Seal Hunt

[Crusader]

I'm surprised we don't have a poll on this already.

 

So what do you think about the seal hunt?

 

Info-> http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-73-986/politi...nomy/seal_hunt/

[no yu begin wher i end]

I don't care. Both sides have their merit, but the sanctimoniousness of the anti-seal hunters just pisses me off. I thought it was funny how that seal the McCartneys posed with turned around and snapped at them.

 

 

A baby seal walks into a club.

[Crusader]

I never liked Paul to begin with but his meddling annoys.

[guitarchick]

yeah seal hunting is retarded.

We should hunt humans and use their back hair.

[Monochrome Rainbow]

Isn't it actually beneficial to the ecosystem?

[garsk]

did you hear that a liberal senator got a letter from a family from Minnesota that was upset with the seal hunt. they thought it was "horriable" and "inhumane" so they canncelled their trip in protest. the liberal Senator C

[HoboFactory]

I say they should be allowed to hunt seals provided they're allowed to use only their bare hands.

[ecnarf]

Isn't it actually beneficial to the ecosystem?

... in the sense that it keeps the seals from eating more cod so that the fishermen can keep overfishing, yes, seal hunting is beneficial. For us, at any rate.

[Ravenous Yam]

Yeah that's basically it. Some people also give the 'if we didn't keep the numbers down they'd starve themselves' thing, but I don't know if I buy that.

 

Notice how nobody ever bothers trying to save animals that aren't cute?

 

Although, contrary to popular belief, it is illegal to kill the seal pups; they have to be adult.

[Matt]

That was something Danny Williams (Premier of New Found Land and Labrador) brought up at one point either during or after the McCartney debate on Larry King Live actually.

 

Here's the article on canada.com]http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...5273

McCartney, Williams debate seal hunt on Larry King Live

 

Chris Morris, Canadian Press

Published: Friday, March 03, 2006

 

CHARLOTTETOWN -- Some supporters of Canada's annual harp seal hunt grudgingly acknowledge that Paul McCartney's global reach as a megastar could spell trouble for the hunt's future.

 

Pictures of McCartney and his wife, Heather, frolicking with doe-eyed seal pups on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence flashed around the world this week, along with a strong anti-hunt message.

 

By late Friday, the McCartneys had wrapped up taping a heated debate on the controversial hunt with Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams for CNN's Larry King Live.

 

Proponents of the hunt, including Williams and Canada's fisheries minister, Loyola Hearn, have said that anti-hunt activists like the McCartneys don't understand how the hunt works and what it means to Atlantic Canadians.

 

But the McCartneys said that's not true.

 

"I disagree," the former Beatle said as he headed into a room in a Charlottetown hotel to tape the CNN show.

 

"We have a full grasp," added Heather Mills McCartney. "We wouldn't be here otherwise."

 

After the hour-long debate, Williams said Heather Mills McCartney had attempted to interrupt him a number of times, and King had to act as referee.

 

"But there's a point where people who don't respect Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and who don't treat us with respect, will get it back in spades from me," he said. "I certainly wasn't going to allow the McCartneys to dominate that interview.''

 

Williams suggested the pop icon duo were misinformed, noting that Paul McCartney had thought his portest trip Thursday had taken him to Newfoundland, when in fact he was in Prince Edward Island and later Quebec.

 

"They target us because we're a smaller province, and it's a smaller industry," the premier said after he emerged from a TV studio in St. John's. "They're not going to take on the beef industry. A seal pup makes a great photo op.

 

"They're not going to get their photo taken with a chicken. It's just not a good photo op."

 

However, Jack Troake, a Newfoundland sealer with 55 years experience, admitted that the arrival of the McCartneys on the protest scene is a concern.

 

Troake has seen his share of protesters -- from fur-clad B-movie stars to radical vegans -- but the McCartneys are in a class of their own when it comes to star power.

 

"I'm certainly concerned about this lad," said the Twillingate fisherman, who can remember when French film star Brigitte Bardot caused a sensation when she showed up to protest the fishery in 1972.

 

"He's a much more powerful person."

 

Hearn agreed, but he made it clear the Canadian government wasn't intimidated.

 

"If Paul McCartney thinks that he is going to stop the seal hunt, ahead of him there's a long and winding road," Hearn said from Paris, where he is attending an international conference.

 

Meanwhile, Bardot emerged from seclusion Friday to slam the hunt.

 

"Seal hunters are killers," Bardot told Montreal all-news channel, LCN. "Your country is a rich country and you are setting an appalling example for the world."

 

Rebecca Aldworth, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States, which organized the McCartney visit, said the couple has given the anti-seal campaign a significant, global boost.

 

"Paul and Heather McCartney are two of the most visible people in the world and they are two of the strongest animal protection people in the world," Aldworth said.

 

Jack McAndrew, a P.E.I. columnist who once covered the seal hunt as a reporter, said that while the presence of the McCartneys is a comment on the power of celebrity, he doubts it will have lasting impact.

 

"It'll be like everything else in this world, today's pictures are gone tomorrow, replaced with real news about the tragedy of more people being killed in Afghanistan" McAndrew said. "In three days, the McCartneys will be forgotten."

 

McAndrew said that as far as Atlantic Canadians are concerned, he's convinced the McCartney visit will only stiffen resolve to carry on with the hunt.

 

"The more Paul McCartneys come in here, the more stubborn we get," he said.

 

McCartney is calling on the Canadian government to end the annual seal hunt off the East Coast.

 

The legendary musician told a group of international reporters who accompanied him to the ice on Thursday the hunt is a stain on the character of the Canadian people.

 

McCartney's comments were not well-received in Atlantic Canada, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador where the vast majority of seal hunters live.

 

"It's not right," said St. John's resident Maxine Collins. "Paul McCartney knows nothing about our seal hunt. It's some people's livelihood, it's done humanely and he should just back off and leave us alone.''

 

Troake said sealers have a lot at stake financially.

 

Most of them, he said, are commercial fishermen with big boat payments to make. The hunt offers their first real cash after the winter lay-off and it's big money.

 

Troake said the average 55-foot boat with a 12-man crew will haul in $100,000 in a day or two of sealing.

 

"The only positive thing in the 2006 fishery is the seal fishery," he said.

 

Edited March 19, 2006 by Matt

[ecnarf]

Notice how nobody ever bothers trying to save animals that aren't cute?

Oddly enough, nobody tries to save people that aren't cute, either.

 

P.S. Danny Williams could have handily won that debate by taking down all British flags in Newfoundland and Labrador. That would have put McCartney in his place.

[Dan #2]

Notice how nobody ever bothers trying to save animals that aren't cute?

As opposed as i am to the beef industry, it at least has an excuse for a purpose.

 

 

God my grammer sucks lately.

Edited March 19, 2006 by Dan #2

[garsk]

to save a ugly animal, it might meen you have to touch an ugly animal, and which famous person really wants to touch something like a snake?

[Ruettiger]

Save this beautiful bird;

 

On topic; I think it's kind of stupid to hunt the seals, but whether or not I'm opposed to it won't make a difference.

[daniel_v]

Although, contrary to popular belief, it is illegal to kill the seal pups; they have to be adult.

Define adult...

 

CTV seal hunt article

 

...but the pups can be killed once they lose their white fur, which can happen as soon as about 12 days after they are born...The fact is that the seals that are being killed, 98 per cent of them, are between three weeks and three months of age."

Edited March 20, 2006 by daniel_v

[rebellious_L]

...but the pups can be killed once they lose their white fur, which can happen as soon as about 12 days after they are born...The fact is that the seals that are being killed, 98 per cent of them, are between three weeks and three months of age."

...according to Fink, whose numbers are probably biased. Find a neutral source that claims 98% and I'll be impressed.

[bigred]

They're seals? Who cares?

[Ravenous Yam]

Define adult...

 

CTV seal hunt article

 

...but the pups can be killed once they lose their white fur, which can happen as soon as about 12 days after they are born...The fact is that the seals that are being killed, 98 per cent of them, are between three weeks and three months of age."

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/myth_e.htm

 

Myth #1: The Canadian government allows sealers to kill whitecoat seals.

 

Reality: The image of the whitecoat harp seal is used prominently by seal hunt opponents. This image gives the false impression that vulnerable seal pups are targeted by sealers during the commercial hunt.

 

The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is illegal

[garsk]

who cares? i guess Paul McCartney, other then that, i dont, if they want to make a living that way, it their choice, cause if know one was buying the fur, then they wouldnt kill them, unless it was some really sick/fun eco-tourism vacation thing.

[Moonlight_Graham]

Not an expert on the seal hunting. If its just for the pelts, they should stop it. If they eat the seals for food, let it continue if done in a humane & environmental way.

[garsk]

starving to death if there is not enough fish?

[MuttersomeTaxicab]

I don't know, I'd say if it's simply to control population and keep things from getting too out of hand, to attempt to establish some equilibrium, then I say fine.

 

But yeah, I'd say a lot of the hue and cry results from the fact that seal pups are real cute.

 

Yeah. That's a good reason to protest something.

[waitingforthesky]

good god, didn't anybody watch the seabert cartoons as a kid? how could you endorse killing seals after all that that crime solving baby seal has done for us?

[no yu begin wher i end]

good god, didn't anybody watch the seabert cartoons as a kid? how could you endorse killing seals after all that that crime solving baby seal has done for us?

He got too big for his britches.

[Stryfe]

Hmmm If I was forced to choose between starvation and being clubbed in the face I wonder what I'd do.