As far as the human vs killer whale death I'll take a club any day as orcas sometimes like to play with their catches for long periods.
Scott

the harvest rate/maintenance of the seal population is dealt with in some detail there (of course gov't figures may always be suspect, but i suspect they're more or less accurate).

over the past several years, however, i've been hearing from many sources that the seal population is quite out of control (probably because of the decline in polar bears and killer whales -btw, on further reflection, are there even killer whales in this part of the world?)

And that is one of the many reasons that I don't eat meat. The cruelty and the woeful performance of the government inspections because the corporations might, heaven forbid, lose $2 if people knew the kind of shit they were really eating, etc., all made me change my eating habits.

Those baby seals would kill you in a second if given half a chance. Many of them are armed (or flippered.)

The abject cruelty to the baby seals , some of whom try to escape to the waters edge but dont jump in for fear of drowning, is disgusting.

I like to take that stick with the hook to those seal-killers
and let them experience the joy of being clubbed to death and sometimes skinned alive.

Fuck those seal killers.

Skinning baby animals alive is just disgusting. Someone needs to sit on the beach with a sniper rifle or something.

Someone needs to sit on the beach with a sniper rifle or something
and let those seal killers understand what fear is.

if you took the time to get the facts correct - baby seals are not being killed this time around. but i suppose that would detract from your irrational emotionalism, so on with the lies . . .

said that baby seals were being killed.

further, your cited article even says:

Greenpeace, once one of the most active groups against the hunt, now says it is satisfied that Canada is not allowing infant whitecoat seals to be killed.

why it also chooses to spread emotionalist lies is not clear. i suspect that the poverty-stricken locals and aboriginal peoples who take part in the hunt are much easier targets than the huge corporations that factory farm billions of animals, a provide them with downright miserable lifes from day 1.

I've always liked it and it is so true.

"I'd like to tell you about a revelation I had when I tried to classify your species. I realzied you're not really mammals. See, every mammal on this planet develops an equilibrium with the surrounding ecosystem, yet you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply and the only way to survive is to expand until every natural resource has been consumed. There is one other organism that behaves in this way. You know what it is? It's a virus. You humans are a disease, a sickness, a plague upon this planet..." Agent Smith

I wholeheartedly agree, and while I myself may be a human and I know there are many good humans out there and many humans I love dearly, as a whole, I greatly despise the human race for what we have done to this wonderful and beautiful planet.

Killing baby seals is just another example of our infection spreading. We blame seals for eating our food, OUR food. Who do we think we are? Do we think we have a right to everything on the planet and if something else happens to be using that same thing we can kill them because they are getting in our way? Disgusting.

It really is disgusting.

see here for petition

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