Canada, Greenland come under fire over seal hunt

[Praxius]

CTV.ca | Canada, Greenland come under fire over seal hunt

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Canada and Greenland faced off against animal rights groups Wednesday over accusations their annual seal hunts are cruel and inhumane as European Union legislators mulled proposed rules that could ban their seal products in Europe.

A vote on such legislation could come as early as April, when the Canadian seal hunt gets underway. The EU member countries would still have to confirm the decision.

Rebecca Aldworth, from the Canadian branch of the International Humane Society, showed legislators videos of bloodied seal pups being clubbed and skinned, in Canadian waters, sometimes when they were still alive.

"You have before you a historic opportunity to save millions of animals from a fate you can't imagine. Please stand up and do the right thing," she told a hearing on the bill at the European Parliament.[/quote]

Oh boo hooo.... blubber blubber, sob me a river.... how old was that video she showed them? 1976? It's illegal to kill the pups and you would have a hard time trying to sell the furs..... as it is illegal you twit.

Go hug a tree and do something useful.

Dressed in a traditional white Inuit sealskin jacket, Greenland Fisheries Minister Finn Karlsen insisted such a ban would "have severe and negative consequence for hunters and their families."

"Our culture and our economy are at stake and it's something I cannot accept," he said.

Representing Ottawa, Garry Stenson of Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the hunt "is humane, well regulated and sustainable," adding new rules for the hunt were under review to bolster inspections, monitoring and enforcement of animal welfare rules.

Ottawa has warned a ban could violate trade rules and threatened action if a ban was introduced.

It said a ban would decimate isolated East Coast communities that are heavily dependent on the annual hunt.

Canada's seal hunt is the largest of its kind in the world, with an average annual kill of about 300,000 harp seals.

The proposed law comes after 425 EU legislators signed a petition calling for a sealing ban in 2006 and the European Commission drafted a bill calling for a ban last year under increased pressure from animal rights groups.

And animal rights groups need to get a clue.

British legislator Diana Wallis, who is drafting the EU assembly bill, suggested tough labelling rules were the only way to ensure sealing countries like Canada, Greenland, Finland, Sweden and others adhere to EU animal welfare rules.

The EU proposal recommends a certificate and labels be provided by countries exporting seal products making clear seal products they trade meet strict EU conditions.

"It's a very, very sensitive issue," said Slovak legislator Peter Stastny. "It has great consequences for a lot of people on many sides of the globe."

Several EU countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, already have their own bans on all seal products. The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972.

I imagine this will never really end.

 

[EagleSmack]

Is it that time of year again? :lol:

 

[Zzarchov]

I say we just ban their crap in return. Remind them how inhumane some of their animal products are.

 

[#juan]

Is it that time of year again? :lol:

Yeah, the seal hunt has been going on for close to four hundred years and the Harp Seal population keeps increasing. The seal hunt goes on because there is a market for seal products. Take away the market and the hunt would go away. Of course then we would have a huge seal population that would compete with the cod fishermen and we would have another battle. Maybe foreigners should just mind their own business.

 

[lone wolf]

...or start blasting cod poachers out of the water.

 

[Praxius]

Yeah, the seal hunt has been going on for close to four hundred years and the Harp Seal population keeps increasing. The seal hunt goes on because there is a market for seal products. Take away the market and the hunt would go away. Of course then we would have a huge seal population that would compete with the cod fishermen and we would have another battle. Maybe foreigners should just mind their own business.

Or at least get some damn education on the matter, rather then listening to twits like Paul McCartney

O, Bloddy Ell, don't let tha seal hoont continue or thay'll kill these lit'l cute pups.

Get with the times you idiot or shut yer ignorant mouth. Friggin propaganda.

I don't know what's worse.... ignorant celebrities who think they're doing something good, or the idiots who follow their words without question like they actually know anything beyond the music they write.

 

[Unforgiven]

I say we just ban their crap in return. Remind them how inhumane some of their animal products are.

Which ones?

 

[Ron in Regina]

Seal meat (not consumed domestically in Canada) mostly gets shipped to Asia.

Seal pelts (not utilized domestically in Canada) are shipped to Norway, Germany,
Greenland, China, Finland, Denmark, Greece, South Korea, & Russia.
-5 of those countries are in Europe, and all of those are in the EU. If those
countries didn't want these seal products, then they wouldn't buy them with or
without the EU telling them what to do....

If the EU bans seal products from Canada, and the seal population (shark pop. down
90%?) spikes....I'll be willing to buy some seal steaks & roasts (and mitts) at my
local Safeway or Superstore. 30+ Million folks here in Canada to market these
products to if need be. I'll do my part as long as the folks on the East Coast buy
some Alberta Beef & BC Apples & Saskatchewan Rye Whiskey!!! Fair trade.

 

[Zzarchov]

Which ones?

Foie gras sure tops any seal hunt.

Though almost any commercially farmed meat these days is far , far worse than any seal hunt.

 

[Unforgiven]

Foie gras sure tops any seal hunt.

Though almost any commercially farmed meat these days is far , far worse than any seal hunt.

Like beef, pork or chicken?

I found this video showing the feeding you're talking about. Maybe you could go over the talking points.

YouTube - Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations, Foie Gras Not Cruel

 

[EagleSmack]

Yeah, the seal hunt has been going on for close to four hundred years and the Harp Seal population keeps increasing. The seal hunt goes on because there is a market for seal products. Take away the market and the hunt would go away. Of course then we would have a huge seal population that would compete with the cod fishermen and we would have another battle. Maybe foreigners should just mind their own business.

Could YOU live by that?

I say hunt away.

 

[Zzarchov]

Like beef, pork or chicken?

I found this video showing the feeding you're talking about. Maybe you could go over the talking points.

Thats not exactly true. Most farms these days do not do that, for the very simple reason that its a waste of money. Likewise, ducks in larger operations often undergo beak trimming or beak removal (And yes the beak is a nerve center) to reduce cannabalism and aggression (which as someone with family who farm, can kill nearing a 1/5th of the flock)

Now compare that with hunting a seal and people are retarded in terms of suffering. Your inducement of suffering of the seal is a one time momentary thing.

Farmed meat is constant suffering from birth till death.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Seal meat (not consumed domestically in Canada) mostly gets shipped to Asia.

Seal pelts (not utilized domestically in Canada)...

I just quoted that much so you'd know what I was responding to. With reference to another thread about rednecks you were involved in recently (I enjoyed the photos you posted in that, BTW, but I was hoping to see enough of you to know whether I know you or not)... if that's the redneck view, I must be one too. You are entirely correct. I just wish I could get Ontario and Nova Scotia apples here in Regina. They're firmer and crisper and better tasting than the ones we get from British Columbia. And I have a pair of sealskin mitts, purchased in Newfoundland many years ago by my mother, and they're the only things I've ever had that'll reliably keep my hands warm when it's -30 degrees with a 40 km/hr wind and I have to get out with a snowblower to clear off the driveway in one of those clear, bitterly cold days after a blizzard. They're wearing out, l'd buy a new pair if I could...

 

[Praxius]

Thats not exactly true. Most farms these days do not do that, for the very simple reason that its a waste of money. Likewise, ducks in larger operations often undergo beak trimming or beak removal (And yes the beak is a nerve center) to reduce cannabalism and aggression (which as someone with family who farm, can kill nearing a 1/5th of the flock)

Now compare that with hunting a seal and people are retarded in terms of suffering. Your inducement of suffering of the seal is a one time momentary thing.

Farmed meat is constant suffering from birth till death.

I'd rep you for that, but it won't allow me.

I agree completely.

And I've seen some of the sick crap that people do to their animals on farms. One of the last things I remember seeing was a video online of a bunch of hillbillies on their pig farm cornering a pig so it couldn't escape and laughed away as they hacked its head off with a chainsaw.

And why should they care anyways? Those animals are going to be killed one way or another..... might as well get your sick and twisted pleasure at the same time right?

Oh but the sealers are so much worse...... of course they are.... I mean everybody, including the nature nuts are desensitized to what goes on in the farms or feel they can't do anything about it, so they try and attack something most of the world can't relate to, in order to get their feet in the door.

They try and make the whole hunt seem like the evilest thing on the planet.... even though draggers haul up everything off the sea floor and leave them on the boat to soffocate and die slowly.

Oh, but they're just fish and shellfish.... they don't have cute faces or fluffy bodies..... who cares right?

So long as an animal is cute or can do something cute, they should have everybody and their babies trying to protect them with their lives and try and force laws that you think are right...... but all the cows, pigs, chickens, etc?

Screw em. Who cares? :angry3:

 

[Nuggler]

I just quoted that much so you'd know what I was responding to. With reference to another thread about rednecks you were involved in recently (I enjoyed the photos you posted in that, BTW, but I was hoping to see enough of you to know whether I know you or not)... if that's the redneck view, I must be one too. You are entirely correct. I just wish I could get Ontario and Nova Scotia apples here in Regina. They're firmer and crisper and better tasting than the ones we get from British Columbia. And I have a pair of sealskin mitts, purchased in Newfoundland many years ago by my mother, and they're the only things I've ever had that'll reliably keep my hands warm when it's -30 degrees with a 40 km/hr wind and I have to get out with a snowblower to clear off the driveway in one of those clear, bitterly cold days after a blizzard. They're wearing out, l'd buy a new pair if I could...

RRRRRRRRRRead it, Dex: a big google just to help a fellow Canuck

The Arctic Trading Company - Our Catalog

"We'll be happy when the ice worms nest again....................."

 

[JLM]

It's high time to stop this nonsense about saving every seal. Why can it not be considered a resource that every other form of sea life and harvested in a sensible manner to preserve it while using it like cows, pigs and sheep to help feed the population. What's the use of having a bunch of old dead seals lying on the bottom of the ocean or worse yet becoming shark food? Managing the resource properly would also create a considerable number of jobs (although it might put Paul Watson out of work)

 

[Zzarchov]

THis wouldn't be such a problem if we took a page from Peta's book.

They are calling Fish "Sea Kittens" to keep people from eating them,

Lets call seals "Sea Raccoons".

Man, I could really go for some "Land Fish" though..

 

[Tonington]

What's the use of having a bunch of old dead seals lying on the bottom of the ocean or worse yet becoming shark food?

I agree with your sentiment on the seal hunt, just wanted to add that there is a good deal of value involved in having an apex predator feeding well. Tip the balance and see how mucked up things get.

Example, east coast of the United States. Scallop populations are decimated right now, due to taking too many sharks. The sharks prey on skates which prey on scallops. Remove one control, or tip the equilibrium to favor one species and watch the pyramid collapse.

 

[karrie]

I'd like to start protesting rat traps in New York city if y'all don't mind.

Think of what those poor rats endure, lying there with broken backs, waiting to die. It's sick, it's inhumane, and it happens on a MUCH larger scale than the seal hunt I'm sure.

 

[JLM]

I'd like to start protesting rat traps in New York city if y'all don't mind. :lol:

Think of what those poor rats endure, lying there with broken backs, waiting to die. It's sick, it's inhumane, and it happens on a MUCH larger scale than the seal hunt I'm sure.

True but I don't think most people regard rats as such "cute little fellas". :lol: