Don't know whether I should share this here...but I'm Canadian and think that this is not only a disgrace to a nation. But it shows a complete disregard towards a baby (seal) that cannot defend itself nor can it escape. It is fucking sickening to watch !



The following is a Canada Day guest post from Bill Maher, the genius behind Politically Incorrect and HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. Maher offered his wit for an op-ed, originally posted in today's Daily News, in a humorous protest against a deadly serious issue: Canada's annual slaughter of tens of thousands of seals�the largest massacre of marine mammals in the world.

Here's some good news from my friends at PETA, just in time for Canada Day on July 1: Canada's annual commercial seal slaughter is over�at least for this year�and more than 80 percent of the seals who had been marked for death were spared because hardly anyone wants to wear baby-seal fur anymore. But Canada won't cancel the massacre outright. Why?

There are a lot of things to admire about our neighbor to the north, but the country's strange seal phobia is not one of them. Canada is terrified of seals. Baby seals, in particular. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either.

Canada's seal "hunt"�which happens every November to June off Canada's East Coast�is the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet, leaving tens of thousands of animals dead every year. And let's be clear: The Canadian government may call it a "hunt," but impaling baby seals in the jaw with hooks, dragging them across the ice, and throwing them into a pile where they choke on their own blood before being skinned isn't a sport�it's a massacre. The video of it is like a starter snuff film designed for serial killers.

Opposition around the world is growing. Last year, the U.S. Senate�a group of people who usually can't agree that the sky is blue�unanimously passed a resolution calling for an immediate end to the annual slaughter. But the Canadian government just keeps putting its fingers in its ears and singing "la, la, la" so that it won't hear anything it doesn't like. Or, if it does hear, it responds with all the subtlety and sophistication of a fistfight in the men's room at a monster-truck rally.

The European Union, for example, recently passed a ban on seal products. So after stomping its feet and jutting out its lower lips for a while, Canada threatened to go tell mom that it's being picked on. Sorry, did I say "mom"? I meant the World Trade Organization. And as if that weren't tone-deaf enough, in response to the EU's ban, Canada's parliament also pushed�unsuccessfully�to incorporate seal skins into the uniforms of the Canadian Olympic team in a desperate attempt to legitimize the seal slaughter.

When Russia announced a ban on the killing of baby harp seals in that country, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the seal slaughter a "bloody industry that should have been banned long ago." Shortly thereafter, Canada's Governor General Micha�lle Jean cut open a seal and chowed down on the animal's raw heart, burbling inanely, "It's like sushi." I'm not making that up.

Note to Canada: When your officials are making Vladimir Putin look like the voice of reason and the U.S. Senate appears to be a model of civility, you're doing something wrong.

Let's clear up a couple of myths perpetrated by the Canadian government in defense of the "hunt." The sealing industry is not a subsistence trade for native peoples. The Inuit�most of whom live in the Arctic, far away from the main seal-killing regions of Newfoundland and Labrador�are responsible for only about 3 percent of the annual seal kill.

Nor is the slaughter important to the Canadian economy. In Newfoundland, where the majority of sealers live, revenues from sealing account for just about 1 percent of the province's economy. But even if it were more, that's still no excuse for clubbing babies.

You'd think that officials would have gotten the message that it's time to stop the slaughter when many sealers sat out this year's massacre in the face of plunging demand and record-low ice levels. Incredibly, Fisheries Minister Gail Shea instead increased the killing quotas.

In fact, Canada is spending millions of dollars�and despite what you may have heard, Canadian dollars are real money�on desperate efforts to prop up the dying commercial seal slaughter, including rushing Shea to China to try to peddle seal pelts there and posting a $75,000 contract for a "Social Media Reputation and Online Issues Management" advisor to track seal chatter on the Web.

Not long ago, Canada launched a "Keep Exploring" ad campaign to attract tourists. Vacationers may find it hard to have a really good time with all that shooting and beating going on in the background.

Reacting to the tourism campaign, PETA is pushing back with its own campaign, called, "Explore Elsewhere," encouraging people to leave Canada out of their travel plans until the seal massacre is stopped for good. I've never really been one to call for boycotting an entire country, but in the face of such heartless ineptitude, maybe it's worth considering.

Canada has to put a STOP to this slaughter for good !!!

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I agree with you Hands off innocent animals Quote

Glad YOU brought this up D9: (Though your neighbors to the south with their little oil spill have any room to talk about unecessary killing of animals.)

According to reports from the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, more than $20 million in subsidies were provided to the sealing industry between 1995 and 2001. Those subsidies came from entities such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Human Resources Development Council, and Canada Economic Development�Quebec. These subsidies take a variety of forms, including funding the salaries for seal processing plant workers, market research and development trips, and capital acquisitions for processing plants. In 2004, more than $400,000 was provided by the Canadian government to companies for the development of seal products, and as recently as April 2007, the Canadian Coast Guard�at the taxpayer's expense�broke through the ice for the sealing vessels as it does each year. In 2007, the Canadian Coast Guard estimates that it spent an additional $3.5 million rescuing sealing vessels.

Moreover, Canada's commercial seal hunt is also indirectly subsidized by the Norwegian government. A Norwegian company purchases close to 80% of the sealskins produced in Canada in any given year through its Canadian subsidiary. These skins are shipped in an unprocessed state directly to Norway, where they are tanned and re-exported. The Norwegian government provides significant financial assistance to this company each year.


Additionally, there is no evidence to support seals are jeopardizing the Canadian Cod Fishery. Some fishing industry lobby groups try to claim that seals must be culled to protect fish stocks, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The scientific community agrees that the true cause of the depletion of fish stocks off Canada's East Coast is human over-fishing. Blaming seals for disappearing fish is a convenient way for the fishing industry to divert attention from its irresponsible and environmentally destructive practices that continue today.
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Our Governmental Leaders are uncaring and thoughtless when it comes to our environment and the creatures that live in it-including humans. Probably the only thing they care about at least in the US BOTH Republicans and Democrats is what special interest is bank-rolling my election campain Quote

I'm not sure how this has a place on this"Straight Fantasies" forums but anyway...where do I start.

First of all i guess i should point out that killing baby seals(whitecoats) has been illegal since 1987. But animal rights groups like to keep showing old films and photos from the 1970's and 80's for shock value. Second, seals DO eat cod, usually just a small part of it and the rest is left to rot.

I remember seeing a protest in Spain, they were all outraged about the seal hunt. This is a country that kills bulls purely for ENTERTAINMENT. Stabbing it with knives under it slowly bleeds to death. and whose ships have been caught in our waters fishing with illegal equipment, taking everything in its path, immature fish and other sea life that end up being disposed of. Can you say HYPOCRITE?

http://ca.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-reasons-to-support-the-seal-hunt.html

Nature is cruel. face it. It isn't going to stop because some of you get their feelings hurt. Get you facts from the experts. not Hollywood celebrities.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/05/f-seal-hunt.html

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geeeeeesssss ... some ppl still defend Hitler
What makes the articles you reference any more authorative than the 100's of others on the subject?

As recently as Apr 10, 2010, The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) filmed these atrocities... hard to argue with
And they didnt hire Hollywood actors, or for that matter Hollywood seals, to do the 'acting'

This doesnt have a whole lot to do with 'nature'
man can be cruel ... and we all know it

"The thinking [person] must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. When we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another"

�Albert Schweitzer
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statement made by the World Wildlife fund.


http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/faq/response.cfm?hdnQuestionId=11320030954082 Quote

The way they kill the seals is simply awful. I'm sure they could do it in a more humane way if they don't want to stop it altogether. Quote

Vlhurg #1: Ah good to be back on this planet. And check out the pelts on these bipeds. mmmmmmm

Vlhurg #2: Easy old fella, these are sentient beings.

Vlhurg #1: Oh yeah? You there! Monkeyboy! What is the capitol of the Vlhurg Empire!

D Moore: Geesh guys. You look like I've been drinking. A lot. Vlwhat?

Vlhurg #2: That doesn't prove anything. His kind simply hasn't invented real space travel yet.

Vlhurg #1: ha ha ha. I was just warming him up. (to Mr Moore) What is the square root of 2?

D Moore: Good god! Ms Sikes?!? Alive after all these years?

Vlhurg #2: Could it be we just have one defective biped?

Vlhurg #1: No, they are all like that. I've done a random sample that would satisfy any statistician.

Vlhurg #2: What is your pelt removal procedure?

Vlhurg #1: They are best fresh. I distract them with a bottle of their whisky and then pull their skin quickly over their heads.

Vlhurg #2: Sounds extremely painful.

Vlhurg #1: (impatiently) I am not sure these things can even understand pain.

D Moore: Ophelia. Oh Ophelia. If only you'd given me a second chance.

Vlhurg #2: Well they certainly understand whining. And wine.

Vlhurg #1: (rolling up the sleeves on his tentacles) Let's get us some monkey pelts!!!

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Young & Rubicam advertising executive Forest Long coined the phrase, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" �, in 1971 as part of a UNCF fundraising and public awareness campaign. Since that time, it has become one of the most recognized phrases in American advertising history.

I'm just going to borrow it out of context.



Vlhurg #1: Ah good to be back on this planet. And check out the pelts on these bipeds. mmmmmmm

Vlhurg #2: Easy old fella, these are sentient beings.

Vlhurg #1: Oh yeah? You there! Monkeyboy! What is the capitol of the Vlhurg Empire!

D Moore: Geesh guys. You look like I've been drinking. A lot. Vlwhat?

Vlhurg #2: That doesn't prove anything. His kind simply hasn't invented real space travel yet.

Vlhurg #1: ha ha ha. I was just warming him up. (to Mr Moore) What is the square root of 2?

D Moore: Good god! Ms Sikes?!? Alive after all these years?

Vlhurg #2: Could it be we just have one defective biped?

Vlhurg #1: No, they are all like that. I've done a random sample that would satisfy any statistician.

Vlhurg #2: What is your pelt removal procedure?

Vlhurg #1: They are best fresh. I distract them with a bottle of their whisky and then pull their skin quickly over their heads.

Vlhurg #2: Sounds extremely painful.

Vlhurg #1: (impatiently) I am not sure these things can even understand pain.

D Moore: Ophelia. Oh Ophelia. If only you'd given me a second chance.

Vlhurg #2: Well they certainly understand whining. And wine.

Vlhurg #1: (rolling up the sleeves on his tentacles) Let's get us some monkey pelts!!!








A mind is a terrible thing to waste Quote

A mind is a terrible thing to waste



From the Trophy Strewn Desk of Vlarg Vlraymi

Sooooooooo monkeyboy!

You think it is a waste to write about the glorious Vlhurg and their all-powerful empire?

You think it is cruel to deprive Earthlings of their soft, silky, (mmmmmm, drool) skins?

You are not permitted to think! Only to serve.

The only thing that keeps us from conquering your miserable marble of a planet is that it is so far from every fashionable place in this galaxy. Rubes!

With our customary spite,

Vlarg Vlraymi

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carousel: (thinking to himself) What a morning... Am late for work and on top of everything else, f'ing faucet, the Vlhurg are on my ass.

(a loud knock is heard at the front door)

Muffled Voice #1: Avon!

Muffled Voice #2: (quieter) yeah, yeah, hee hee (louder) Avon!

carousel: (walking to the door and almost opening it but then pausing) You don't sound like the Avon lady... Do you have the spam I ordered?

Muffled Voice #1: (after a pause) Yeah, yeah. We've got the span. (quick whisper, then: ) Spam!

carousel: ha! I knew it! Avon doesn't sell spam! Are you a couple of aliens?

Muffled Voice #2: No! Yes! We are ... tribbles.

Muffled Voice #1: Yes, yes, exactly. We are tribbles!

carousel: Oh... well... all right then. (opens the door) Aiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee....

*********************************************************************** **********************

We the staff at DoRide StoryWerks want to point out that any resemblence in this tale to that concerning the famous landshark character of SNL is purely coincidental. The device of predators posing as more innocent visitors to the household is as old as The Art of Hunting and Eating, that legendary work attributed to the Vulcan philospher Lukan back when that race was still in its primitive, violent, ancestral state. And as for use of violence in story telling we will just point out that even in our traditional fairy tales we have often colored our tales with such dark episodes in the effort to convey valuable life lessons to our young...

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I'm not a human, if that's what you think
Though my eyes are brown and my skin is pink
And don't see me as a robot, that's something I don't like
A robot is so clumsy, as clumsy as a bike
You see
I am an android
And I like to have my fun
And androids can sustain it long, more than anyone
So yes, I am an android
Usually a nice prick
But push my buttons too much do_ride
And I'll crush your little ****


thanks to SPOCK for assistance with my little ditty

Now back to the seals:
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