The baby seals of the world, and especially those born in Canada, received a wonderful reprieve from the European Union last week when 550 members of the European Parliament voted to ban the trade of products made from seals throughout the EU member nations.
This will deliver a decisive blow to Canada's seal hunters as Europe is one of the last remaining markets for the products that are made from the seals that they slaughter each year.
The Humane Society of the United States has representatives that travel each year to the ice floes of Canada to report on Canada's annual seal hunt.
Each year, they invite lawmakers from around the world to come and witness the event in the hopes that it will lead to new laws protecting the seals.
This year, one such visitor during the 2006 seal hunt was Swedish Member of the European Parliament Carl Schlyter, who introduced the bill that led to the EU's seal product ban.
Showing posts with label seals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seals. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Progress Made In Stopping Canada's Seal "Hunt"
Each year, the Humane Society of the United States sends team members to Canada to document that country’s still-legal “hunting” of baby seals on the ice.
HSUS team members brave bitterly cold, dangerous conditions, not to mention the constant threats from the fishermen who turn to butchering baby seals to supplement their income.
This year, the HSUS team made real progress in their efforts to end this gruesome and completely unnecessary slaughter. HSUS has asked people to sign on to a Canadian seafood boycott in the hopes of effecting the market enough that fishermen would abandon the seal “hunt".
Over 600,000 individuals and over 5,000 businesses have pledged to not purchase Canadian seafood until Canada bans the seal “hunt”. The fishing industry is losing money, and prices for seal skins have crashed to $15 (CAD) -- an 86 percent drop from 2006.
Most fishermen aren't bothering to leave home to join the hunt, and tens of thousands of seals have been spared. Also, for the first time in history, Canadians had introduced a bill that would ban the seal slaughter entirely, largely backed by the efforts of HSUS.
Russia has agreed to a ban of killing harp seals less than a year old, effectively ending their “hunt” as the furs of older seals are not a desired commodity. In fact, Yuriy Trutnev, Russia's Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, called the seal slaughter "bloody," and remarked that the killing of defenseless animals can't be deemed a "hunt."
HSUS team members brave bitterly cold, dangerous conditions, not to mention the constant threats from the fishermen who turn to butchering baby seals to supplement their income.
This year, the HSUS team made real progress in their efforts to end this gruesome and completely unnecessary slaughter. HSUS has asked people to sign on to a Canadian seafood boycott in the hopes of effecting the market enough that fishermen would abandon the seal “hunt".
Over 600,000 individuals and over 5,000 businesses have pledged to not purchase Canadian seafood until Canada bans the seal “hunt”. The fishing industry is losing money, and prices for seal skins have crashed to $15 (CAD) -- an 86 percent drop from 2006.
Most fishermen aren't bothering to leave home to join the hunt, and tens of thousands of seals have been spared. Also, for the first time in history, Canadians had introduced a bill that would ban the seal slaughter entirely, largely backed by the efforts of HSUS.
Russia has agreed to a ban of killing harp seals less than a year old, effectively ending their “hunt” as the furs of older seals are not a desired commodity. In fact, Yuriy Trutnev, Russia's Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, called the seal slaughter "bloody," and remarked that the killing of defenseless animals can't be deemed a "hunt."
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Seal Hunt Has Begun
Each year, I get an alert from the Humane Society of the United States, and each year I hope that it is the last time, but it seems like there never will be a last time. The senseless killing of baby seals in Canada began this morning at 2:48 AM Pacific Time, opening yet another season of one of the most unnecessary slaughter of animals by man.
Seal hunters, "regulated" by the Canadian government, are allowed to enter the nurseries where the baby seals are being raised and allowed to club to death 280,000 seals for their fur. It's a good thing we don't have fur, well, at least some of us. I wonder if we'd be clubbing each other to steal each other's fur. We do it to steal other things from each other, right? What if someone's fur was nicer than yours, or would keep you warmer than yours...would you kill them for it? We're killing baby seals to steal their fur.
The worse part is, we are at a point where mankind can manufacture synthetic furs, which truly has made this slaughter of these baby seals completely and totally unnecessary. Seal hunters claim that it is their livelihood, and I get that...I mean, I am sure that I could make a good deal of money clubbing people to death, especially some particular people, but I don't, because that is wrong. Plain and simple.
Each year a large group of Americans, Canadians, and people around the world, call for the Canadian government to end this practice, and each year, they give the same lip service, do nothing, then throughout the year are sure to point out everything that is wrong with America.
I'll let my rant end there, but I encourage you to visit https://www.humanesociety.org to learn more about what the Humane Society of the United States is doing to help stop the seal hunt.
Seal hunters, "regulated" by the Canadian government, are allowed to enter the nurseries where the baby seals are being raised and allowed to club to death 280,000 seals for their fur. It's a good thing we don't have fur, well, at least some of us. I wonder if we'd be clubbing each other to steal each other's fur. We do it to steal other things from each other, right? What if someone's fur was nicer than yours, or would keep you warmer than yours...would you kill them for it? We're killing baby seals to steal their fur.
The worse part is, we are at a point where mankind can manufacture synthetic furs, which truly has made this slaughter of these baby seals completely and totally unnecessary. Seal hunters claim that it is their livelihood, and I get that...I mean, I am sure that I could make a good deal of money clubbing people to death, especially some particular people, but I don't, because that is wrong. Plain and simple.
Each year a large group of Americans, Canadians, and people around the world, call for the Canadian government to end this practice, and each year, they give the same lip service, do nothing, then throughout the year are sure to point out everything that is wrong with America.
I'll let my rant end there, but I encourage you to visit https://www.humanesociety.org to learn more about what the Humane Society of the United States is doing to help stop the seal hunt.
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