Attention animal rights activists!

[jess_denmark]

signed!

Thank you Kristen

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

signed!

Good job, Kristen! Thank you!

 

[jekajekalynn]

I thought this kind of thing didn't go on anymore after a few years ago when it was brought to light.


Are people actually FOR baby seal hunting? Thats like being pro-kitten strangling.


I don't like fur coats anyways, puts me in mind of cheesy Mafia wives with their poofy hair and gawdy jewelry..

 

[jess_denmark]

I thought this kind of thing didn't go on anymore after a few years ago when it was brought to light.


Are people actually FOR baby seal hunting? Thats like being pro-kitten strangling.


I don't like fur coats anyways, puts me in mind of cheesy Mafia wives with their poofy hair and gawdy jewelry..

Yes, it is very much still going on. Right this minute actually. It is very unfortunate, and it needs to stop now - for good! We live in the 21st century!!!!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

The HSUS and IFAW are finding out the hard way that the residents of Newfoundland and Quebec don't want them around and don't appreciate their meddling in a legal and sustainable hunt.

Seal hunt protesters depart after clashes with residents
​

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. (Apr 15, 2006)

An animal rights group documenting the annual seal hunt off southern Labrador pulled out yesterday, saying protesters felt threatened after confrontations with local hunt supporters.

They left as the kill ended for most large vessels and at least one fleet of smaller sealing boats, when hunters filled about two-thirds of their quota.

A spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said a helicopter carrying anti-sealing activists was confronted a day earlier while trying to refuel in the Labrador community of Cartwright.

Regina Flores said angry residents surrounded their helicopter at two locations. They were eventually allowed to refuel but were told not to come back.

"Because we knew they wouldn't refuel us again, we couldn't go back out to continue to get footage because we wouldn't be able to get a source of fuel,'' Flores said yesterday afternoon between flights in Halifax.

"I'm going to be on my way back to our headquarters in Ottawa to focus on reviewing the footage we did get in the first two days to look for any violations.''

On Wednesday, the first day of the hunt on an area known as the Front, a helicopter carrying members of the Humane Society of the United States was also confronted in Cartwright.

Mayor Rosetta Howell confirmed both incidents.

She said residents did not want outsiders interfering with a legal hunt.

"This is a Canadian-sanctioned hunt,'' Holwell said yesterday.

"We elect politicians and they've made laws, and these people are coming here and telling us our laws our wrong.''

Holwell said residents of Cartwright, many of whom are involved in the hunt, worried that protesters would endanger lives on the ice.

Sealers from Newfoundland and Labrador are allowed to kill 230,000 seals in this year's hunt on the Front -- a vast area north of Newfoundland.

About 275 large sealing vessels and as many as 300 smaller vessels have been on the Front. Vessels larger than 11 metres long were told last evening their hunt was over. Fisheries officials said up to 200 small boats still had quota left.

The hunt on the Gulf of St. Lawrence ended last week after 91,000 seals were killed.

Both hunts have been marked with sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and sealers.

On Thursday, about 80 residents in the eastern Quebec community of Blanc-Sablon surrounded a small hotel where foreign journalists and members of the Humane Society of the United States were staying.

Quebec provincial police officers later escorted the 15 activists, reporters and photographers to a nearby airport.

Humane society spokesperson Rebecca Aldworth criticized police for not acting sooner.

"By the end of the afternoon, the damage had already been done,'' said Aldworth, who said her group planned on filing a complaint.

"Their refusal to bring us to the airport early in the day cost us our ability to go to the ice floes and document the hunt.''

Aldworth was arrested along with several colleagues during the gulf hunt last month, and also claimed that a gulf sealing vessel had rammed a Zodiac inflatable boat carrying protesters and journalists.​

I see Ms. Aldworth continues to be ever the drama queen and fiqures the Surete du Quebec should be ready to respond to her every demand and act as her taxi service.

Of further interest to the discussion, some sealers in Prince Edward Island might actually be willing to forego the hunt if the suggested licence buy-out is suitable -- that is, providing them with an annual income equivalent to the amount made sealing.

Some sealers may quit if cash offer is acceptable​

MURRAY RIVER, P.E.I. (Apr 15, 2006)

Some Prince Edward Island sealers say they're open to an offer from the head of a U.S.-based beauty products firm to stop hunting seals.

Cathy Kangas, chief executive and founder of PRAI Beauty, has offered the federal government $16 million to stop the controversial slaughter off Canada's East Coast.

The federal Fisheries Department said Ottawa would not be taking Kangas up on her offer, but some Prince Edward Island sealers say they're willing to consider it.

"I talked to quite a few of the licence holders here in P.E.I. and everyone is willing to give this a try,'' Kenneth MacLeod, a sealer from Murray River, told CTV News.

MacLeod said Island sealers can earn up to $10,000 a year from the seal hunt, but he said a buyout would need to cover future earnings as well.

MacLeod said he and his fellow sealers have been talking to Kangas, who plans on visiting the province for face-to-face meetings soon.

Kangas is a member of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and an adviser to the Humane Society of the United States. Both organizations are opposed to the seal hunt.

MacLeod said sealers will consider the offer if it's fair.

"We like to explore the alternatives,'' he said. "It's the 21st century.''

The Gulf of St. Lawrence hunt ended last week after sealers reached their quota of 91,000 animals. The larger hunt off Newfoundland and Labrador, on an area known as the Front, opened Wednesday with a quota of 230,000 seals.​

Somewhere deep in our debates I recall others pointing out that nobody relies on the seal hunt for food. I was actually believing this myself until I read an article in Maclean's magazine -- the mother/wife of one of the hunters was profiled in a story on the seal hunt preparing the seal meat in mason jars. Then I remember seal flipper pie -- an Atlantic Canada delicacy. These people are no different than farmers who rely on what they grow/hunt to eat. One of the seal hunters pointed out that there was nothing different between slaughtering seals for their resources and slaughtering cattle -- highlighting the fact that cattle would leave a similar red stain if they were slaughtered on an ice floe. Apparently, according to the reporter, the seal meat tastes very similar to wild duck.

 

[jess_denmark]

The HSUS and IFAW are finding out the hard way that the residents of Newfoundland and Quebec don't want them around and don't appreciate their meddling in a legal and sustainable hunt.

Yes, and we all wonder what it is the sealers don't want the public to see since they act so aggressively towards the people that are there to document the hunt. That is just not normal behavior if you've got nothing to hide!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

I see the thread is still up and running... one more thing then:

The Harris report strongly criticizes the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans for failing to take into account significant environmental variables, such as climate change, in their management plan.

What the Harris report fails to take into account is the fact that while DFO management plans run for several years, the DFO sets the quotas on an annual basis -- taking into account a good number of factors that affect the seal population. The HSUS and Dr. Harris are clutching at straws here. The hunt remains both economically and environmentally sustainable.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Yes, and we all wonder what it is the sealers don't want the public to see since they act so aggressively towards the people that are there to document the hunt. That is just not normal behavior if you've got nothing to hide!

Funny -- they welcome Canadian reporters into their homes and onto their ships. The HSUS and IFAW aren't interested in providing an alternative nor are they interested in listening to the needs of the people who rely on the hunt for their livelihoods. The HSUS and IFAW have also shown they aren't interested in listening to the scientific and environmental data unless it has been provided to them by their own people such as Dr. Stephen Harris.

The HSUS and IFAW are only interested in shutting down the hunt, regardless of the human cost.

 

[jess_denmark]

I see Ms. Aldworth continues to be ever the drama queen and fiqures the Surete du Quebec should be ready to respond to her every demand and act as her taxi service.

Unfortunately this hunt is legal, yes! But the protesters have a legal permit to be there too. And of course when being attacked by angry sealers that don't want the protesters to document this so-called "humane" hunt - even though they have every legal right to be there too - they expect the police to help them when being attacked and kept from reaching their cars and helicopters. Who wouldn't? And we are not just talking about Rebecca Aldworth here. There were many observes including a member of the European Union who was there to observe the hunt too.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Unfortunately this hunt is legal, yes! But the protesters have a legal permit to be there too. And of course when being attacked by angry sealers that don't want the protesters to document this so-called "humane" hunt - even though they have every legal right to be there too - they expect the police to help them when being attacked and kept from reaching their cars and helicopters. Who wouldn't? And we are not just talking about Rebecca Aldworth here. There were many observes including a member of the European Union who was there to observe the hunt too.

The observers were not attacked -- this was confirmed by the eyewitness account of a Quebec Member of the National Assembly (the Quebec Provincial Legislature.) Similar reports from the SQ. In fact, it would appear that the HSUS observers were the ones causing the danger -- forcing their van through the blockade, nearly running over one pro-seal hunt protester and driving the van for about 1 km with another pro-seal hunt protestor clinging to the van. Rebecca Aldworth wanted the police to help her reach her helicopter when it was convenient for her.

I sincerely doubt any individual engaged in a legal hunt that has been proven to be both environmentally and economically sustainable and declared humane by independent Canadian veterinarians would act any differently. The seal hunters have nothing to hide. They have welcomed Canadian newspaper, magazine and television reporters into their homes and onto their ships. The hunt is well documented. The problem they have with the HSUS, IFAW and foreign observers is that these people have no interest in documenting the hunt with anything resembling objectivity. They don't like the hunt. They don't think it looks pretty. The red stain on the ice makes them think this must be inhumane so they want it stopped. Interesting that only one HSUS supporter is prepared to sit down with the seal hunters and put her money where her mouth is.

Unfortunately, very few on this board seem interested in discussing the facts with me. I have yet to see one independent piece of evidence provided in opposition to the economic and environmental sustainability of the hunt. Only conjecture and emotional opinion supported by nothing more than the sensationalist dramatics of Rebecca Aldworth.

Seems to me that this debate has run its course and should be shut down by the moderators.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Seems to me that this debate has run its course and should be shut down by the moderators.

Why don't you walk away from it if you have nothing more to contribute. It's rediculous to suggest that because YOU feel there is nothing more to say that others don't have more to contribute! Nobody is forcing you to read it so if you're not interested, then .

 

[jess_denmark]

Where in the DIS regulations does it state that threads can be shut down because one party is tired of the debate?

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

And another thing, who said this was a debate? The title of this thread called out for support from other animal rights activists...the only people who wanted this to be a debate are you and FF. That's like asking for a thread about Disney World to be shut down because they arent discussing Universal Studios.

 

[jess_denmark]

And another thing, who said this was a debate? The title of this thread called out for support from other animal rights activists...the only people who wanted this to be a debate are you and FF. That's like asking for a thread about Disney World to be shut down because they arent discussing Universal Studios.

Yeah, and so far I haven't seen anything about supporting ANIMAL rights coming from these two gentlemen mentioned here. Sorry; but I don't really understand why you are here in the first place as you so obviously don't have any interest in the topic of this thread.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Yeah, and so far I haven't seen anything about supporting ANIMAL rights coming from these two gentlemen mentioned here. Sorry; but I don't really understand why you are here in the first place as you so obviously don't have any interest in the topic of this thread.

Exactly!

I just can't believe he would hijack my thread and then call for it to be closed because he doesn't wish to discuss the material he brought into the discussion...material that didn't belong there in the first place!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

My only goal is to provide the facts in the face of the misinformation of the HSUS and the IFAW. If you don't want me in the discussion, then perhaps you should request that I be banned from the Disboards for providing the truth.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Exactly!
material that didn't belong there in the first place!

It is so inconvenient when independent scientific and economic data, independent eyewitness accounts and honest news reporting get in the way of conjecture, emotional opinion, outright misinformation and sensationalist news conferences isn't it?

Why don't you like the facts Dakota_Lynn?

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Why don't you like the facts Dakota_Lynn?

I like the facts just fine...obviously they upset you a good deal though since you're trying to get my thread shut down!

 

[RoyalCanadian]

I like the facts just fine...obviously they upset you a good deal though since you're trying to get my thread shut down!

If you did "like the facts just fine" Dakota_Lynn then you wouldn't be listening to the lies, misinformation and sensationalist dramatics of the HSUS and IFAW.

Here are the facts -- and the HSUS and IFAW don't like the facts:

• the Canadian seal hunt is both economically and environmentally sustainable.
• the Canadian seal hunt has been determined to be a humane hunt by the independent group, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.
• millions of people in a chronically economically depressed area rely on the Canadian seal hunt for up to 35% of their annual income.
• while the hunting of harp seal pups, known as whitecoats, has been banned since 1987 animal rights groups such as the HSUS and IFAW continue to use pictures of whitecoats to bring in millions of dollars in public donations each year.
• the HSUS and IFAW are a part of a very profitable industry that relies on emotion and misinformation to realize their financial goals.
• the HSUS "news event" with Sir Paul & Heather McCartney placed the two celebrities at risk for prosecution for interfering with infant seals.
• Sir Paul McCartney was shown to be incredibly misinformed on international television by the Premier of Newfoundland. Sir Paul didn't even know what province he was in.
• the seal population is very healthy, regardless of what the HSUS contributor Stephen Harris might say. The harp seal population is currently pegged at approximatly 5.8 million seals, triple the population it was in the 1970s.
• the Canadian DFO sets annual quotas based on environmental data and does not blindly set seal quotas as the HSUS would like individuals to believe.

There's the facts -- glad you like them Dakota_Lynn.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Why don't you walk away from it if you have nothing more to contribute. It's rediculous to suggest that because YOU feel there is nothing more to say that others don't have more to contribute! Nobody is forcing you to read it so if you're not interested, then .

I have plenty more to contribute -- it's just that neither you nor jess_denmark seem interested in responding with any independent facts of your own. Everything you've contributed, so far, has been easily refuted time and time again by independent news reporting or environmental and econonic statistics.