From: Captain Paul Watson
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The Seal Hunt is Dead! Long Live the Seals!
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has lost a ship but we are winning the war to save the seals.
On Friday the European ambassadors approved a European Union proposal to ban imports of furs and all seal products. This moves the 27 nation bloc much closer to the final decision to impose the ban and final approval now is really only a formality.
Canada and Norway are threatening a trade war with Europe but Canada needs trade with Europe far more than Europe needs seal products. Canadians in the non-barbaric industries will not have much patience in losing profits in defence of the slaughter of seals.
Canada and Norway are threatening to take Europe before the World Trade Organization.
However, "Nothing should now stand in the way of this ban being adopted," said an official from the EU's Czech presidency, which brokered a deal this week that will exclude hunts by Inuits. "It needs to go before the European Parliament in May, but that should be a formality because parliament negotiators have already agreed to it informally," the official added.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for around 60 percent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere wrote to EU trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton this month arguing that the ban broke the principle of free trade and set a dangerous precedent on the harvesting of renewable resources.
A European official said the Commission believed the plan was "legally sound".
The 15 seal species now hunted are not endangered but European politicians demanded action after finding what they said was evidence that many are skinned while still conscious. The animals are usually first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
Russia banned the hunting of baby harp seals last month, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called it a "bloody industry".
The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat was seized by the Canadian government in an act of piracy in April 2008 and was auctioned off with secret bids this month without the ship ever having been arrested, charged with any offence, without a court hearing, without a summons and without due process of law.
Apparently the ship was auctioned off on April 21st but the government has not released any information on who the ship will be given to. Sea Shepherd intends to take legal action against the buyer on the grounds that the Farley Mowat is the property of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and was never legally forfeited.
Sea Shepherd officers Captain Alex Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt were charged with the “crime” of breaking the Seal Protection Regulations by documenting and witnessing the killing of seal pups.
They are scheduled to appear in court on April 27th but Canadian Immigration officials ordered them deported last April and informed them they are inadmissible to re-enter Canada.
“This is very convenient,” said Captain Paul Watson. “Canada will be able to seize $10,000 in bail money and will avoid the embarrassment of the trial and they will accuse our crew of refusing to appear. But they can’t appear in court in Canada if they are not allowed to enter Canada. ”
However despite the hassles and the loss of a ship that the Society was going to retire anyway, the publicity generated by last year’s campaign to oppose the sealers helped in convincing the European Parliament to ban seal products and thus the trade-off was well worth the expense and the inconvenience.
“Sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war,” Said Captain Watson
Meanwhile Canadian politicians are spouting threats and whining like cowardly Nazi’s in a bunker as the waves of civilized reform crashes down on the barbaric mindset that has for so long endorsed and applauded the grossly inhumane and savage slaughter of one of the most innocent creatures on the planet – the baby seals.
“These cruel and sadistic baby killers have had their day,” Said Captain Watson. “The price of seal pelts has fallen to their lowest levels and soon this obscene industry will go the way of the slave trade, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, and child labour – in short it will go extinct and all of us who have fought our entire lives for this great victory will be grateful for the European nations for realizing this wonderful dream. The seal hunt is dead – long live the seals”
Note To My Critics:
The links to the many sites that I've included contain information that I believe to be relevant, be it the graphics, the videos, the undercover investigations, etc. . Exposing & and ending the brutality and savagery inflicted on the non-human animals is what I am focused on. I strongly believe that every voice against animal abuse/exploitation is of value and -and- collectively we have the power to end it. I am here for the animals, not for anyone's approval and for that I make no apologies. ** I do not promote violence towards humans.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Seal Hunt is Dead! Long Live the Seals
Posted by Denbeath at 9:37 AM
Labels: Captian Paul Watson, commercial whaleing, sealers seal hunt, The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whaling
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10 Comments:
The seals needs no saving. They reproduce like rats. And they eat millions of tons of fish.
To harvest them is the right thing to do...
Are you five year old kids, crying your eyes out about the cruelty of life? I mean it. To harvest them for the pelt is really a smart thing to do. Why don't you save the rats and mice of your own countries, I am sure the farmers kills millions and millions of cute mice? You don't get it, do you...
Oh, I have got to respond to Norwegian.
First of all, signing yourself "Norwegian" clearly shows your bias. Great way to establish credibility.
Anyway, what kind of a response is this? They reproduce like rats? Why is harvesting them the right thing to do? Why do we not "get it?" Are you losing money because of this? Is it your job? Obviously, there's some deep personal interest being affected for you to be so angry.
Explain yourself with logic instead of just plain nastiness. It's not impressive. I can hurl the insults back just as easily.
Do you get that??
Norwegian's response shines the light on who he/she is as a person. It would be a total waste of time and energy responding to his/her comment. There is no reasoning with a person who has not evolved mentally, spiritually, emotionally.
This loser wrote almost the exact same thing on my Facebook group's wall, "Stop the Seal Hunt" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2259724474. I already made fun of him. My reaction was the same as Ana's. He's worthless and ignorant.
You're right, he's comment is evidence of his lack of intelligence.
AND he's also a coward because he hid his identity.
While I in no way condone the savage killing of animals of any kind, I do believe that people should maintain the right to harvest these animals should they so wish.
I do not think that simply dismissing those who oppose a ban as "not evolved mentally, spiritually, emotionally" or "worthless and ignorant" is particularly welcome either, what of the inuit populations of the arctic circle who oppose this ban? Are they too to be tared with this brush?
The fact remains that overpopluation of seals can have significant impact on fish stocks in certain areas. For this reason it seems logical to allow a certain amount of humane hunting to take place, provided it is tightly controlled and regulated. In no way should scenes of baby seals being picked to death and skinned alive be tolerated.
Dear Anon,There is no comparison between the Inuit traditional, subsistence hunt and The Canadian's Commercial Seal Hunt. The Inuit are not slaughtering over 275,000 baby Harp Seals a year for their fur. It is morally and ethically wrong to exploit sentient beings.Period. The very phrase 'harvesting a renewable resource' in terms of living beings is repugnant. You 'harvest' a crop of wheat... you butcher an animal. Changing the terminology does not change the horror of the act. It is what it is.
Yes, seals eat fish, but whales eat seals. If not for the mass hunting of whales there would be less seals. Man alone in his arrogance is responsible for upsetting the balance of nature. I stand by comment. Anyone who can walk up close and personal to an animal and bash it's head in with a spiked club, or worse, skin it while it's alive is: "not evolved mentally, spiritually, emotionally" and that is sociopathic. Killing an animal humanely for food as a matter of survival is not what The Canadian's Commercial Seal Hunt is about. I thank you for your comment and appreciate that you read my blog.
VICTORY, VICTORY, VICTORY!! Let the baby killers cry all they want, the seals have won!! I am so happy for the seals. It's not the seals that reproduce like rats it's the baby killers that produce like rats!! Now, how to stop the reproduction of people like Norwegian.........thats the next big challenge!
Patty,
I see your point that there is a difference in scale between the subsistence hunt and the commercial hunt, however you do not quite answer why a seal dying at the hands of an Inuit is morally permissible when a death at the hands of a seal "hunter" is not?
Killing a seal is killing a seal, and as such I do not believe that the act should be judged on intentions. Intentions matter not to the seal that has been killed, and if you are arguing your approach to be that of the seal, not the human, then somehow you have to explain this inconsistency.
You might argue that "subsistence" hunting is natural and therefore permissible, but you have to justify this? For what reasons is it more natural? Because the Inuit do not know any better? Because they are culturally undeveloped and do not conform in many ways to the idea that somehow man is superior and removed from base roots in the animal world? Because they are sociopathic when judged using your criteria? I think that this could well be argued arrogant; you are judging these acts within a moral framework which I do not believe to be always applicable.
I would like to hear your views on what makes killing a sentient (but obviously not in the human case, these animals display none of the "higher" cognitive functions demonstrated by some mammals) animal wrong? It is simply a fact of nature.
I apologise for remaining anonymous, however, I have received personal threats when commenting on animal issues in the blogosphere preivously.
Dear Anon:
Of course 'intent' means nothing to a dying seal but 'intent' is relevant in the volume of seal deaths and in the purpose of seal death. You are right, killing IS killing, the end result being the same, dead seals, however there is no comparison in killing for survival verses killing for fashion. Furthermore, I do not 'justify' killing a seal for any reason however I can understand why a man would do so to feed his family. Am I being hypocritical? Possibly. Even so, I make that distinction and will suffer the ridicule for it.
Killing for survival, Is it moral? is it ethical? This is an ethical question that I may be ill-equipped educationally and intellectually to answer. Even so, I'll make the argument that we have the knowledge, the resources and the sophistication to feed ourselves without the need for killing animals. The instant we possessed that ability there is no longer an excuse to kill(as if man ever needed an excuse to satisfy his blood-lust). Being a mammal not possessing the same higher cognitive functions demonstrated by other mammals does not mean it's okay to 'harvest' them for fashion. That is my view. Thank you for your comment.
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