Seal hunt protests misguided

http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/04/19/5328541.html ^ | 2008-04-19 | Michael Den Tandt (editorial page)

[Clive]

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[End Times Sentinel]

I'D HIT IT

[sinanju]

I’ve read and loved a great deal of his stuff, and yes, I accepted the fact that some of his adventures were a tad embroidered but he began to lose me with his hysterical 1984 screed: “Sea of Slaughter.”

“Wake of the Great Sealers,” with it’s dark, phantasmagorical illustrations is a deserved classic and certainly provided hard facts and anecdotes about what a nasty, brutish and short life it was being a Newfie sealer in the Bad Old Days.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

What?

You mean our children are being lied to and propagandized by the petaphiles and such?

Unbelievable...or not.

[girlangler]

Thanks for posting this Clive, it’s a great article.

[brytlea]

I started not to read this but I’m glad I did. If this article is accurate, then I am not opposed to harvesting the seals. I remember the stories, years ago, of not only baby seals being clubbed but also skinned alive. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I need badly enough, to support an industry like that. However, if they are killed first, then it’s no worse than other sorts of animal usage.
susie

[Bean Counter]

[Ken522]

I read Farley Mowat's Never Cry Wolf - the biology teacher popularized it to the whole class. It was fun reading about how the wolves would only go after the weakest, diseased members of the elk herd during a hunt ... absolute rubbish!

[I still care]

Who likes the thought of animals being hurt or killed? But that’s the way it is.

If that seal hadn’t been clubbed by a sealer, it might have been torn into pieces by a killer whale, or starved, or any number of things. None of them pleasant.

Ever see a show where the lions eat things alive, or animals die of parasites, or starvation, or slow abuse by their own kind? That’s nature’s way, and it’s nasty.

I’ve come to the conclusion the hunted ones are the lucky ones.

[Clive]

You may be interested in this briefing by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (aka Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans):

Technical Briefing on the Harp Seal Hunt in Atlantic Canada

Note shis item from the Briefing:

Slide 10 - A Humane Hunt

Numerous organizations have studied the hunting methods used in the Canadian seal hunt and they have found them to be humane.

The hunting methods presently used were studied by the Royal Commission on Seals and 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.

Methods used to kill seals in Canada were found to be generally more humane than the shooting of animals for sport. The Commission also found that no methods of killing which have come to their notice, other than clubbing or shooting, achieve acceptable standards of humaneness.

[skimbell]

Yeah and if you want a real hoot, ask the penguins what they think about the “precious” harps.

[george76]

Did the Vegans get caught staging fake seal attacks in the past ?

Second, the populations of seals are actually up ?

The Canadian authorities manage the various populations plus the human hunters on the ice actually drive away other predators, thus fewer seals are taken ?

[Clive]

Several years ago Newfoundlanders formed the Codpeace Foundation whose mission it was to protect the noble cod fish from the depredations of the vicious Harp Seal.

[jazusamo]

Excellent artice, Clive.

Though the truth it would only confuse the enviro animal rights whack jobs with facts that they certainly ignore.

Thanks for the ping, girl.

[fanfan]

[muawiyah]

25% of Earth's land surface is already given over almost exclusively to the care and feeding of reindeer (and some muskox and yaks).

At the same time there are great numbers of people whose digestive systems have been carved out by nature to thrive best given a steady diet of seal.

Why would anyone favor giving over more land to the reindeer and biologically destroying the seal eaters.

Sounds almost demented.

[Fawn]

[Fawn]

But these seals, the little white baby harps, haven't been hunted in Canada for a generation. That was banned in the 1980s.

Pic from 2007:

http://www.thecouncilclaw.ca/images/seal%20hunt%2007.jpg

[jazusamo]

And your point is? Did you read the article and post these pics to confirm it?