All good fun?

[ColinEssex]

Anyone fancy doing this? Is this hunting Ken?

Sunday Mirror 26/3/06 - Pups are clubbed & then skinned alive in front of their mothers... You can hear their bleating as the babies are dragged away
Blood is spreading across the ice. Obscene scarlet on pure white.

At the stroke of 6am yesterday - right on schedule - Canada's annual slaughter of the seal pups got under way.

It's the biggest and the most barbaric cull anywhere on Earth. It's only three weeks since the McCartneys came here, to make their emotional and - out here - controversial plea for the slaughter to be abandoned.

Canada's response? It promptly increased the quota hunters are allowed to kill by another 5,000. "When so-called celebrities come across here making their pronouncements - wealthy people telling folks how they should earn their living - well, we're outraged," government official Phil Jenkins, told me. "We don't feel we need to justify the hunt to anyone."

Col

 

[Matty]

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/infomedia/2005/im01_e.htm

 

[KenHigg]

Now there's a quality news source if I ever saw one:

JAMES BLUNT SCORES WITH TARA!

Speaks volumes...

 

[selenau837]

Anyone fancy doing this? Is this hunting Ken?

Col

Now Colin!! Do you really feel us Americans are that barbaric. Clubbing baby seals is VERY barbaric and inhumane!!

Hunting Deer and clubing seals are not the same thing. Deer hunting not only keeps the numbers down, it is also for food.

If the deer were not hunted they would become over populated and die off because their food supply would deminish. They are also a hazard to the road ways. There are many car accident contributed to deer.

Now don't Rich or you come back and say...'well you kill the little deer for their protection.' Yes it happens, but comparing that to clubbing of baby seals is just wrong.

No, no one brought up Deer hunting, but I threw that in there to show the difference in hunting for food and hunting for vanity.

 

[KenHigg]

Now Colin!! Do you really feel us Americans are that barbaric. Clubbing baby seals is VERY barbaric and inhumane!!

Hunting Deer and clubing seals are not the same thing. Deer hunting not only keeps the numbers down, it is also for food.

If the deer were not hunted they would become over populated and die off because their food supply would deminish. They are also a hazard to the road ways. There are many car accident contributed to deer.

Now don't Rich or you come back and say...'well you kill the little deer for their protection.' Yes it happens, but comparing that to clubbing of baby seals is just wrong.

No, no one brought up Deer hunting, but I threw that in there to show the difference in hunting for food and hunting for vanity.

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[Matty]

From the above link:

Myth #12: The seal hunt is not worth it - seals are only taken for their fur and the rest of the animal is wasted.

Reality: Seals have been harvested for food, fuel and shelter and other products for hundreds of years. The subsistence hunt is a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage. Canada exports seal products in three forms: pelts, oil and meat. Traditionally, the pelts have been the main commodity, but production of seal oil for human consumption has grown substantially in recent years. Seal oil markets remain positive, and a large percentage of seal oil is finding its way into areas other than traditional marine and industrial oils.

DFO encourages the fullest use of seals, with the emphasis on leather, oil, handicrafts, and in recent years, meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil capsules rich in Omega-3. Any seal parts that are left on the ice provide sustenance to a wide variety of marine scavengers such as crustaceans, seabirds and fish.

 

[KenHigg]

From the above link:

Myth #12: The seal hunt is not worth it - seals are only taken for their fur and the rest of the animal is wasted.

Reality: Seals have been harvested for food, fuel and shelter and other products for hundreds of years. The subsistence hunt is a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage. Canada exports seal products in three forms: pelts, oil and meat. Traditionally, the pelts have been the main commodity, but production of seal oil for human consumption has grown substantially in recent years. Seal oil markets remain positive, and a large percentage of seal oil is finding its way into areas other than traditional marine and industrial oils.

DFO encourages the fullest use of seals, with the emphasis on leather, oil, handicrafts, and in recent years, meat for human and animal consumption as well as seal oil capsules rich in Omega-3. Any seal parts that are left on the ice provide sustenance to a wide variety of marine scavengers such as crustaceans, seabirds and fish.

FYI - You two are debating with a person that reads Jerry Springer caliber tabloids and bases his knowlege of the US on 30 year-old tele re-runs...

 

[selenau837]

FYI - You two are debating with a person that reads Jerry Springer caliber tabloids and bases his knowlege of the US on 30 year-old tele re-runs...

Well, I could at least add to the debate so I couldn't resist. I can't ever chim in on the politicial debates, so I did on this.

He's gone for the day, I am interested in seeing his response. I may actually get up at 4:30 in the morning just to see if he responded yet.

 

[Matty]

FYI - You two are debating with a person that reads Jerry Springer caliber tabloids and bases his knowlege of the US on 30 year-old tele re-runs...

I thought maybe...MAYBE... he'd try basing his knowledge of Canada on a reputable source. That's the only reason I posted up the link. I know it's a lesson in futility, but I'll make a small effort.

I'm not pro-sealing or anti-sealing, I'm just against people protesting without being fully informed.

 

[Brianwarnock]

In Colin's defence I have to tell you that all of the media here portrays this cull in a very different light to that of Matty, with the cubs being skinned whether still alive or not, and the rest of the cub being left on the ice.

No attempt at humane killing , no use of other parts of the cub. Unless we are there the only knowledge we can have of what happens is what we can see in the media, or is given to us by other sources.

Brian

 

[Rich]

Reality: Seals have been harvested for food, fuel and shelter and other products for hundreds of years. The subsistence hunt is a valuable link to Canadian cultural heritage. Canada exports seal products in three forms: pelts, oil and meat. Traditionally, the pelts have been the main commodity, but production of seal oil for human consumption has grown substantially in recent years. Seal oil markets remain positive, and a large percentage of seal oil is finding its way into areas other than traditional marine and industrial oils.

Then why aren't they killed or culled (however you like to put it) humanely ?

 

[Matty]

I understand where you're coming from -- I guess that since I live in Canada, I get to hear more of the other side of the story. I basically just posted the link so that people could get exposed to the flip-side.

 

[Matty]

Then why aren't they killed or culled (however you like to put it) humanely ?

How would you propose they be killed humanely?

 

[Rich]

How would you propose they be killed humanely?

I've no idea, I'd have thought in the 21st century there'd be a way

 

[Matty]

Here's what the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has to say:

Myth #6: The club – or hakapik – is a barbaric tool that has no place in today’s world.

Reality: Clubs have been used by sealers since the onset of the hunt hundreds of years ago. Hakapiks originated with Norwegian sealers who found it very effective. Over the years, studies conducted by the various veterinary experts, and American studies carried out between 1969 and 1972 on the Pribilof Islands hunt (Alaska) have consistently proven that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely. A recent report in September, 2002, by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, had results that parallel these findings.

Myth #7: The methods used to kill seals are far less humane than those used to hunt or slaughter any other domestic or wild animal.

Reality: Hunting methods were studied by the Royal Commission on Sealing in Canada and they found that the clubbing of seals, when properly performed, is at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, which are accepted by the majority of the public.


I've read that a large portion of the killings are also done by rifle, which I'm assuming is the option hunters of most other animals choose.

 

[selenau837]

Here's what the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has to say:

Myth #6: The club – or hakapik – is a barbaric tool that has no place in today’s world.

Reality: Clubs have been used by sealers since the onset of the hunt hundreds of years ago. Hakapiks originated with Norwegian sealers who found it very effective. Over the years, studies conducted by the various veterinary experts, and American studies carried out between 1969 and 1972 on the Pribilof Islands hunt (Alaska) have consistently proven that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely. A recent report in September, 2002, by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, had results that parallel these findings.

Myth #7: The methods used to kill seals are far less humane than those used to hunt or slaughter any other domestic or wild animal.

Reality: Hunting methods were studied by the Royal Commission on Sealing in Canada and they found that the clubbing of seals, when properly performed, is at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, which are accepted by the majority of the public.


I've read that a large portion of the killings are also done by rifle, which I'm assuming is the option hunters of most other animals choose.

Wow Matty....I know a good title for you. Matty the Myth Buster.

Good job!!

 

[Matty]

Thanks. I'll take the nickname!

 

[Rich]

Hunting methods were studied by the Royal Commission on Sealing in Canada

Look who carried out the study, that's like asking Bush to investigate himself, also note the words "when carried out properly"

 

[Matty]

I'm quite sure the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association probably has the animal's welfare in mind.

 

[Rich]

I'm quite sure the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association probably has the animal's welfare in mind.

I doubt it, capitalism's a powerful tool