Canada gives seal hunt go-ahead

Canada says the seal population has exploded
Canada has given the go-ahead for what is expected to be one of the biggest seal hunts in the country for decades.
The government says the hunt is now more humane and that more than 300,000 seals can be killed this year.

The seal population is reaching record levels as commercial fish stocks are vanishing, the authorities say.

Animal rights campaigners, who say the hunt is cruel, have called for a boycott of Canadian seafood before the hunt which is due to start on 29 March.

The two-month hunt takes place on ice floes off the Atlantic coast where the seals give birth.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a statement that Canada's seal population was healthy and abundant.

"The harp seal herd - the most important seal herd for this industry - is estimated at around five million animals, nearly the highest level ever recorded, and almost triple what it was in the 1970s."

Large-scale hunting will be allowed to continue until the number falls to under four million.

One official told the AFP news agency: "We have to do our job responsibly. We are looking at the middle ground, taking into account conservation and the economic needs of the region."

Uncomfortable images

But anti-hunt activists, who say many animals are skinned alive and die in agony, say they will press ahead with the boycott.

"I think that [the Canadian government] are feeling the heat... they can see the really serious implication of going ahead with the hunt this year," said Pat Ragan, of the Humane Society of the United States.

"We're going to be encouraging consumers to enter into dialogue with their grocery stores and their restaurants and say 'Please don't serve Canadian seafood' or 'I won't buy Canadian seafood until this hunt is over'," she told Reuters news agency.

The seal hunt in Newfoundland and Labrador went into decline some 25 years ago, after images of hunters clubbing infant seals horrified TV viewers across the world.

This is the stupidity of the anti hunting brigade. They want to make you think a guy will struggle to skin a live animal when it's easier to kill it.

You have two options with seals, keep their numbers down or forget about eating a lot of fish from the sea. The seals will kill the shoals and make it unprofitable to go out.

Thing is man used to kill seals for food and the furs, it's only recently they stopped and the seal population is out of control.

i have clubbed seals. the meat tastes like eating the ass from a corpse that has been rotting for a week in 100 degree heat. if the blood gets on your clothes, the stench can never be washed out. the heart and live taste quite good. seals have a very soft skull and a sharp whack between the eyes will kill them instantly... they do not skin them alive as the article suggests. why would you want to skin an animal for its fur if it is still alive and kicking around? it makes the task impossible and can only devalue the fur with erradict cuts and damage to the hide.

JR, come home, we need more seal clubbers :)

I have never eaten seal meat but I have had seal oil and it was repugnant. Eskimos like to eat rotten stuff though!

I smell webmaster get together!

let the fun begin!

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Co..._7a.vlarge.jpg



whats with that protester that said "and say you wont eat canadian sea food...till the hunt is over"

wtf kinda protest is that? crazy tree/seal huggers.

Personally I'm appalled by this.

If they want to let people go out a kill something then they should have open season on priests once a year.

I'm outta the loop.I thought this thread was going to be about raver seals.

How come no one has arranged a protest over the killing of mosquittos in Fl ?

free the moaquitto!!!

Maybe because seals are cute little furry animals who just go about doing seal things without bothering people and misquotes are nasty blood sucking bugs that spread diseases.

Maybe because seals are cute little furry animals who just go about doing seal things without bothering people and misquotes are nasty blood sucking bugs that spread diseases. [/b][/quote]
Half right , Cleo.

They are cute furry creatures.

I'm sure however they bother the living crap out of people who are trying to earn a living from fishing.

Half right , Cleo.

They are cute furry creatures.

I'm sure however they bother the living crap out of people who are trying to earn a living from fishing. [/b][/quote]
why do you both refuse to agree on how to spell mosquito?

why do you both refuse to agree on how to spell mosquito? [/b][/quote]
I've never killed a misquote in my life!

Though I may have had a moaquitto at a Mexican restaurant once.

My spelling sucks and misquotes is a word, just doesn't have anything to do with blood suckers that fly, so my spelling checker missed it.

Stop fishing and then the seals will not be a problem.


Don't you hate us vegetarians.

Good Idea Cleo!!

I've never killed a misquote in my life!

Though I may have had a moaquitto at a Mexican restaurant once. [/b][/quote]
Kudos dravykk, that is fucking funny LOL :biglaugh:

My spelling sucks and misquotes is a word, just doesn't have anything to do with blood suckers that fly, so my spelling checker missed it.

Stop fishing and then the seals will not be a problem.


Don't you hate us vegetarians. [/b][/quote]
point of order here just for fact sake.. vegetarians EAT FISH! Vegan"s do not ...

carry on!!! :agrin:

Vegans don't eat any animal products, not even honey. I have a younger brother like this. Complete pain in the ass to go anyplace to eat with him. I would be a Lacto-ovovegetarian since I don't eat meat but I do eat dairy products and eggs. It's not that I have any great love of dairy products, just being practical.

Kudos dravykk, that is fucking funny LOL :biglaugh: [/b][/quote]
Don't encourage him.

Milk, it does a body good......

The great thing about making fun of typos, is that I know I have made a ton of them myself and will continue to do so in the future! That's why I find them funny, cause I'm just as guilty. :)