Canada Seal Slaughter begins

[Grammatron]

A seal walks into a club...

 

[ZouPrime]

I mentioned it because it is indeed crueler to hunt helpless creatures who can't even run away. Deer can run, fast. Baby seals can't.

Really? Why? Do you think these animals are even aware of being helpless or not? How is the difficulty of the hunt even relevant?

Many natives have used cannibalism, slavery and pedophilia as well. Does that make it right?

No, but this is completely irrelevant. My point was that seal hunting has a strong cultural element for many people, and that you couldn't dismiss this cultural context just by calling them "untalented and ignorant" for doing it. The world is more complex than that.

If your occupational choices are limited bashing baby seals to death then it's pretty likely you aren't that bright.

See what I mean. What you consider a "occupational choice" has been for many of these groups their only mean of survival for centuries. Do you think the random inuk who kill seals to feed and cloth his family gives a **** about your emotional arguments? Do you think it matters to him if seals are helpless or not?

 

[aggle-rithm]

See what I mean. What you consider a "occupational choice" has been for many of these groups their only mean of survival for centuries. Do you think the random inuk who kill seals to feed and cloth his family gives a **** about your emotional arguments? Do you think it matters to him if seals are helpless or not?

Not just centuries -- millenia. In fact, a strong case could be made that being preyed upon by humans is an essential part of the seals' ecological niche.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Deer don't have a chance either when people hunt them with guns, to say nothing of the cows, chicken and pigs we slaughter for food. Where's your outrage at that?

Actually deer generally can run and hunters often miss them between all of the trees etc. As far as cow's, chickens and pigs. I do object when they are treated inhumanely or slaughtered in similar ways.

He's merely suggesting that your selective outrage is in need of some explanation. The explanation he suggests, "anthropomorphism," might be a bit of a stretch, I agree. I assume he just meant that since seals are cute you don't think they should be slaughtered. Perhaps subconscious anthropomorphism is the reason we find some animals cute and others not so cute? You rely far too much on strict dictionary definitions. Words acquire their meanings through usage, and the way he used the word is not uncommon. But dubious usage of the word "anthropomorphism" aside, he has a point. Are you outraged that we slaughter cows and chickens?

I'm not "outraged" that seal hunting occurs as much as I'm outraged at the number of seals killed and the inhumane way of doing it.

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/dfiles/file_95.pdf

According to this study, 87% of the hunters viewed did not even follow the guidelines set by the Canadian govt.

With icecaps receding, those seals are not long for this world anyway, so we might as well use them, right? Otherwise, they'll just go to waste.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. If anything we need to PRESERVE their populations so that they don't go extinct so easily when Ice Caps recede more and more.

Moreover, The "uses" of them (fur) are trivial and serve no purpose that can't be replaced by a cotton or polyester fabric.

Well, Mr. grammar Nazi, you have an incorrectly capitalized word in the very sentence in which you criticize someone else's grammar. Stop being an a[rule8]hole.

And, as we all know, it is only lack of talent and intelligence that limits one's economic opportunities. You should tell all those stupid no-talent Africans to get a real job already instead of just sitting around dying of AIDS. You truly are a piece of work.

The people beating these seals to death have no diseases. I don't see how your comparison to Africans with aids makes any sense. If someone works at a job in a developed country (like Canada or Norway or Russia) that requires no talent or intelligence and requires basic moral bankruptcy then It's very fair to judge such people as ignorant and untalented and morally bankrupt.

Yet another incredibly ignorant comment from "Freddy".

 

[ZouPrime]

If men are capable of doing these things to each other, don't you think it's easy to justify doing it to animals? For the record, I'm with you against the slaughter of the seals, just as I would have been against the slaughter of millions of buffalo that the plains Indians depended on to live. Such blatant disregard for an entire animal species is grossly irresponsible, but I don't think it's going to stop.

What's tragic about the buffalo isn't that they were hunted, but that they were hunted to instinction, and many times simply as a sport with no attempt to even benefit from the meat. Seals are hunted for their economical benefit; there's a annual quota to the amount of seals killed, the hunt is supervised by the Canadian government, and the seal population is currently pretty large and should remain the same.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Really? Why?

Because they have no chance to defend themselves or escape.

Do you think these animals are even aware of being helpless or not?

Yes.

No, but this is completely irrelevant. My point was that seal hunting has a strong cultural element for many people, and that you couldn't dismiss this cultural context just by calling them "untalented and ignorant" for doing it. The world is more complex than that.

I don't care how strong a "cultural element" something has. Think Slavery. It had a huge cultural element. Would you consider that a valid argument for slavery? Would you call people who supported slavery ignorant? I would.

See what I mean. What you consider a "occupational choice" has been for many of these groups their only mean of survival for centuries. Do you think the random inuk who kill seals to feed and cloth his family gives a **** about your emotional arguments? Do you think it matters to him if seals are helpless or not?

Doubt it. That's why Canada needs to ban it. We can't allow ignorant untalented individuals with a thirst for blood and greed to go out slaughtering millions of innocent animals simply because they're too stupid to do anything else with their lives.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Since forever . . .












If men are capable of doing these things to each other, don't you think it's easy to justify doing it to animals? For the record, I'm with you against the slaughter of the seals, just as I would have been against the slaughter of millions of buffalo that the plains Indians depended on to live. Such blatant disregard for an entire animal species is grossly irresponsible, but I don't think it's going to stop.

That's hardly an "excuse" or justifiable by any means.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

I think this is irrelevant if the population needs to be culled.

They don't.

The only issue is, are the animals killed humanely?

Nope.

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/dfiles/file_95.pdf

In every picture I have seen, the person butchering the seal approaches from behind. If done carefully, the seal would never see it coming and would feel no pain.

Nope.

If the alternative is to let the population grow out of control, resulting in mass starvation of the cute little guys, then I say do what you have to.

There's no evidence that could ever happen.

 

[thaiboxerken]

I wonder if seal meat tastes good. If it does, I would like someone to fund me in starting a restaurant. All that meat needs to be turned into cash.

 

[thaiboxerken]

There's no evidence that could ever happen.

So overpopulation doesn't cause starvation of a species?

 

[drkitten]

I wonder if seal meat tastes good.

No, it tastes terrible. Kind of like a cross between rancid mackerel and militant liver.

 

[Ryokan]

Nope.

The Canadian Veterinary Journal disagrees with you.

There's no evidence that could ever happen.

I remember it happened once, when I was little. Must've been between 8-10, so 20-22 years ago. I grew on a small island on the western coast of Norway, and we had what we Norwegians call a 'seal year', when there's an overpopulation of seals. The coast was littered with corpses of seals that had starved to death.

That's why we cull the population once in a while, as well as for protecting the population of cod.

ETA : Oh, and the Norwegian seal hunters aren't untalented and unintelligent - they're just average hunters and fishermen that partake in the government sanctioned culling whenever it's neccesary.

 

[ClintonHammond]

Do you whine and suck when beef cattle are slaughtered for food and leather?

Do you whine and suck when whole fields of wheat are slaughtered to make bread and oatmeal?

It's a harsh world... sometimes you're the seal and sometimes you're the club.

If you can't handle that, opt out.

*edit Go live in a fluffy bunny factory with a chocolate sunshine and gum-drop rain-showers....

I suggest you not violate the Membership Agreement by encouraging suicide, else you may find yourself suspended from this forum.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Lisa Simpson

*Edit (Not that there's any point, because the original post has already been quoted below)
It wasn't my intention to 'encourage suicide', but rather suggest that there might need to be more chlorine added to Dustins end of the gene-pool...

It is hard however to take a mod named after a goofy cartoon character very seriously indeed! LOL

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Also, There is evidence that since the hunters are ignorant and unskillful(as I mentioned earlier) they tend not to follow the guidelines set by the Govt's and actually tend to skin the seals alive.

Moreover, The Canadian Seal harvest last year was only around 16 million CAD. Add in the funding required for regulations and subsidies and it's likely that the COST to actually allow the seal hunt is higher than what it makes. Not to mention most of the time the "hunters" ignore the rules set by the govt.

Also, if the hunts were banned and instead the area used for "eco tourism" it's likely it would bring in much more per year.

 

[Ryokan]

I wonder if seal meat tastes good.

If prepared right, it can. But whale tastes much better

 

[thaiboxerken]

Do you whine and suck when beef cattle are slaughtered for food and leather?

Yes, he does.

 

[Cleon]

As for their "livinghood"(Which isn't even a word BTW), Simply being too untalented and ignorant to do anything other than bash baby seals to death isn't an excuse to do so.

Well, I can tell you're approaching the subject in a fair and objective manner....

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

The Canadian Veterinary Journal disagrees with you.

And the veterinary report of the Canadian seal hunt disagrees with that.

I remember it happened once, when I was little. Must've been between 8-10, so 20-22 years ago. I grew on a small island on the western coast of Norway, and we had what we Norwegians call a 'seal year', when there's an overpopulation of seals. The coast was littered with corpses of seals that had starved to death.

After decades of this mismanagement and the resulting collapse of the East coast cod industry, the Canadian DFO has declared war on the seals in hopes that massive seal kills will bring back the cod and keep their disgruntled fishermen working. In fact, cod is not a major food source of the harp and hood seal diet. Further, recent evidence suggests that killing seals contributes to bacterial infestation on the ocean floor which leads to hypoxia, a condition in which patches of ocean lose all the dissolved oxygen and are unable to sustain cod or fish or marine life of any kind. However, these facts seem to have been brushed aside by the DFO in their efforts to justify and continue the slaughter.

http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_seal_hunt_facts.html

ETA : Oh, and the Norwegian seal hunters aren't untalented and unintelligent - they're just average hunters and fishermen that partake in the government sanctioned culling whenever it's neccesary.

Anyone who resorts to bashing seals to death is obviously too stupid to get a real Job.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

Do you whine and suck when beef cattle are slaughtered for food and leather?

Do you whine and suck when whole fields of wheat are slaughtered to make bread and oatmeal?

It's a harsh world... sometimes you're the seal and sometimes you're the club.

If you can't handle that, opt out.

I'd suggest 5 feet of rope from a 15 foot high branch.

I suggest you not violate the Membership Agreement by encouraging suicide, else you may find yourself suspended from this forum.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Lisa Simpson

Wow...

 

[ClintonHammond]

"Yes, he does."
Then 'he' has zero clue about what a dog-eat-dog world it is. He's concerns and opinions are therefor irrelevant.

Ever seen what a polar bear does to a baby seal? Makes what humans do to them look like heavy petting... (Or do you honestly believe the BS that child-friendly nature shows try to tell people about 'prey' animals not feeling the pain of being taken down? HA!)

But I suppose we aughta ban polar bears too eh?