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   Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney

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Topic: Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney (Read 193 times)

Deekeryu
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Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney
« on: Mar 4^th, 2006, 2:11pm »

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How could one kill something so cute? True, they aren't allowed to kill the pups until they shed their white fur which happens 12 days after they are born, but they are still babies . Sad

McCartneys put spotlight on pup seal hunt

The former Beatle and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney, arrived Wednesday night in this fishing community on Canada's Atlantic coast and landed a helicopter on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Thursday.

The longtime animal-rights activists want to publicize the plight of the fluffy white pups, which are calved and weaned from their mothers on the frigid ice before being clubbed to death.

The McCartneys, dressed in bright orange thermal jump suits, took helicopters with about 12 journalists in tow to the ice floes just northwest of Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec.

They rolled on the ice with one pup and expressed sadness that it would likely be killed in several weeks when the hunt officially gets under way.

"She's only three or four days old, and they won't even get a chance to have a solid meal or even swim," Heather Mills McCartney said. "We've come out here to discuss the fate of these seals. In about three weeks time these baby seals are due to be clubbed to death or shot. For many years people have tried to have this brutal practice stopped."

The United States has banned Canadian seal products since 1972 and the European Union banned the white pelts of baby seals in 1983.

The British government also is considering banning the import of seal goods.

Groups such as Respect for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States, which are coordinating the McCartneys' visit, are encouraging people to boycott Canadian seafood as a show of solidarity.

"I think the McCartneys are two of the most visible people in the world, and with them drawing attention to the fact that this hunt is still going on, this is going to get that message out across the world," said Rebecca Aldworth, who will be observing and documenting her seventh seal hunt for the Humane Society.

Aldworth said the McCartneys quizzed her long and hard about the annual harvest, including the economic benefits that sealing brings to the local fishermen, whose livelihoods were devastated when Atlantic Ocean cod stocks dried up in the mid-1990s.

"I've observed the seal hunt at close range for seven years. I've routinely witnessed conscious seals dragged across the ice with boat hooks, wounded seals left to choke on their own blood, and seals being skinned alive," Aldworth said in a statement. "The commercial seal hunt is inherently cruel, it is a national disgrace."

The Canadian government endorses the harvest as a cultural right for many Maritimers and announced a hunting management plan in 2003 with a quota of 975,000 seals over three years.

About 325,000 seal pups were killed during the hunt last year, bringing the local fishermen $14.5 million (euro12 million) in supplemental income, which they say their families badly need during the winter offseason.

The dates for the spring leg of the hunt have yet to be announced because the unseasonably mild temperatures in northeastern Canada have made the ice thin.

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said Canada would not terminate the annual hunt and insisted it is the most regulated mammal harvest in the world. The government says the country's seal population is abundant, estimating there are 5 million harp seals.

"I would encourage Mr. McCartney when he comes here to see the effect this is having on the economy and to realize this is sustaining people in their home communities," Hearn said.

Aboriginal and Inuit subsistence and commercial hunters begin the kill November 15 in Canada's vast expanse of frozen northern waters. The spring leg of the commercial hunt starts in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and moves to the Atlantic Ocean about 30-40 miles (50 -60 kilometers) away from Newfoundland.

Harp seals have been hunted commercially off Newfoundland since the early 1700s. They were first harvested for their oil but now are culled mostly for their pelts, sold mostly for the fashion industry in Norway, China and Russia.

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Rhune
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Re: Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney
« Reply #1 on: Mar 5^th, 2006, 8:42am »

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I watched a documentary on this when I was about 8 or 9 years old I'd say, on tv. I'll never forget it, or forget how much I sobbed in my mother's arms afterward. It's probably something I shouldn't have watched at that age, and I think my mother, who was upstairs at the time didn't realize I was. I saw it one time and will never touch or buy a seal pelt item in my life. I don't think I could sit through another viewing of it, and I can't imagine participating in it year after year like these locals.

I guess I can understand that they need these sales to supplement their income and survive, but the cruel manner in which they club these babies to death is just unreal. I mean, in this modern day and age they couldn't inject the poor things with something, or at least hit em with a sleeping dart first? It's necessary to kill them by clubbing them over and over while they are concious and awake? How could you even do such a thing and justify it in your mind?

I don't want to deny these people their right to make a living and to feed their families, especially if the population is carefully watched and maintained and can support it. I'm not a vegetarian. I eat meat and wear leather shoes. I grew up in Idaho and have been hunting when I was much younger (although I never shot anything personally). I just don't think it's extreme of me to want these people to find a more modern and humane manner to do this.

I wonder how many people who participate in this have some post traumatic stress disorder after participating the first time, or grieve after they've done it? I know a lot of people are traumatized by deer hunting the first time and that's from the distance of a gun, not walking right up and looking it in the eye, and clubbing it to death. I wonder how many young adults have moved away from these communities over the years to escape from participating.

« Last Edit: Mar 5^th, 2006, 8:52am by Rhune »

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Pocket
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Re: Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney
« Reply #2 on: Mar 5^th, 2006, 12:21pm »

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I wouldn't have thought there would be a great market for seal products, in this day and age. I saw the same documentary, and I was much older, and cried like a baby as well.

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Deekeryu
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Re: Seal Hunting and Paul McCartney
« Reply #3 on: Mar 6^th, 2006, 7:57am »

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I don't mind the killing and all because I'm a meat eater myself. I think of it as part of natural selection, and they do get eaten in the wild. It's the method they go about doing it. The cruelty in it. They couldn't make sure that death is painless and instantaneous? I mean skinning alive, dragging conscious seals by hooks, etc makes my stomach turn. And that is also why I also brought up that Pam Anderson topic a while back with the whole KFC protest. If you watched the video, you'd know what I mean by inhumane practices.

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