Seals Continue to Be Massacred for Their Skin

Clarice

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/seal_hunt_skins

Seals Continue to Be Massacred for Their Skin: Help Save Them!


Despite a public outcry across the globe, every year hunters in Canada massacre hundreds of thousands of seals in order to sell their skins and rake in profits, and this year the total allowable catch has been set at 275,000 baby harp seals. Your voice is urgently needed to help urge the Canadian government to ban the killing of seals once and for all!

Sealers bludgeon seals with clubs and "hakapiks" (clubs with a metal hook on the end), drag conscious seals across the ice floes with boat hooks, and toss dead and dying animals into heaps, leaving their carcasses to rot because there is no market for their meat. Seals are also shot, but bludgeoning is preferred, because pelt buyers deduct money for every bullet hole in a seal's skin. Click here to watch the video.

Rebecca Aldworth, a native Newfoundlander who for years has worked to stop the seal slaughter, described this scene during a previous year's hunt:

"A movement catches my eye, and I realize with horror that a clubbed baby seal is still conscious. She is writhing around on the ice in pain, moving her flippers. She lies next to another seal who has been killed, vacant eyes staring up, blood already frozen in the ice under her mouth. It is a macabre scene—the dead and the dying huddled together here in the rain

flywallyfly

Sweet justice ??

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23861033/

Clarice

flywallyfly wrote:

Sweet justice ??

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23861033/

great possibilities.

Kel Varnsen

Why are the seals such a big deal. I get the feeling it is because people think they are cute. I mean seals are massacred for their skin you say, but if you look at it that way cows are massacred for their tissue, and deer are massacred for their antlers. How come no one is calling for international boycotts over those animals?

jeffbr

Karma's a bitch.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

You'd have to be either starving to death or one sick SOB to take up a job like that willingly.

That is some rather barbaric and heartless form of employment for sure.

Must have some Viking ancestry in the bloodline or something

sourdough

I'm very sympathetic to the seal hunters. I DO believe very strongly in animal rights, however, there actually is an over abundance of seals thanks to removal of top predators (ie orcas) which has had detrimental effects on our already devastated fish stocks. I do object that the methods of killing are not overly humane, however I think the outcry has more to do with the fact that the seals are cute and look cuddly than anything else.

Where is the mass fury when other less cute species are decimated?

sourdough

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

You'd have to be either starving to death or one sick SOB to take up a job like that willingly.

That is some rather barbaric and heartless form of employment for sure.

Must have some Viking ancestry in the bloodline or something

Not too different from work at a slaughterhouse is it?

flywallyfly

Some of the Canadians are sure hard on the U.S. for Iraq (rightfully so) but when it comes to seal genocide they get all protective. Could the fish stock population be low because of Canadian overfishing? Nah, blame a lack of Orcas and some hungry seals.

sourdough

flywallyfly wrote:

Some of the Canadians are sure hard on the U.S. for Iraq (rightfully so) but when it comes to seal genocide they get all protective. Could the fish stock population be low because of Canadian overfishing? Nah, blame a lack of Orcas and some hungry seals.

You are right, it has to do with human error and mismanagement in terms of overfishing (Not only by Canadians, but by the US, French and Spanish) along with the removal of top predators, also by humans.

Really, this is a huge stretch to call it a "genocide". Honestly, that really does injustice to the word. Are you really going to argue that there is a ethical equality between a seal hunt and the Iraq war?

depopulationINC

flywallyfly wrote:

Some of the Canadians are sure hard on the U.S. for Iraq (rightfully so) but when it comes to seal genocide they get all protective. Could the fish stock population be low because of Canadian overfishing? Nah, blame a lack of Orcas and some hungry seals.

Read post 7

Method bad

Does need done though...but how do you do that? You shoot a seal, and most times it will get to water and swim away...then simply die in the water

Byrnzie

I was a bit drunk the other night after getting through a bottle of Jack and a bottle of Johnnie with a mate here in China, and on the way home I ended up in this busy market at about 3am. I became transfixed by the sight of a load of chickens being slaughtered right there in front of me. There was an unloading bay where a woman was pulling the chickens out of crates, where they'd been stuffed in tight, and she proceeded to bend their heads back and then cut their throats with a knife before throwing them into a barrel. Most of them were still alive in the barrel and were flapping about. I must have watched this scene for about an hour at least.
It's not something you get to see everyday back in England. I don't really know if this has anything to do with seals being killed for their skins, but I found myself having to stop thinking about what I was seeing and just see it for what it was. I mean, most people eat meat, and yet most people would be appalled to see a chicken, or cow, or whatever, killed. William Burroughs was right in saying that people need to see what's really on the end of every fork - Naked lunch.

...and a bit earlier that night I'd been watching the chickens being loaded into cages somwhere else and tried to help one escape. He he! It managed to hop around the corner without anyone seeing so I gave the thing a kick up the arse in order to send it on it's way but the stupid fucker just went and flapped right back to his buddies, and was summarlily stuffed into a box along with the rest of 'em. Maybe I should have just grabbed it. It may have made an interesting pet. I could have named it Chico, or something. :rolleyes:

catefrances

sourdough wrote:

I'm very sympathetic to the seal hunters. I DO believe very strongly in animal rights, however, there actually is an over abundance of seals thanks to removal of top predators (ie orcas) which has had detrimental effects on our already devastated fish stocks. I do object that the methods of killing are not overly humane, however I think the outcry has more to do with the fact that the seals are cute and look cuddly than anything else.

Where is the mass fury when other less cute species are decimated?

the removal of orcas? how do they stop orcas swimming where ever the hell they feel like swimming?

the most heinous thing is that they leave the carcasses to rot.

Collin

Animals don't really have "rights". But if they're going to slaughter those seals they should do it so the animals experience as little pain as possible.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

sourdough wrote:

Not too different from work at a slaughterhouse is it?

Do slaughterhouses use clubs? Clubs are a tad barbaric to put it lightly... Kosher slaughter however is just as disgusting.

Clubs....slight regression in technology (about a million or so years).

I think it has more to do with the fact these animals are helpless (no arms or legs) rather than how cuddly they are. I guess that's why they call it a slaughter.

Kel Varnsen

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

Do slaughterhouses use clubs? Clubs are a tad barbaric to put it lightly... Kosher slaughter however is just as disgusting.

Clubs....slight regression in technology (about a million or so years).

I think it has more to do with the fact these animals are helpless (no arms or legs) rather than how cuddly they are. I guess that's why they call it a slaughter.

What about fish? They are pulled from their natural environment by a hook in the mouth or by being caught in a net. Then they are killed either by lack of breathable oxygen or by a whack on the head with a club? Sounds pretty similar to me, yet how come no one is calling for a fish boycott?

As far as cows go, aren't they killed by a machine that basically hits them in the head really hard? How is that different from a club?

Collin

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What about fish? They are pulled from their natural environment by a hook in the mouth or by being caught in a net. Then they are killed either by lack of breathable oxygen or by a whack on the head with a club? Sounds pretty similar to me, yet how come no one is calling for a fish boycott?

As far as cows go, aren't they killed by a machine that basically hits them in the head really hard? How is that different from a club?

Do fish feel pain? No conclusive evidence to support that notion.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What about fish? They are pulled from their natural environment by a hook in the mouth or by being caught in a net. Then they are killed either by lack of breathable oxygen or by a whack on the head with a club? Sounds pretty similar to me, yet how come no one is calling for a fish boycott?

As far as cows go, aren't they killed by a machine that basically hits them in the head really hard? How is that different from a club?

Warm blooded v.s. cold blooded. Basically anything resembling emotions that we also posses as well i.e. mammalian gets sympathy as they are higher life forms of which we can associate and understand the consequences of.

sourdough

catefrances wrote:

the removal of orcas? how do they stop orcas swimming where ever the hell they feel like swimming?

the most heinous thing is that they leave the carcasses to rot.

Sorry, what I meant was that the orcas as well as a lot of other species have been killed either through intentional means (ie hunting) or indirectly through environmental damage.

sourdough

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

Do slaughterhouses use clubs? Clubs are a tad barbaric to put it lightly... Kosher slaughter however is just as disgusting.

Clubs....slight regression in technology (about a million or so years).

I think it has more to do with the fact these animals are helpless (no arms or legs) rather than how cuddly they are. I guess that's why they call it a slaughter.

Right. I agree that the methods are wrong. However, that said, how is a seal most likely to die naturally? Either through being hunted, starvation or drowning. Even a "natural" death does not seem like a picnic and the reality is that almost all living things will come to an end in a bad way.

Even though they do not use clubs in slaughter houses, I would argue that minimally, a seal before it got clubbed lived a free life where it could swim and survive with it's mother. A cow on the other hand is couped up, removed from it's family, given hormones and treated like shit since the day it was born.

Who has it better?

*BTW-fish do NOT feel pain as they do not have a developed nervous system or brain to register pain as we imagine it. They do register that they have been hurt or that there is a dangerous situation, but it is more an instinctive reaction moreso than "pain".

tybird

Byrnzie wrote:

and she proceeded to bend their heads back and then cut their throats with a knife before throwing them into a barrel. Most of them were still alive in the barrel and were flapping about. I must have watched this scene for about an hour at least.

I take it the phrase "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" is one that you aren't familiar with???? Their bodies will act alive for a few minutes even with the head removed.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

sourdough wrote:

Right. I agree that the methods are wrong. However, that said, how is a seal most likely to die naturally? Either through being hunted, starvation or drowning. Even a "natural" death does not seem like a picnic and the reality is that almost all living things will come to an end in a bad way.

Even though they do not use clubs in slaughter houses, I would argue that minimally, a seal before it got clubbed lived a free life where it could swim and survive with it's mother. A cow on the other hand is couped up, removed from it's family, given hormones and treated like shit since the day it was born.

Who has it better?

*BTW-fish do NOT feel pain as they do not have a developed nervous system or brain to register pain as we imagine it. They do register that they have been hurt or that there is a dangerous situation, but it is more an instinctive reaction moreso than "pain".

My original observation was that the people who do that job are barbaric in some way to want to do it, or either starving to death.

Byrnzie

tybird wrote:

I take it the phrase "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" is one that you aren't familiar with???? Their bodies will act alive for a few minutes even with the head removed.

But their heads weren't removed. They just had their throats cut.

ClimberInOz

tybird wrote:

I take it the phrase "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" is one that you aren't familiar with???? Their bodies will act alive for a few minutes even with the head removed.

Meet Mike...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

ClimberInOz

Collin wrote:

Do fish feel pain? No conclusive evidence to support that notion.

Not conclusive... but some evidence that fish respond to what we would determine to be a painful event in a similar way to mammals.

I don't have any major opposition to fishing- I became a marine biologist because I wanted to learn how to catch more fish (have subsequently given up fishing because I am still crap at it). I do think pain minimisation is important, but am far more concerned about conservation issues then animal rights... mainly because horrible painful deaths are the norm at almost all levels of nature.

Anyway, here are some links on fishes- make up your own mind.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T48-4C4X13T-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f52e7e6d94202b8c92e52d64c68a08df

'Anatomical, pharmacological and behavioural data suggest that affective states of pain, fear and stress are likely to be experienced by fish in similar ways as in tetrapods. '


http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/culture2.html

'Fish show several responses to a painful event: they adopt guarding behaviours, become unresponsive to external stimuli and their respiration increases. These responses disappear when the fish are given morphine – evidence that they are, mechanistically at least, directly analogous to pain responses in more complex animals.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2983045.stm

Collin

ClimberInOz wrote:

Not conclusive... but some evidence that fish respond to what we would determine to be a painful event in a similar way to mammals.

I don't have any major opposition to fishing- I became a marine biologist because I wanted to learn how to catch more fish (have subsequently given up fishing because I am still crap at it). I do think pain minimisation is important, but am far more concerned about conservation issues then animal rights... mainly because horrible painful deaths are the norm at almost all levels of nature.

Anyway, here are some links on fishes- make up your own mind.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T48-4C4X13T-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f52e7e6d94202b8c92e52d64c68a08df

'Anatomical, pharmacological and behavioural data suggest that affective states of pain, fear and stress are likely to be experienced by fish in similar ways as in tetrapods. '


http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/culture2.html

'Fish show several responses to a painful event: they adopt guarding behaviours, become unresponsive to external stimuli and their respiration increases. These responses disappear when the fish are given morphine – evidence that they are, mechanistically at least, directly analogous to pain responses in more complex animals.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2983045.stm

Thanks for the links!

I'm still not sure whether fish feel pain or not. I read that a recent British study by Lynne Sneddon and others claims that fish do in fact feel pain. But they injected bee venom, acetic acid, into the lips of the fish. That's not exactly the same as fish hooks, is it?

Either way, I don't fish and I'm not against fishing.

tybird

Byrnzie wrote:

But their heads weren't removed. They just had their throats cut.

Basically the same thing.....dead=dead

Byrnzie

tybird wrote:

Basically the same thing.....dead=dead

Not the same at all. If someone cut your throat you wouldn't die immediately. It would take a minute or two at least.

macgyver06

sourdough wrote:

I'm very sympathetic to the seal hunters. I DO believe very strongly in animal rights, however, there actually is an over abundance of seals thanks to removal of top predators (ie orcas) which has had detrimental effects on our already devastated fish stocks. I do object that the methods of killing are not overly humane, however I think the outcry has more to do with the fact that the seals are cute and look cuddly than anything else.

Where is the mass fury when other less cute species are decimated?

do you eat seal?

RolandTD20Kdrummer

ClimberInOz wrote:

Meet Mike...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

That's some freaky shit...

sourdough

macgyver06 wrote:

do you eat seal?

Nope, but I would if I went north. My wife worked in Inuvik for a summer and ate seal on occasion.