March 30, 2006
Re: Carol Grosse (Baby Seals - God's Natural Photo op!)
From Carol Grosse:
Your facts and my facts differ greatly.
Veterinarians have stated that the seal hunt is not humane - many seals are skinned alive and dragged alive across the ice with the ice picks.
The seals are hunted to supply Europeans with fur - and that is a sad fact. The hunt is inhumane, very little (approx. $1000/annually) is the income to each hunter and the animals suffer greatly. (Yes, there is other suffering in the world but this should not be an excuse to condone this suffering.)
What a barbaric way to suppport an industry. Shame on Stephen Harper and shame on the rest of Canadians for turning a blind eye to this inhumane barbaric practice. Mr. Harper, you do not speak for me - my votes and other votes will speak for me.:
Carol,
I appreciate the fact that you took time out of your day to read my seemingly barbaric ramblings on my little corner of the web. I researched my facts again because of your comment just to make sure that I wasn’t falling prey to the huge propaganda push associated with this hunt and I came to the realization that you have no idea what you're talking about. I actually laughed when I read your comments because you obviously got your information from the latest celebrity protester, Pamela Anderson, or the environment zealots at PETA.
1. Veterinarians have agreed that hunt is human. The skulls of baby seals are egg shell thin at the time they are clubbed and death is just about instant for them when hit. They do not feel any pain, they do not suffer, they just die. It is a humane way for a baby seal to die but don’t get this confused with the hunt as a whole. Any hunt, seals, moose, ducks, chickens, turkeys, etc.. isn’t humane by definition as we are not treating the animals with kindness :)
2. Many seals are skinned alive you say? Death occurs with the cessation of electrical activity in the whole brain and not just the neo-cortex. With that said I find it hard to believe that baby seals are still legally alive with their skulls crushed or a bullet through their heads. If a chicken runs around with its head cut off does that mean it's still feeling pain? These "alive" seals you're talking about are nothing more than an involuntary muscle twitch which is a natural, albeit startling, process of death. Amusingly enough clubbing a seal with a hakapik is more humane than shooting a seal with a gun.
3. Hunted to supply Europeans with fur? This is a half truth because the seals are hunted for their meat and oils, the hunt isn't solely for the pelts.
4. $1000 annually? I would love to see how you calculated this number! To date many hunters have stated that their income from sealing represents between 25-35 per cent of their total annual income. With your math the annual income of a seal hunter just over $4000, we have a discrepancy somewhere! I know the cost of living in Newfoundland is low but come on.
6. The rest of Canada isn't turning a blind eye to this hunt as many have taken the time to read the facts and realize that this hunt is a part of our heritage and it is humane. I guess you're the exception to the rule.
7. From the sounds of your vote it will probably end up for someone in the Green Party, which is your choice. The Liberals, NDP, and Conservatives will all support the seal hunt so it's your only real choice. Don't worry, no one will miss your vote.
I'm now left to wonder if you even got your name or e-mail address right when you posted this comment!
Posted by Daryl Martin at 06:44 PM | Comments (1)
March 06, 2006
Baby Seals - God's Natural Photo op!
Like clockwork misinformed celebrities are braving ice flows in the Atlantic Ocean for the sole purpose of creating a media frenzy in attempts to stop the annual seal hunt in Canada. So the stage is set for a showdown between a traditional hunt that has been ongoing since the 1700’s against the celebrities who realized one night while sleeping in their secluded mansion that they actually like cute white animals! This profound realization in turn drives the celebrities into a week long mission in which they will denounce a country, province, all levels of government and a traditional way of life only to end up back at their houses telling their friends how good it feels to contribute back to society and how smooth the salt water made their skin!
So on one side we have the rich and powerful telling up to 10,000 people who depend on the hunt to put food on the table, keep a roof above their heads and put clothes on their children’s back. Do these celebrities understand how out of touch they are with the people involved in the hunt? A lot of the communities involved don’t have Wal-Mart’s, grocery stores, provincial or federal government buildings, Tim Horton’s, or even a McDonald’s!! If these people can’t fish or hunt then they will have to give up their way of life and move somewhere, most likely outside of their province, to Alberta so they fan provide for their families.
At the end of the day though I guess its alright for celebrities to call these people savages because we all know that they would never make such a statement without meeting the people, right? Paul McCartney has the time and the money to fly in a helicopter to land on the ice flows, that are thin this year due to a warm winter, to lay down next to a seal pup to only end up disturbing it and have it growl at them in defense so I’m sure that he has asked some hunters to meet with him so he can hear both sides of the story. Nope, not likely! What gives these guys the right to judge a way of life they know nothing about except the propaganda that has been fed to them by the animal rights crowds? How do you think it looks when someone so high and mighty without a care in the world tells a man that he can’t provide for his family anymore mainly because baby seals are cute! The seal hunt in Canada is one of the most regulated and humane hunts in the world!!
On CNN the McCartney’s finally put a face to the other side of the argument and they were obviously rattled by it. Danny Williams performed amazingly well if you could look past the fog of propaganda that McCartney’s laid over the course of the debate. When confronted by Danny it was obvious that Heather had little to no respect for him by just about calling him a liar, cut him off at every chance she had and rolled her eyes when Danny made a solid point. The McCartney’s proved Danny’s point that they are misinformed because at one point Paul stated that he was in Newfoundland, when in actual fact he was in PEI filming from Charlottetown. But heavens no, there is no possible way that these people are misinformed! I respect the fact that they are trying to help a cause that they believe in but at least have all the facts before you do so. Honestly though? I don’t know what the McCartney’s want. The hunt is highly regulated and supported by the UN and the WWF with many independent veterinarians studying it and calling very humane. I guess what we should do is create a “Baby Seal Wish Foundation” so we can give a trip to Disneyland for every seal that will be killed in the hunt. That’s defiantly the missing piece of the puzzle.
Posted by Daryl Martin at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)