All You Need to Know About the Canadian Baby Seal Slaughter for 2011

Yep, they’re still bashing in the heads of baby seals in Canada with clubs.

I’m going to make it simple today and provide two links which provide information on the annual Canadian baby seal killing. Yes, I know there are other issues to address, but this sick sadistic annual practice is of such importance that I’d like to run on it for a day.

One link is a quick action page which will help you send a quick message stating your opposition to sick Canada. Urgent Action for Seals

The other link is an EXCELLENT commentary by the legendary Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Society. Yes, the very group that actually put an end to Japanese whaling this year (and hopefully for the future). It is titled The Great Bloody White North: The Canadian Seal Slaughter and How I Really Feel About It!

If you want or need to know the facts behind this ridiculous mass species slaughter, then read his commentary. Here is a quick quote from that writing: “In the interest of appeasing the ecologically ignorant fishermen who have been impoverished by the gross management incompetence of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the government has set the highest kill quota ever imposed on the seals with an allowable slaughter of 468,200 harp, Grey, and hood seals. This is an increase of 148,200 over the ridiculously high kill quota of 330,000 seals in 2010.”

The Great Bloody White North: The Canadian Seal Slaughter and How I Really Feel About It! http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-110401-1.html

Sick, Cruel Canada Begins its Annual Baby Seal Slaughter: Bludgeoning, Skinning Alive Seal Pups: Largest Slaughter of Marine Mammals on Earth

Every year I unfortunately have to post about this. Unbelievable that it’s still going on. Again, this is grown men going out and bludgeoning baby seals.

As stated at http://www.peta.org/feat-canadaSealHunt.asp

“Canada’s annual seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth. Last year, the world looked on in horror as the Canadian government permitted the slaughter of more than 330,000 harp seals. During the hunt, baby seals are shot or repeatedly clubbed. Sealers bludgeon the animals with clubs and “hakapiks” (clubs with metal hooks on their ends) and drag the seals—who are still conscious—across the ice floes with boat hooks. Many of these animals are even skinned alive. Hunters toss dead and dying seals into heaps and leave their carcasses to rot on the ice floes because there is no market for seal meat. Veterinarians who have investigated the hunt have found that hunters routinely fail to comply with Canada’s animal welfare standards.

It is legal in Canada to kill seal pups when they are about 12 days old. During last year’s hunt, almost all the seals killed were 3 months old or younger. Many had not yet learned how to swim or eaten their first solid meals. Baby seals are helpless and have no way to escape from the sealers’ clubs.”

Unfortunately, they will now take their slaughter to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Friday.

For more about what you can do to stop this, and to view photos and videos that show proof of the horrible violence of this issue, see:

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/

http://www.peta.org/feat-canadaSealHunt.asp

Article:

Seal hunt ends off Iles de la Madeleine; more than 17,200 killed

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090325/national/seal_hunt

By The Canadian Press

HALIFAX, N.S. - Seal hunters returned to the ice in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence for a few hours Wednesday to kill the last remaining seals allowed under their quota off Iles de la Madeleine.

Phil Jenkins, a spokesman for the federal Fisheries Department, said about 17,200 seals were killed on Monday and Tuesday, leaving only a few hundred remaining before the hunt ended at 10 a.m. local time.

Helicopters carrying observers from two animal welfare groups headed out to witness the final stage of the hunt, which involved sealers from the Quebec islands.

In addition to sealers in boats, the hunt involved sealers who were able to reach the animals by snowmobile and all-terrain vehicles because of ice that reached the shore.

Jenkins said a hunt in the gulf for sealers from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. Friday.

"That's the earliest, weather dependent," he said.

About 50 licensed sealers plus their crew will take part in that hunt between Iles de la Madeleine and Cape Breton. It has a small quota of 1,435 animals.

The federal government has set a combined allowable catch for this year's East Coast seal hunt of 338,200 harp, hooded and grey seals.

Why is Annual Canadian Baby Seal Slaughter Protected?

A good, brief writing on the economics behind the annual Canadian baby seal slaughter.

By the way...I've held off on posting for about a week in order to maintain focus on this annual slaughter. See the prior posting to learn more about this horrible event.

To follow a group and their campaign and to support them in ending this ridiculously cruel and unnecessary annual slaughter fest, visit their site at: http://www.seashepherd.org/seals2008/

Article:

Re:Seal hunt protest ship seized off East Coast

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/414434

April 13

It is ironic that Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn characterizes protesters against the seal hunt as "money-sucking." Given the economic realities of the hunt, it's clear that the only thing keeping this slaughter going are the subsidies that sealers receive from taxpayers.

These include the cost of search-and-rescue operations for sealers who get into trouble, the cost of "policing" the killing to ensure that humane groups can't film what's being done, the legal costs to fight the European Union's attempts to ban imports of seal-related products from Canada, and the money spent on trying to "spin" this issue so that Canadians will believe there's nothing inhumane about clubbing and skinning thousands of seals to death.

The costs to Newfoundland and Labrador and other parts of the Maritimes are likely even higher when you factor in the folks, like myself, who have vowed never to visit this part of Canada until the seal "hunt" is abolished.

And what economic benefit does Canada get in return? About $16 million last year – a fraction of the cost of the subsidies disbursed by the government in order to stain Canada's international reputation.

Paul Warren, Toronto

Loyola Sullivan, Canada's ambassador for fisheries conservation, was concerned with the "disturbing, false and misleading images that distort the image of Canada as a humane nation," claiming that footage used in the European anti-fur campaign was "dated."

Yet when a group of people sit in international waters attempting to get up-to-date footage, their boat is seized in an attempt to stop these newer images from being released.

What is Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn trying to hide by doing this?

Shane Dalgleish, New Norfolk, Australia

Now we know that the real role of the RCMP is to serve and protect commerce. Boarding a ship in international waters is usually called piracy. We can only hope that the Dutch government treats this case with the seriousness it deserves.

The barbaric seal hunt was bad enough. For Canada to flout international law to prevent people from seeing what is actually going on is disgraceful.

Gary Dale, Toronto

Why is this horrific annual event called a "hunt"? What chances do these helpless, hapless sitting ducks have against a gun and/or a Caligula-like device called a hakapik? The very word sends chills down my spine. This is so outdated and so very primitive.

What kind of people do this killing? They call themselves Canadians? I'm ashamed of Canada.

I've cancelled my trip this summer to Newfoundland and Labrador. The TV ads inviting people to "come and see" turn my stomach.

Darina Oravec, Courtice, Ont.

What's up with the word "militant"? Why does the Toronto Star apply it to an animal rights group documenting the seal hunt, but not to the fishermen who illegally cut their lines or the Canadian Coast Guard, which illegally boarded the Sea Shepherd vessel?

This is a word that has normally been associated with Islamic fundamentalist suicide bombers over the past few years.

It's interesting that your newspaper uses the same word to describe animal rights activists who are legally filming the slaughter of baby seals.

Bonnie Sullivan, Toronto

Annual Canadian Baby Seal Slaughter Begins: 325,000 Seals Targeted this Year

Well, here we go again.

What really can I report other than gruesome details of baby seals being shot OR bludgeoned - grown men putting clubs or hakapik or picks through the heads of baby seals who cannot move. The result being baby seals wounded and thrashing about in agony on the surface of the ocean.

As stated at the website of the group Sea Shepherd at http://www.seashepherd.org/seals2008/, “Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has set this year’s quota at 275,000 harp seals to be killed, 5,000 higher than last year, without any scientific justification and without any market justification…. In total over 325,000 seals are being targeted this year.”

The group that is tireless in fighting this unfortunate spectacle of human cruelty is Sea Shepherd.

To follow their campaign and to support them in ending this ridiculously cruel and unnecessary annual slaughter fest, visit their site at: http://www.seashepherd.org/seals2008/