EU bans canadian seal imports

[ulu]

Thank you to the EU for taking a stand against this horrific slaughter. Hopefully my country will soon stop this barbaric custom.

portland imc - 2009.05.05 - The end of the Canadian seal hunt

 

[peanutbutter12]

Seal hunting is like every other animal based industry in the world, it's how these people make a living, and it also helps control the population of seals which otherwise could be cause for an ecological problem.

They are killed in a very humane way and it's instantaneous. Even the WWF agrees that the way these seals are killed is a very humane way to do so. Also worth mentioning that killing Harp Seals is extremely regulated... which I'm sure some still get away with poaching, but then, there are poachers everywhere for every type of game animal.

The problem is that they are cute and therefore, that makes them wrong to kill in the eyes of people who don't know any better. Seals and Sea Lions are my favourite animals, but I understand why it's done and accept it. I don't see it as barbaric, I see it as a source of income and ecological control, just like many other animals we slaughter.

 

[Drekkan85]

They can't kill baby harp seals. Their tool, which looks barbaric, is actually one of the most humane tools possible given that it is designed to cause instantaneous death. If seals aren't hunted, their population would become a serious danger to fish stocks of Atlantic cod which are already on their last legs thanks to overfishing.

Oh yes, and in the age of global economic down turn you know what really helps economies? TRADE WAR!!! Canada will take this to the WTO as an illegal barrier to trade. The WTO will do what they've done in cases of bans versus specific products - find in favour of the plaintiff nation. Canada will then demand compensation for its residents. The EU will say no, so Canada will be allowed to issue both retaliatory AND punitive tariffs by the WTO. End result of band:

1) Canadian hunters (mainly native American and people of economically depressed areas in Newfoundland) get hurt/poorer.
2) Europeans in whatever industries Canada chooses get hurt/poorer
3) The global economy gets a little less stable
4) Either the hunt continues or, if it stops, the seals grow out of control and cause many of them to die anyway of starvation.

Congratulations EU - you truly are the idiots of the month. Collect your prize of a kick in the keister at the door.

 

[ulu]

Stop the Seal Hunt - Why the Seal Hunt is Cruel to Baby Seals

"This hunt is a highly competitive activity, carried out over an extensive area, and under very unpredictable conditions. Haste is the rule, as hunters rush to immobilize as many baby seals as possible in the short time available to them. Seals are routinely clubbed or shot and left to suffer on the ice, before being clubbed again some time thereafter. Some seals are still skinned before being rendered fully unconscious and few sealers are observed checking for a blinking reflex to confirm brain death prior to skinning an animal. As one of the veterinary reports concluded: "Canada's commercial seal hunt results in considerable and unacceptable suffering.”


It is far from humane.

 

[Dharma Wheel]

Although I do feel for the Eskimo people who made a living on Seal hunting, I cannot say that I am unhappy with this decision.

 

[Drekkan85]

Any hunters who do take harp seals should be prosecuted, however, until you can show me a peer reviewed study I can continue to claim that's the case. Why? Because the hunt IS heavily regulated and it has been illegal to hunt seals that have not started molting (aka, baby seals - those ones in the white coats) since 1987.

Again, this move by the EU helps no one and hurts many people.

GG EU - your inability to grasp that trade barriers hurt all involve is a credit to European thinking.

 

[blook]

The problem is that they are cute and therefore, that makes them wrong to kill in the eyes of people who don't know any better. Seals and Sea Lions are my favourite animals, but I understand why it's done and accept it. I don't see it as barbaric, I see it as a source of income and ecological control, just like many other animals we slaughter.

I agree. But there should be regulation. Because if we don't restrain ourselves we'll kill all seals within a decade, easy.

Apart from that i don't have any obligation against the seal hunt. But the pictures we get to see when there's discussion on this topic are pictures of baby seals beaten to death lying in a pool of their own blood. Every organization knows how to play the public, rational arguments play a far inferior role nowadays.

 

[peanutbutter12]

I agree. But there should be regulation. Because if we don't restrain ourselves we'll kill all seals within a decade, easy.

There are plenty of regulations in place that will prevent over hunting and as Drekkan85 said, the hunters are mainly made up of natives who's ancestors have been doing this for a long time.

I doubt you have to worry about the depopulation of seals anytime soon. They aren't threatened and have very high populations.

 

[peanutbutter12]

Stop the Seal Hunt - Why the Seal Hunt is Cruel to Baby Seals

"This hunt is a highly competitive activity, carried out over an extensive area, and under very unpredictable conditions. Haste is the rule, as hunters rush to immobilize as many baby seals as possible in the short time available to them. Seals are routinely clubbed or shot and left to suffer on the ice, before being clubbed again some time thereafter. Some seals are still skinned before being rendered fully unconscious and few sealers are observed checking for a blinking reflex to confirm brain death prior to skinning an animal. As one of the veterinary reports concluded: "Canada's commercial seal hunt results in considerable and unacceptable suffering.”

It is far from humane.

You need to not rely on extremist PETA-esk websites and groups for information. More often than not, the information they give is not only inaccurate, but is driven by emotion rather than realistic sense of what is.

Real animal activist groups, like the World Wildlife Foundation, of which I am a supporter, looked at the seal hunt a long time ago and got the facts about it. There is no suffering for these animals. Any animal that is hit with a hakapik that doesn't die instantly is knocked unconscious and is dead within moments. Hunters do whatever they can to prevent bleeding on the hide because that is what is worth money.

Really, stop listening to extremist websites and get the down to earth facts about things like this.

 

[ulu]

Humane Society of Canada
The international and canadian humane societies are both against this "hunt"
Commercial fisherman as well as native people take part. There are numerous videos available on the net documenting the suffering of these animals during the "hunt"
Again, my thanks to the EU for doing the right thing.

 

[Panzerkamfwagen]

Darn. I guess I'm not going to get a chance to club baby seals over the head like a good conservative.

 

[wpiman2]

it is a custom; not nice to insult someone's customs....

 

[Caitlin.ann]

Thank you to the EU for taking a stand against this horrific slaughter. Hopefully my country will soon stop this barbaric custom.

portland imc - 2009.05.05 - The end of the Canadian seal hunt

BS...something the EU has finally done that I really don't agree with.

 

[peanutbutter12]

Humane Society of Canada
The international and canadian humane societies are both against this "hunt"
Commercial fisherman as well as native people take part. There are numerous videos available on the net documenting the suffering of these animals during the "hunt"
Again, my thanks to the EU for doing the right thing.

It's easy to make a movie to push agendas. Just ask PETA about that. Heck, just ask a lot of religious groups about that as well. It's a matter of getting people to believe what you believe with little to no realistic fact behind what you're pushing. This is where things like conspiracy come into play.

By the mentality you have, should we also then cancel deer season across the US/Canada because the deer might not be dead when shot with an arrow or with a gun? Because it might take a run for a quarter mile forcing the hunter to track it down? Or should we then forget about the deer because they aren't as adorable as harp seals? Lets not be hypocritical now.

Do the right thing, cancel deer season! Stop the suffering of the deer! </sarcasm>

 

[Jonathan David]

Pretty rich coming from the homes of the fox hunt, the bull fight, etc. If Europeans gave a rat's posterior about animal welfare, they might start in their own backyards, where they torment and then butcher animals for fun... Those are cruel activities. The seal hunt is no different then what we do to chickens, cattle, etc... except of course that it is ecologically sensitive, rather than destructive, that the seals aren't kept in inhumane conditions before they are killed, and that they are not pumped full of chemicals (other than those that we have flushed into our oceans and are now contaminating every living thing in the north).

This is utter nonsense.

 

[Kalevalatar]

Hunts carried by the indigenous peoples like the Inuit exempt, as well as fishermen in the EU, mostly in Britain, Finland and Sweden, who may carry on seal hunts in order to, quote, protect their catches and to sell seal products on a non-profit basis.

Ah, yes. A dog and pony show.

 

[Chajara]

Pretty rich coming from the homes of the fox hunt, the bull fight, etc. If Europeans gave a rat's posterior about animal welfare, they might start in their own backyards, where they torment and then butcher animals for fun... Those are cruel activities. The seal hunt is no different then what we do to chickens, cattle, etc... except of course that it is ecologically sensitive, rather than destructive, that the seals aren't kept in inhumane conditions before they are killed, and that they are not pumped full of chemicals (other than those that we have flushed into our oceans and are now contaminating every living thing in the north).

This is utter nonsense.

This, exactly. If you're getting all upset over seals receiving an instant death sentence at the end of a club I'd hate to see how you'd react to what goes on in a slaughterhouse simply because Americans insist on eating huge amounts of meat. While you're at it, you should read up on how the Smithfield pork company is destroying the environment with their "lagoons" (lakes of liquefied pig excrement, corpses, and blood) and ruining the health of humans, not just the animals they raise.

Seriously, if you whine about seals and then go buy a chicken or cut of meat at the supermarket you're sort of a hypocrite. Animals suffer greatly every single day so that we don't have to all be vegans.

 

[ulu]

I am also against hunting any animal for the "fun" of it, bullfighting, dogfighting etc. Many of the seals are killed for their skins, and many suffer. Based on reading arguments from both sides, I believe this is the case, and am against this "hunt"
Fortunately for those who profit, or get a thrill from the torment of animals, this hunt and other mentioned activities continue on.

 

[Caitlin.ann]

I am also against hunting any animal for the "fun" of it, bullfighting, dogfighting etc. Many of the seals are killed for their skins, and many suffer. Based on reading arguments from both sides, I believe this is the case, and am against this "hunt"
Fortunately for those who profit, or get a thrill from the torment of animals, this hunt and other mentioned activities continue on.

You're not from Eastern Canada are you? No matter sealing is no worse than hauling thousands of pounds of fish out of the ocean every year. People in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia depend on the industry, so until Canada can get better other industries over there for those people to make a living then you can complain, until then I'd rather keep food on peoples tables and hopefully not through pogie.

 

[a.d.ivNonasNovembres]

I am saddened by the new legislation. Some kind of "sustainability" regulation (i.e. only allowed to purchase things which have passed a sustainability test) would have been a better idea. They basically did it because its a popular idea because baby seals are cute.