Canadian Boycott Saving Lives! It's Working.

[Dave]

February 13, 2009

Dear David,

I have some wonderful news to report. I have just returned from the shores of Hay Island, Nova Scotia, where the annual hunt for grey seals was scheduled to start. There, instead of bearing witness to sealers beating defenseless seal pups to death with wooden bats, I stood amidst a spectacular nursery, alive with protective, nurturing mothers and their babies. Here is a video of those lucky seals.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the government of Nova Scotia announced last week that they were authorizing another grey seal kill. But yesterday, seal processing plants told seal hunters that they would not buy the skins of the baby grey seals, and the sealers stayed home.

We have been working diligently to ban the trade in seal products in Europe, and buyers are now unwilling to purchase grey seal pelts because global markets are evaporating. With the pending ban on seal product trade in the European Union, the writing is on the wall -- this is the beginning of the end of the commercial seal slaughter.

Many sealers are now openly wondering whether shrinking markets will also impact the imminent commercial harp seal kill. In light of these developments, HSI Canada is urging the Canadian government to buy out sealing licenses and develop alternative economies for coastal communities.

The grey seal pups are likely safe for now, but in just a few weeks, the true target of the world's largest slaughter of marine mammals -- the harp seals -- will be killed by the hundreds of thousands in horrible ways. Still, just as with the grey seals, there is hope for the harp seals. Not only is the demand for seal products drying up; the boycott of Canadian seafood products is costing the Canadian seafood industry far more than the seal hunt brings in.

Thank you for helping us keep up the fight for seals, and for all that you do for animals. Sadly, this is just the beginning of the commercial seal hunting season in Canada. We will be working to protect these magnificent creatures until the commercial hunt is over for good.

In celebration,


Rebecca Aldworth
Director, Wildlife Issues
Humane Society International/Canada

P.S. Please help us keep the pressure on the Canadian government to end the seal hunt forever by telling your friends and family to sign the boycott pledge .

P.P.S. Go to www.humanesociety.org/protectseals regularly to follow our efforts and find out how you can help.

[Chico]

Thanks for the post, Dave. I'm all over it.

[Dave]

shame is the name

[Mmmmmm]

Apparently if you wait it out, the anti-sealers will go away.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...and-seals.html

And while I don't want to see a single seal killed, I will point out the following to those who feel they are achieving something by boycotting Canadian seal products:

1. The reason the hunt was suspended was because the buyer in Norway backed out over pressure from European environmentalists. Norway - which has doubled its whale hunting quota within the last three years.

2. The seals will still be killed (albeit with high-powered rifles) because their population has exploded (3000% in many regions) in the last two decades.

3. The same nations who are calling for bans on seal products have factory fishing vessels perched just outside of Canadian waters catching fish without regards for any quotas. These are the dwindling stocks of fish that spawn near Canadian shores that are inhabited by an overblown population of baby-fish-eating seals!

So put yourself n the position of an east coast Canadian fisher. There are almost no fish left to catch due largely to foreign fishing fleets. What fish are left being eaten by a bloated population of seals (who have never been endangered as a species) which you can no longer sell because of boycotts from the very nations that have decimated your livelihood and continue to hunt endangered species themselves.

So when the Canadian government offers you $20/pelt in order to control the population, what choice do you have to feed your family if you wish to stay in the land where your family has lived and fished for centuries? You don't have one because the real choices have been taken away from you.

The net result: seals will be killed anyway - their bodies entirely wasted, traditional livelihoods in the onshore fishery destroyed, many families dislocated, fish stocks gone for good.

Pat yourselves on the back and ask what good you've done and to whom?

[Dave]

When an industry is no longer viable, people do suffer and there is a period of transition. I do respect the tradition of the fishing industry, and I'm not happy that people will have to learn a new way of life with a different sort of job. It's happening very quickly and apart from monetary problems there would be a lot of stress with psychological cause.

As far as all the fish being stripped away forever, I think that will balance out. It's a difficult transition, but it has to happen.

[Reelaround]

Many many thanks for showing this. People need to see what is actually happening. The Chinese are fine when it comes to staging the Olympics, but their track record in human or animal rights tells that they are one of the most insensitive, cruel and oppressive nations on this planet. They not only discriminate against their own people with disabilities, but also use black people as slaves, then certainly do not raise a conscience about torturing animals alive, for mercenary gain. All this goes on in the name of a so-called great, civilised nation.

[Dave]

China or Canada, they're both nasty business.

[someofusisturningnasty]

Apparently if you wait it out, the anti-sealers will go away.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...and-seals.html

And while I don't want to see a single seal killed, I will point out the following to those who feel they are achieving something by boycotting Canadian seal products:

1. The reason the hunt was suspended was because the buyer in Norway backed out over pressure from European environmentalists. Norway - which has doubled its whale hunting quota within the last three years.

2. The seals will still be killed (albeit with high-powered rifles) because their population has exploded (3000% in many regions) in the last two decades.

3. The same nations who are calling for bans on seal products have factory fishing vessels perched just outside of Canadian waters catching fish without regards for any quotas. These are the dwindling stocks of fish that spawn near Canadian shores that are inhabited by an overblown population of baby-fish-eating seals!

So put yourself n the position of an east coast Canadian fisher. There are almost no fish left to catch due largely to foreign fishing fleets. What fish are left being eaten by a bloated population of seals (who have never been endangered as a species) which you can no longer sell because of boycotts from the very nations that have decimated your livelihood and continue to hunt endangered species themselves.

So when the Canadian government offers you $20/pelt in order to control the population, what choice do you have to feed your family if you wish to stay in the land where your family has lived and fished for centuries? You don't have one because the real choices have been taken away from you.

The net result: seals will be killed anyway - their bodies entirely wasted, traditional livelihoods in the onshore fishery destroyed, many families dislocated, fish stocks gone for good.

Pat yourselves on the back and ask what good you've done and to whom?

I am a vegetarian and don't support fishing so I don't care about the fishermen. Sorry.

It's better for the fish stocks to dwindle naturally if they are being eaten by seals rather than being hunted almost to extinction by human beings who have a choice in what they eat.

[NudeThrills]

Oh, whatever. Why is it that people not get up in arms when somebody hurts a fly? Is it because seals are white, furry and cute? Canada treats her people much better than- God, just about any other country in the world and gets fucked over, over something so frivolous. Why not boycott countries where gays aren't entitled to the same rights as the straights? I thought we were all human beings. People who "boycott" Canada have got their priorities fucked.

[Dave]

seals are cute but humans are generally bastards.

[Mmmmmm]

I am a vegetarian and don't support fishing so I don't care about the fishermen. Sorry.

It's better for the fish stocks to dwindle naturally if they are being eaten by seals rather than being hunted almost to extinction by human beings who have a choice in what they eat.

Not caring about other people's well-being doesn't make you a vegetarian, it makes you an asshole. Seals, fish and humans have coexisted in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for millennia, the latter subsisting on the former sustainably until the late 1960's. Your personal choices aside, the destruction of a way of life by irresponsible foreign fishing practices is tragic - for all species involved including humans.

[Dave]

Not caring about other people's well-being doesn't make you a vegetarian, it makes you an asshole. Seals, fish and humans have coexisted in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for millennia, the latter subsisting on the former sustainably until the late 1960's. Your personal choices aside, the destruction of a way of life by irresponsible foreign fishing practices is tragic - for all species involved including humans.

Don't you think that a way of life can change, though? I think it's just the abrupt change that is causing any trauma. There have to be other ways to make money.

I see a similar argument for the loggers in California that want to cut down old growth trees, that have ravaged the landscape and will never get enough, and then say, "but it's all we know how to do".

You don't see too many blacksmiths around anymore either, and I'm sure this was a great industry and family tradition as well. Things change. I don't lack empathy, but I don't see the sense in these people thinking that they somehow are owed the right to this way of living. It's a sort of entitlement that they really don't have a claim on.

[Disappointed]

Oh, whatever. Why is it that people not get up in arms when somebody hurts a fly? Is it because seals are white, furry and cute? Canada treats her people much better than- God, just about any other country in the world and gets fucked over, over something so frivolous. Why not boycott countries where gays aren't entitled to the same rights as the straights? I thought we were all human beings. People who "boycott" Canada have got their priorities fucked.

Why can't you boycott countries that slaughter seals AND countries that perpetrate horrid human rights abuses? Both of those are things that I am thoroughly against, and things that are utterly, completely vile.

[someofusisturningnasty]

Not caring about other people's well-being doesn't make you a vegetarian, it makes you an asshole. Seals, fish and humans have coexisted in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for millennia, the latter subsisting on the former sustainably until the late 1960's. Your personal choices aside, the destruction of a way of life by irresponsible foreign fishing practices is tragic - for all species involved including humans.

It doesn't make me an arsehole at all. I don't agree with the murder of animals in any context- be it fishing, seal culling or the existance of abbatoirs. Therefore it would make me a hypocrite to agree with your statement about the destruction of a way of life that exists to kill animals being a tragedy. However I can respect your views without resulting to insulting you (as you felt the need to insult me) because we're all entitled to express our opinions. Supposedly.

[Hellie]

Oh, whatever. Why is it that people not get up in arms when somebody hurts a fly? Is it because seals are white, furry and cute? Canada treats her people much better than- God, just about any other country in the world and gets fucked over, over something so frivolous. Why not boycott countries where gays aren't entitled to the same rights as the straights? I thought we were all human beings. People who "boycott" Canada have got their priorities fucked.

The seal cull is inhuman.You could treat your people like royalty but how you treat helpless defenceless creatures like the seals says much about a nation.Most countries have inhumane practices but none are more abhorrent than that of the seal cull.It is shameful.Maybe ordinary Canadians could lobby the Government.There must be something they could do.


The people who actually carry out the cull are complete and utter bastards devoid of all human feeling,empathy and compassion and I won't say what I wish on them because you all now how I feel.

[NudeThrills]

none are more abhorrent than that of the seal cull.

Ummmm why?

The people who actually carry out the cull are complete and utter bastards devoid of all human feeling,empathy and compassion and I won't say what I wish on them because you all now how I feel.

They're butchers. Every country's got em.

[Dave]

The seal cull is inhuman.You could treat your people like royalty but how you treat helpless defenceless creatures like the seals says much about a nation.

[VoxGuy]

Oh, whatever. Why is it that people not get up in arms when somebody hurts a fly? Is it because seals are white, furry and cute? Canada treats her people much better than- God, just about any other country in the world and gets fucked over, over something so frivolous. Why not boycott countries where gays aren't entitled to the same rights as the straights? I thought we were all human beings. People who "boycott" Canada have got their priorities fucked.

Absolutely right. I couldn't agree more. If you're going to get on a fucking bandwagon about something there are a million things worse than the seal hunt. I don't condone it, I don't even like it. In fact I'd like to see it abolished. But for Morrissey to single out Canadian fans (not Canada, there is a difference) is beyond ridiculous. I'll never understand that one. And as much as I'd like to believe otherwise, him not coming here in protest of the hunt will not make one iota of difference. What a bunch of bullshit. There are people in the world starving and being oppressed by corrupt governments. Say something about that shit.

[oye terence]

Maybe he just does not like Canada, and needed an excuse?

[Darth Vegan]

>So put yourself n the position of an east coast Canadian fisher. There are almost no fish left to catch due largely to foreign fishing fleets. What fish are left being eaten by a bloated population of seals (who have never been endangered as a species) which you can no longer sell because of boycotts from the very nations that have decimated your livelihood and continue to hunt endangered species themselves.


actually, the species of fish that Canadian fishermen in that area target are not fish that the seals being killed for fur eat. That's just another myth perpetuated by the sealing industry to generate sympathy for their barbaric profession.