Seals - General: Help Stop Canadian Hunt *PROTEST*
*WARNING: GRAPHIC BLOODY PICS IN THIS THREAD!* http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=9495438111 Join. I invited all my friends... :megaman: Will be there! Details... :sabres: HELP STOP 2008 CANADIAN SEAL HUNT *PROTEST* Its that time of year again! 250,000 baby seals are about to be slaughtered! Global Information Event Info Name: HELP STOP 2008 CANADIAN SEAL HUNT *PROTEST* Tagline: Its that time of year again! 250,000 baby seals are about to be slaughtered! Host: Partnership for Animal Welfare Society Type: Causes - Pro-*test*-('") Date: Saturday, March 15, 2008 Time: 12:00pm - 5:00pm Location: Public Gardens Street: Spring Garden and South Park City/Town: Halifax, NS View Map Contact Info Email: contact@antisealingcoalition.ca WATCH VIDEO BELOW Description March 15, 2008 is the World Day of Action Against Seal Hunting, with demonstrations and events being staged worldwide to voice opposition to the killing of seals in the Canadian commercial seal hunt. please visit http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca to Join the Coalition ... if your not situatied in the atlantic provinces, you can go to the same site, and chooose to support the coalition instead! Every member counts!!! The Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world. It is the only hunt that targets specifically the infant of a species. In direct contradiction of these claims, extreme cruelty has been witnessed and captured on film by observers in past years, Violations include sealers leaving injured seals to die slowly on the ice or allowing them to escape to the water where they perish slowly, hooking and dragging animals still consciously struggling and in obvious pain, and skinning animals alive MYTHS: LIE: The seal hunt is humane TRUTH: Canada’s commercial seal hunt is inherently inhumane. The very nature of the seal hunt precludes it from ever being humane. Seal pups as young as 12 days of age are routinely shot or clubbed and left to suffer on the ice, stabbed with large metal hooks and dragged while still conscious, and often skinned alive. Each year observers submit to DFO clear documented evidence of animal cruelty and violations of Marine Mammal Regulations. To date, DFO has not laid any charges. LIE: The seal hunt is vital for the Atlantic Canadian economy TRUTH: Sealing is an off-season activity which accounts for less than one-half of one percent of Newfoundland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Roughly 1% of the population of Newfoundland derives some income from the seal hunt. Sealing could easily be replaced with alternatives such as license buyback/retraining/ early retirement programs and eco-tourism. LIE: Seals are eating all the fish. TRUTH: Over-fishing by humans caused the collapse of groundfish stocks and over-fishing is preventing their return. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans admits that there is no evidence that killing seals will help bring fish stocks back. LIE: The seal hunt is sustainable. TRUTH: Scientists agree current kill levels are not sustainable. A recent study by Professor Stephen Harris from the School of Biological Sciences at Bristol University asserts that the Canadian management regime for harp seals does not apply a precautionary principle and threatens the survival of seal populations. Over the past ten years, between one-third and one-half of all seal pups born have been slaughtered by commercial sealers. Because seals only reach breeding age at six years of age, the impact of these high hunting levels are only just beginning to be felt. Under its current management plan, by the time the Canadian government decides to take action to save the population, it may well be too late to intervene. Notably, today’s kill levels meet and even exceed those of the 1950s and 60s, when over-hunting reduced the harp seal population by nearly two-thirds. PLEASE WATCH VIDEO BELOW http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=507305595096&oid=9495438111 Spread the word please, and show up! :clap:

Some spectacular news here. Cheers to the old homeland! :grin: EU Proposes Ban on Seal Product Imports! From International Fund for Animal Welfare Today at 7:16pm We have exciting news! Yesterday, the European Union announced a proposed ban on the trade in seal products in the European Union market. We are still concerned that loopholes in the legislation could still allow seal products from Canada’s cruel seal hunt to enter European markets. However, we cautiously welcome this move as a potential milestone in our ongoing campaign to end this commercial hunt. The EU proposal comes after growing political opposition and a huge public outcry in the European Union about the ongoing commercial hunts for young seals. Opinion polls in EU Member States show that millions of citizens want the trade to stop. Earlier this month more than 1,000 animal welfare supporters from across Europe joined IFAW and other groups at a demonstration in Brussels to call for an outright ban on seal products. Their call is echoed by a large majority of Members of the European Parliament who, in a 2006 resolution, opted for a total EU-wide trade and import ban on seal products. IFAW opposes Canada’s commercial seal hunt because it is inherently cruel, unsustainable and wasteful. Over the past five years, about 1.5 million harp seals were slaughtered in Canada; clubbed or shot primarily for their fur. This year, sealers reportedly killed 206,721 harp seals to date. Despite the Canadian government claiming that a new condition of license would ensure a more humane hunt, IFAW recorded further evidence to the contrary as seals suffered slow and agonizing deaths. Stay up-to-date on this issue by visiting www.StopTheSealHunt.com. Sincerely, Fred O'Regan President, IFAW

Anglers look for a lift on the ban on seal culling, protected since 1976 under Irish Animal Welfare Act... A LEADING biologist has requested an immediate meeting of all marine-related agencies, after fresh appeals were made to reintroduce seal culling on the River Moy. Yesterday (Monday) the world-famous Moy was embroiled in national controversy when the North Western Regional Fisheries Board (NWRFB) came out in favour of a controlled seal cull, after reports that the mammals are snatching salmon and sea trout from the fishing rods of anglers. Anglers who visit the north Mayo capital from all over the globe to fish on its prolific river have warned that if the seals keep breeding at the current rate there will no salmon left in the Moy. They argue that it is essential the Government lifts the current ban on seal culling to thwart the dramatic depletion of fish stocks. Claiming the Moy’s seal population is currently estimated to be between 140 and 200, the NWRFB fears that lucrative salmon stocks will be permanently endangered as a result of seal breeding. Full story: http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4803&Itemid=38

Grrrrrrreat timing!

Great to see this! Thanks to Ms. Cao for the link! Seal hunt pro-*test*-('")ers acquitted Today at 5:54pm Seal hunt pro-*test*-('")ers acquitted Globe and Mail Update October 17, 2008 at 3:34 PM EDT A group of seal pro-*test*-('")ers were acquitted Friday of violating a 10-metre buffer zone surrounding sealing boats in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, narrowly avoiding a heavy fine and a probable ban on undertaking similar pro-*test*-('")s in future. Judge Jean-Paul Décoste said that the evidence - eyewitness -*test*-('")imony from a single fisheries officer, Jean-Francois Sylvestre - left him unconvinced that the defendants had intruded within the ten-metre limit. “Let us agree on this,” Judge Descoste said. “It is extremely difficult, on the seas or on a frozen area in the gulf, to figure out the distance. There are few and no reference point on which to rely.” Defence counsel Clayton Ruby praised Judge Descoste Friday for rising above the fact that the trial took place in the heart of seal-hunting territory - where pro-*test*-('")ers are almost always convicted and no sealer ever gets convicted of an offence. “You worry about the effect of local values on a trial,” Mr. Ruby said. “This judge had the courage to say no, it's not a good enough case.” The incident took place on March 27, 2006, in the middle of a seal hunt that was highlighted by well-publicized pro-*test*-('")s by musician Paul McCartney and retired French actress Brigitte Bardot. Mr. Ruby's clients included two Canadians, Rebecca Aldworth and Andrew Plumbly. Two U.S. citizens - Chad Sisneros and Pierre Grzybowski - were also charged, along with a British citizen, Mark Glover. All five are members of either the Humane Society of the United States or the Humane Society International. Mr. Ruby said that the real goal of the prosecution was to keep pro-*test*-('")ers away in future. “This prosecution was about keeping horrific photographic images of the killing of baby seals off European front pages,” he said. “The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, who waited four months before laying this charge, wants only one thing - no more photographs.” A conviction “would certainly have been followed by refusal of Observation Permits by the Minister of Fisheries,” Mr. Ruby said. “Our presence documenting this cruel hunt of baby seals keeps the pressure of world criticism on Canada and enables us to urge the rest of the world to refuse seal products.” Mr. Sylvestre -*test*-('")ified at trial that two Zodiac boats approached the fishing boat several times while hunters were dragging dead seals to it. However, Judge Descoste questioned today why the Crown brought forward only one witness from among the many fishermen and enforcement officers who were present. “I wonder why so many of the witnesses the prosecution has at its disposal were not present before the court,” he said. There were frequent clashes between sealers and pro-*test*-('")ers on the ice floes during the 2006 hunt. The pro-*test*-('")ers insist that the hunt cruelly targets only extremely young seals, which are unable to escape or even swim. The federal government maintains that the seal hunt is a humane enterprise that brings vital cash to families who need to supplement their meagre incomes. The charge of violating their observation licenses carried as maximum fine of $100,000 under the Marine Mammal Regulations. Mr. Ruby used a series of four videotapes at the trial - each filmed simultaneously from a different perspective - to show that his clients never even came close to violating the buffer zone. He said Friday that the videos proved that Mr. Sylvestre's -*test*-('")imony could not have been accurate. Prior to the six-day trial last spring, federal prosecutor Denis Lavoie dropped a charge of obstructing the hunt. Mr. Ruby also had praise Friday for Mr. Lavoie, saying that it was a classic example of a Canadian prosecutor refusing to try a charge that lacked substance. “I respected the man intensely,” Mr. Ruby said. “The system doesn't always work, and the role of defence counsel is to make it work. But congratulations all around - except to the Minister.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081017.wsealhunt1017/BNStory/National/home

There was no link to be found wiht this one Stop Canada's 2009 Commercial Seal Hunt From Care2 Today at 3:12pm Hi Care2 Fans, Canada's annual commercial seal hunt is a cruel and unethical practice that produces a product nobody needs. 98 percent of the animals killed in the past two years have been baby seals between 2 weeks to 3 months old. And despite the potentially devastating effects of global warming to harp seal breeding grounds, the Canadian government has raised the annual seal hunt quotas to the highest levels in history. Please urge the Canadian Prime Minister to stop the cruelty of the seal hunt! Click on the link below to go to the petition.