EU not against commercial seal hunting: ambassador

[Yidaki Dave]

Well, just as I thought that things would move forward on this issue. At least I was hoping things would move forward, I read this this morning.:angry1:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080723/seal_debate_080724/20080724?hub=TopStories

The Farley Mowat is still being held by the Canadian Gov't. The court date has been announced for late April 09. I think that this is to keep the SSCS off the seas for the seal hunt. Whatever the reason, I'm sure that CPW will have something planned for the media.

Peace

Dave

[dolphinlass]

oohhh makes me so angry when people compare sealing and whaling to slaughterhouses..and ask where the diff is?! I mean time taken to die for some whales have been recorded to, about 23ish minutes of pain/stress. What about a seal clubber or shooter..how good is him aim? Does he 100% get the bullet through the head? i doubt it...slaughterhouse is an intantaneous death...
Ive noticed another comparison with my anti faroe group on facebook..they use the comparison to bullfighting?? wHAAAAT? That is just to distract from their cruelity...has anyone else notised that...you really cannot compare! love love love..

[Kadevu]

Depending on the method used, cattle and pigs suffer while being killed up to 10 minutes, too. Some are cut open alive (because the stunner and shocker [electro] didn't pay enough attention to the process).
Pigs feel the fear of death and know they gonna get killed from the screams of the others just being killed. In a slaughterhouse they might be in fear for hours.

Squeezing a bulls bullocks to make him aggressive and slowly killing him with spears is not good either.

Like it or not, all of us have to be prepared to argue with that in mind.

I personally, don't see it as a distraction if people come up with that argument.
It is a psychological instrument to rectify ones action. Because this argument is closely followed by this one: oh come on, if you say whaling is just as bad (or similar) as farming and mass slaughtering of cows (etc.), what should we eat then???

We have to face it: it's a moral dilemma we are in: where do we draw the line? Whales? Not good killing, Cows? Not good killing! Rats? yeah that's ok!


As I said, it is psychological!

And it is also psychological that we win most donations with sad looking seal eyes (and their apparent tears) and whales (Dolphins etc.) who are mostly seen as worthy to protect.

k.

P.S. I hope this comment is not misunderstood.

[Yidaki Dave]

No misunderstanding here. I get it.

Peace

[Angie]

Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
07/23/2008 printer-friendly version

V Day for Seals in Europe

The European Union has delivered a strong message of mercy to the world’s persecuted seal population. The European Commission adopted a proposal today to ban all products from seals killed inhumanely from import into European Union member nations.

“After more than four decades of fighting this brutal, savage and extremely cruel slaughter of seals on Canada’s Eastern coast, an incredible victory has been achieved with the proposed banning of seal pelts into European markets,” said Captain Paul Watson. “This will mean that seal products cannot be transshipped to Asia through European ports and since Europeans define global fashions, what is not in fashion in Paris and Rome will no longer be in fashion in China or Japan.”

EU Environmental Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters, “Seal products coming from countries which practice cruel hunting methods must not be allowed to enter the EU. The EU is committed to upholding high standards of animal welfare."

The EU proposal says the trade in seal products would be allowed from countries that can offer guarantees their hunting techniques are "consistent with high animal-welfare standards" and the animals are killed swiftly without undue suffering.

Special exemptions will also be allowed for Canada's Arctic Inuit community.

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

Canada may insist that the Canadian slaughter of seals is “humane” but the evidence demonstrates that it is in fact exceptionally cruel. The only way that a seal pelt can be sold in Europe now is if the killing of each seal in documented on video tape and the pelt is marked to match it with the video. If Canadian sealers are forced to actually attempt to humanely kill seals they will have a very slow time of it because it takes time and perfect conditions to slaughter an animal in hostile weather conditions on moving ice.

The European Union was forced to word the ban the way they did to avoid trade retaliations from Canada. Canada could have imposed trade restrictions for an outright ban but it will be difficult to contradict the wording of the proposal that specifically prohibits products obtained inhumanely.

“What is Canada going to do?” asked Captain Watson. “Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn can’t very well say we oppose banning seal products derived from cruelty. Nor can he say we have the right to put inhumane products on the world market. He can continue to insist that the seal slaughter is well regulated and humane but now he has to prove it and quite frankly there is no way that the slaughter of seal pups can be demonstrated to be humane.”

If the seal slaughter continues now it will be as a glorified welfare project to maintain barbaric traditions in the face of a civilized society.

“As long as sealers continue to go to the ice to kill seals for any reason whatsoever they will be monitored and they will be harassed,” said Captain Watson. “Cruelty and diminishment of marine species must not be tolerated for any reason, economic or cultural. This proposal is the death nail for one of the most despicable and obscene wildlife massacres on the planet. If Canada will not voluntarily join the 21st Century we will continue to kick the government’s savage ass until they do.”

Captain Paul Watson is a Canadian raised in an East Coast Canadian fishing village and he has opposed the slaughter of the seals since he was a boy of 10.

“After 48 years of enduring the humiliating shame of being a Canadian and association with this annual horror show, I welcome this European measure with great joy,” he said.

Canadian seal pelt prices have fallen dramatically since the European Union first began to take measures to ban seal products. The proposed ban will also impact imports of seal products from Southern Africa and Russia.

In April the Dutch registered Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat was boarded at gunpoint in international waters in an attempt to prevent documentation of cruelty on the ice. Videos and photos of the seal slaughter were seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Captain Alex Cornelissen of the Netherlands and Swedish First Officer Peter Hammarstedt were arrested and charged with approaching too close to a seal slaughter. They will be tried for this “crime” in April 2009. Meanwhile the Farley Mowat is being held by Canadian authorities until the case is resolved.

“If the seal hunt is humane as the government insists it is, then why the extreme measures to confiscate evidence that it is not, and why is it illegal in Canada to document the killing of a seal without supervision of the government?” asked Captain Cornelissen.

“We took pictures of seals being cruelly slaughtered,” said Peter Hammarstedt. “Yet the government is treating us like we are armed terrorists. Perhaps they have finally realized that the camera is a more potent weapon than a gun and that the truth is more threatening than their lies. We will fight them on the ice. We will fight them in the courts. We will fight them in marketplace but we will never surrender to savage cruelty and the destruction of a marine wildlife species.”

Two sealers dragging a seal pup
by a hook through its head


Canadian Coast Guard illegally storm
and board the Farley Mowat






P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax: 360-370-5651
Copyright © 2008 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. All rights reserved.

[Yidaki Dave]

I posted what I think was a FANTASTIC rebuttle to "DD" and his/her views. But it either was too late or the moderator banned what I had to say. Either way, I just wish that I had cut a pasted from a word .doc as I have no copy of what I posted. I wanted to post it here but the moment is lost and to try to get it back would only be second best. Sorry folks.

Peace

[XB70Valkyrie]

As many of you may have, I too have read all 137 pages of the EFSA Q-2007-118 Report. An interesting dimension that is conveniently left out of the definition of humane is the word "compassionate".

Per wiktionary - 1. With regard for the health and well-being of another; compassionate.

In my opinion, the commercial seal hunt of neonatal seal pups for their fur is, on its face,....."inhumane". All sane individuals see this as an act of complete discompassion. Those individuals who don't are blinded by the desperation for cash. I feel for the poor. I do not, however, feel for the stubborn or proud.