tomhudson's Journal: Canadian Seal Hunt Shame

Clubbing a mammal to death for its pelt is inexcusable. A veterinarian saying "For most, death is swift" doesn't cut it. "Its the traditional way" just means the traditions are f*cked up.

This is one time I can't say "Proud to be Canadian."

No, I don't own any fur coats.

"It's fun to shoot some people."

[DrunkenTerror]

Aww, come on, man. You can't club the white ones!*








* (Sorry, I've been waiting to use that line for a while. ;)

It has to be done

[NuclearDog]

First off, 90% (not pulled out of my ass, this is what the news says) of the seals are not clubbed but are instead shot, making it no worse than hunting deer or caribou.

Second, if the seals were _not_ hunted, they'd end up over-populating and start dying of starvation, at which point we'd have to kill thousands and thousands. Probably simply disposing of their corpses rather than how it is now where we kill a few off and actually make use of them.

I agree with everyone that what is done is cruel, but I can s

Re:It has to be done

[jci]

The seals are being 'controlled' by global warming just plenty.

I have an assignment for weather class that has a now-defunct msnbc link on arctic warming. The jist of it is that there are less ice floes for seals to give birth on, so they do so where this species normally hasn't: on rocks very close to the ocean. Babies just washed out to sea.

Overall wackiness like thinner/later forming ice and rain on permafrost because the water is open longer periods.

Yay progress.

Re:It has to be done

[tomhudson]

I disagree. We're not living in the 17th century any more.

They were only seal hunters "for generations and generations" because of the fur trade with the Europeans during the opening up of North America to exploration, so its not like it was their "traditional" method of earning a living before the "white man" came along.

Also, "traditional" hunting doesn't include zodiak boats and outboard motors, rifles, binoculars, radio gear, satellite weather photos, helicopters, atvs, pickup trucks, etc. The "trad

Well

[FidelCatsro]

Why don"t they just shoot them . Well Killing something for fur alone is pretty bad , but using a bat to do it is really bad taste

Re:Well

[plover]

Killing something for fur alone is pretty bad

Y'know, people said that about mink, too. I'm guessing these were people who never ever saw a living mink. Nasty, vicious, stinky creatures. Their fur was the only reason they weren't reviled as skunks. Besides, the mink farmers I know of used the carcasses for feed, so it's not like they were killed "just for their fur", either. Sure, they were raised for their fur, but so what? Do we slaughter cows more or less because we can use their leather in additi

Re:Well

[tomhudson]

Part of the problem is that, in the past, they didn't kill the seal pups. They just stunned them with a billy club (cheaper than bullets and doesn't get blood all over the fur) and skinned them alive. The animal was then left to die.

So you can't honestly say that the hunters cared about whether the animals suffered or not.

Its only because of international pressure that this practice was stopped, and that was after a LOT of "you can't interfere with our traditions".

So, what's done with the rest of the

Re:Well

[FidelCatsro]

People like to bring up the "you can't mess with our traditions " thing.Quite silly really , whilst I am a big fan of cultural diversity , I am also a big fan of progress and modernisation.If we kept our traditions strictly , we would be living up trees

Re:Well

[tomhudson]

You're alive!?!

You haven't been posting much lately - must be all that fame from being a FidelCaster :-)

Re:Well

[FidelCatsro]

I've been in one of my moods , I get them from time to time . Just time for me to just sit back and reassess things before I go nuts...
\though I acidently order an xbox 360 >.:D I promise to buy no games though and to mod chip it and hack it ...
\Must have tri core power pc machine