Best of both worlds! Kids clubbing seals!
Posted on 04/05/2006 12:27:07 PM PDT by presidio9
A Connecticut businesswoman offered Canada 16 million US dollars to immediately end a controversial seal hunt, she wrote in an open letter to the prime minister, but Canada is not biting.
"Your government has repeatedly stated that the 16 million dollars realized from the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Newfoundland," Cathy Kangas said in her letter.
"If you stop this year's hunt immediately, we will provide you with this 16 million dollars to be distributed at your discretion."
But, Steven Outhouse, a spokesman for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, told AFP: "The short answer is no. We're not interested in the offer and would prefer she put the money in another worthwhile cause."
Despite protests by countless animal rights groups and celebrities including Canadian-born actress Pamela Anderson, French film legend Brigitte Bardot and former Beatle Paul McCartney, Ottawa authorized the cull of 325,000 seals this year.
So far, some 20,000 seals have been slaughtered this season. Wednesday, the hunt moved from ice floes on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the shores of Newfoundland province in eastern Canada.
Kangas is chief executive and founder of cosmetics firm Prai Beauty.
A longtime animal activist with ties to the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the US Humane Society, which has lobbied vigorously against the hunt, she also proposed buying back hunting licenses and nurturing an eco-tourism program to replace the annual seal cull.
"This could be a whole new source of revenue for the region and fishermen could serve as park rangers showing the seals and protecting them," she said.
The money would be raised from animal protection groups worldwide including the US Humane Society, which has more than nine million members, Kangas noted.
Outhouse said the hunt is legal and regulated and there is "no resource crunch" so Kangas' offer does "not make sense from a conservation point of view."
"Also, is she going to offer 16 million dollars over the next 10 years? This is an ongoing form of income for people (in the region)," Outhouse said.
"It's just another example of people with money trying to tell other people how to live their lives and most people don't respond positively to that."
The annual seal hunt earns about 16.5 million Canadian dollars (14.2 million dollars) in commercial meat and pelts for thousands of local fisherman, plus another four million dollars for related industries, officials said.
Canada banned the killing of the youngest seals, less than 12 days old, in 1987 amid criticisms and threats of European boycotts that pushed the industry to the brink of collapse.
Since then, the protests largely disappeared. But Canada awoke the wrath of activists in 2003 by approving a three-year cull of some 975,000 seals after estimating their population had ballooned -- now at 5.8 million, nearly triple the number in the 1970s.
This coincided with the opening of new markets in China and Russia.
The Dalai Lama, singer Charles Aznavour, actors Kim Bassinger, Juliette Binoche and Richard Dean Anderson, among many others, have campaigned against the hunt over the years.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last month Canada had become the "victim of an international propaganda campaign."
In the past, Kangas has also lobbied against the slaughter of cats and dogs in China for food, to save whales, chimps once used by the US Air Force, elephants, retired race horses, and wolves.
I think they eat the seals too if I'm not mistaken.
They are shot, not clubbed...
i'm gonna shoot my neighbor's cat if she doesn't fork over a cool million in 24 hours.
Ah, the socialist way.
I have a pair of baby seal overmitts for snowmachining- nothing better- paid the Native that made them $200- she has no other source of income- she was very appreciative.
Now, that's YUCK!
How about 16 million dollars to stop rabbits and hares from killing ptarmigans? I await that.
LOL
How much does she give to pro-life movements or maybe dying children's funds etc
OH BOY !! I get to post one of my favorite jokes again !!
A seal goes into a bar in Toronto.
The bartender asks: "What's your pleasure?"
The seal replies; "ANYTHING but Canadian Club !!"
......be sure and tip yer waitress etc,etc....
I'd pay you to go on a cockroach genocide.
She didn't "put her money where her mouth is". She said she would try to raise the money from donations. In other words, what she really said was, "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."
To what? Brick Outhouse?
it's not real till it's on Ebay.
this would never fly in the US. it costs much more than 16 million to bribe a Congresscritter to action.
Don't you know that baby seals are far more important than human children? They're OUR responsibility to send to the crappy, failing pc-public schools. American kids? NEVER!
Best of both worlds! Kids clubbing seals!
I'm sure some creative mind on FR (with too much free time) will come up with a photo to prove you wrong.
I used her face wash one time, it dried my skin out.
If she is responsible for your dry face, I'm pretty sure that gives you the right to club her.
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