Canadian Seal hunt PETA movement

suparni

human being
Hello friends...
I subscribe to PETA newsletter and take action when requested to do so and when its within my means.
have a look and please click the link to send a letter to Canadian decision makers...if you are moved to, thank you.


c/o PETA


TO CANADIAN DECISION MAKERS - END THE SEAL HUNTS
(here are the sites to visit.)

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/seal_hunt07/8x76w6w4f6ebdjm?

DONATE MONEY:
https://ebiz.isiservices.com/peta-e/peta/donation.asp?Section_code=H07M431W



Dear Reader,

It's that time of year again: The ice floes off the Canadian coast are about to turn red with the blood of the countless baby harp seals who are slaughtered for their fur.

Words cannot describe the cruelty of the annual seal "hunt," which is really more of a massacre and will begin in just a few days. To stop this yearly atrocity, we must generate an international outcry against the Canadian government. I hope that you will support PETA's public call for an end to this slaughter by immediately taking two important actions:
Sign PETA's international petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Our goal is to gather signatures from more than 50,000 people who want to tell the prime minister that "fashion" is no justification for spilling baby seals' blood.

Support PETA's efforts to stop the slaughter of baby seals and the use of all animals for fur. Your online donation will bring more pressure to bear on the Canadian government and the international fur trade.
Canada's annual seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine animals on Earth. Last year, more than 330,000 baby harp seals were beaten to death so that they could be made into fur coats, collars, and cuffs. The Canadian government claims that hunters only kill adult seals, but 97 percent of the seals killed last year were less than 3 months of age.

Most of these seals are too young to realize that they should try to escape when their killers approach. They lie totally vulnerable on the ice as their heads are bashed in with clubs. Many are dragged across the ice—still conscious—with boat hooks. Often these sensitive animals are skinned alive for their fur. Their bodies are left to rot on the ice because there is no market for their meat.

The Canadian government has authorized hunters to kill more than 335,000 harp seals this year—one of the largest quotas in history. There is no place in the 21st century for this wanton and frivolous cruelty. Canada must end this abomination, but it will take a lot of pressure to compel the government to stop the hunt.

Please support PETA's global campaign to stop the baby seal hunt and raise awareness about the cruelty of fur. Your contribution will have an immediate impact on our ability to pressure the Canadian government.

Thank you for your determination to end this terrible injustice.

For all animals,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Governments respond to public pressure. Please help us meet our goal of 50,000 signatures and tell Prime Minister Harper that Canada will face international condemnation until it brings an end to its annual seal hunt. Then help PETA bring even greater pressure to bear on the Canadian government and the international fur trade by making a generous online donation.


Sign the petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to restore Canada's international reputation by bringing a permanent end to the annual slaughter of baby harp seals.

Make a donation to sustain PETA's global efforts to stop the cruel seal hunt and the fur trade.


VIVA MOZ!
 
c/o PETA


What You Can Do to End the Canadian Seal Hunt

Help us reach our goal of 50,000 names on our petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to bring a swift and permanent end to the annual slaughter of baby harp seals.

Learn more at FurIsDead.com about what PETA is doing to prevent hundreds of thousands of baby seals from being shot, bludgeoned, or skinned alive for their fur.
The fur industry has many ugly faces. There's the horrific slaughter of millions of dogs and other animals in China. In this country, animals are confined to filthy cages before they are gassed, electrocuted, or beaten to death. But even in this cruelest of industries, there is little as shocking as the Canadian seal pup hunt.

Every year, more than 330,000 baby harp seals—most less than 1 month old—are killed in the most barbaric manner for their fur. This carnage takes place with the blessing of the Canadian government. The Canadian government sanctions the vicious destruction of hundreds of thousands of infant harp seals just to satisfy the vanity of a few callous people who still want to wear seal fur.

PETA has made stopping the seal hunt one of the urgent priorities of our anti-fur campaign. We have brought international condemnation to Canada's doorstep, but we need your support to sustain the pressure. I urge you to add your name to PETA's global petition calling on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring a permanent end to the annual seal hunt. Our goal is 50,000 petition signers before the hunt begins, and with your help, we can exceed those numbers.

PETA has already convinced several leading retailers and design houses to stop using real animal fur. Just yesterday, Tommy Hilfiger banned fur from his collection after months of discussions with PETA. He joins Ralph Lauren, Limited Brands, J.Crew, Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, and many other clothing designers and companies that have sworn off fur thanks to PETA's efforts.

Now is the time for the Canadian government to follow their humane example. Change won't come easily, however. It is up to us to raise an international outcry for the Canadian government to put an immediate end to the seal hunt.

Please help PETA turn up the heat on the Canadian government to end this atrocity. I hope you will join millions of other compassionate people around the world in signing the petition to Prime Minister Harper.

Together, we can stop the horrific abuse and slaughter of animals for their fur.

For all animals,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Already signed our petition? Please tell a friend to speak out against the seal hunt.


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Well, here we go again.

I want you PETA people to realize a couple things about PETA. I DON'T want you to stop pushing for the humane treatment of animals. I DON'T want you to necessarily burn your PETA card. I just want you to know that PETA is a corporation that depends upon the financial and labour contributions of the public. As a result, it delberately manipulates and manufactures truths, makes decisions based on profitability and routinely fails to folow its own very marketable creed.

And while it has come to the aid of imperiled animals on countless occassions, it never proposes realistic and comprehensive solutions to real problems.

Case in point: The Canadian Seal Hunt

1. "The ice floes off the Canadian coast are about to turn red with the blood of the countless baby harp seals who are slaughtered for their fur." A bit of inflamatory hyperbole to start. We could say: the annual hunt for harp seal pups is about to begin, but "baby", "turn red", "slaughter" are more likely to open the purse strings. We'll give PETA this one though. Good marketing strategy. I don't know about "countless" though. Two paragraphs on they count them.

2. "Words cannot describe the cruelty of the annual seal "hunt,"" But it won't stop them from doing it anyway!

3. "Sign PETA's international petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Our goal is to gather signatures from more than 50,000 people who want to tell the prime minister that "fashion" is no justification for spilling baby seals' blood." What they mean is: "Come to our website where we will show you pictures of whitecoat seal pups being mercilessly beaten to death." Never mind that whitecoats have been illegal to hunt for 20 years and their fur is illegal to buy or sell (like unregistered elephant ivory). The truth doesn't bring in donations quite like a white seal pup with big brown eyes. Signing a petition to get Stephen Harper to stop the seal hunt is quite frankly a waste of time. He is a conservative, pro-hunt self-determinist. PETA knows that, but they need you to visit the web site in order to get 50 000 subscribers (i.e. potential donators)

4. "Support PETA's efforts to stop the slaughter of baby seals and the use of all animals for fur. Your online donation will bring more pressure to bear on the Canadian government and the international fur trade." Your on-line donation will also help pay the salaries of hundreds of PETA employees - some of whom earn more that $70 000 (USD) per year.

5. "Last year, more than 330,000 baby harp seals were beaten to death", "They lie totally vulnerable on the ice as their heads are bashed in with clubs". PETA is aware that this is a lie. About 90% are shot with rifles, not beaten to death. This is still a startling statistic and unacceptable for any animal rights activist, however, deliberately lying about how the animals die does not justify the intended end - it merely increases revenue.

6. "The Canadian government claims that hunters only kill adult seals" No it doesn't. Merely that they are "self-reliant, independent animals". It is quite frank about the age of the pups.

7. "Many are dragged across the ice—still conscious—with boat hooks. Often these sensitive animals are skinned alive for their fur." Several independent (i.e. not funded by government or industry agencies) studies have concluded that this is simply untrue.

8. "Their bodies are left to rot on the ice because there is no market for their meat." Most, but not all are used in the manufacture of several products including animal foods, nutritional supplements and oils.

9. " There is no place in the 21st century for this wanton and frivolous cruelty." There is apparently all kinds of room for this sort of cruelty to both animals and humans. In the state of Minnesota, hunters will kill more than three times the number of deer as seals taken this year in Atlantic Canada. But PETA will never stop Minnesotans from hunting and deer aren't nearly as sexy as seal pups when it comes to soliciting cash from uninformed do-gooders.

10. "Canada must end this abomination, but it will take a lot of pressure to compel the government to stop the hunt." Indeed it will. The majority of Canadians feel that while cruel, the seal hunt is justifiable. They understand the complexity of the issue:
- Seal hunting has been a way of life for thousands of years among aboriginal populations and for at least 500 years among European settlers.
- Seal populations have tripled in the past thirty years despite increased culls. Their natural predators (whale, shark) have been hunted to near-extinction largely by foreign countries.
- The huge number of seals is creating an ecological catashtrophe as young fish stocks are decimated. The food chain is in real peril in the once prosperous east coast of Canada


I live in Atlantic Canada and while I don't agree with the seal hunt, have never knowingly purchased any seal product or taken part in the hunting of any animal, I understand the reasons why it occurs. What bothers me is how groups like PETA very consciously choose their causes based not on mandated concepts like the desire to save the greatest number of animals or reduce the greatest amount of cruelty, but on the basis of what will bring in the greatest amount of revenue. They then dress up the issue in lies, exaggerations and misleading information to market their cause.

Can't we use the truth as the basis for being humane? There is plenty to despise in the seal hunt, but there are much bigger abominations to tackle first.
 
I do not need to be lectured on how whats wrong with peta - I know very well as I was involved and often frustrated with them since I was 12... but the fact of the matter is that they are there doing something. Nobody else is. Some people will knock anything down... no matter how much good it does, just because it is not done their way.
PETA is better than NO voice for animals.
why don't you draw up a business plan for them.
and do you understand how loud of a voice money really does have?
if you did then you would understand why they want to raise as much money as they can.
 
I do not need to be lectured on how whats wrong with peta - I know very well as I was involved and often frustrated with them since I was 12... but the fact of the matter is that they are there doing something. Nobody else is. Some people will knock anything down... no matter how much good it does, just because it is not done their way.
PETA is better than NO voice for animals.
why don't you draw up a business plan for them.
and do you understand how loud of a voice money really does have?
if you did then you would understand why they want to raise as much money as they can.

Well, I see a glimmer of hope here.

First, it seems that we are both on the same side: we'd like to see an end to the seal hunt and we both have issues with PETA.

Let us continue, shall we?

1. "I do not need to be lectured on how whats wrong with peta". I had actually quoted the original poster, though you'll note I didn't do so as a direct reply. So I wasn't lecturing you specifically and if I was it would have been the first poster.

2. "but the fact of the matter is that they are there doing something. Nobody else is." There are hundreds of agencies looking out for the welfare of animals. Several of them focusing specifically on the seal hunt. (Although some like Sea Shepgerd spout the same lies and rhetoric). In fact, the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence refer to seal hunt season as the "second tourist season" as hotel rooms book quickly from agencies and media. Your point seems to be 'PETA is has plenty of problems but they are better than nothing'. Maybe the question should be 'what's better than PETA?'

3. "Some people will knock anything down... no matter how much good it does, just because it is not done their way." Thank goodness for people who stand upon firm convictions, eh? God forbid PETA should oppose something just because they... did someone say Animal Liberation Front?

4. "PETA is better than NO voice for animals." I agree, but when that voice lies - systematically, intentionally and repeatedly - it loses its power. When the facade is lifted (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/15/seal-hunt-070315.html) the disillusioned will leave with their money and at the end of the day, less significant (though more profitable) issues may dealt with while major ones go untouched.

5. "why don't you draw up a business plan for them." Because I'm not one of the people earning $72k to do so.

6. "and do you understand how loud of a voice money really does have?" Sadly I do which is why PETA is focusing its attack on the relatively impoverished eastern Canadians, rather than, say, the wealthy US Cattle Industry which kills more animals in a day than seal hunters kill in a year.

7. "if you did then you would understand why they want to raise as much money as they can.". Ask the average person on the street to name an animal rights group and they will tell you PETA. That is the impact of effective multi-million dollar marketing. PETA is not an organization whose prime mandate is to educate (at least in a responsible fashion). It teaches with fear, shock and propaganda, justifying the means by the end. I don't question the motive, but people should not be duped into change.

There are plenty of good reasons to suspend the seal hunt without resorting to fiction. But doing so is not without its costs: environmental impact on biodiversity; starvation of large numbers of seals in an environment that can't support them; dislocation of aboriginal peoples who have relied on traditional hunting for centuries.

The biggest single impending threat to the seal population comes from environmental change. Increasingly, dead pups (the pretty whitecoats) are washing up on beaches by the hundreds because the ice flows their mothers require to give birth are too thin or are now non-existent.

We need effective dialogue, complicated management solutions and above all, an informed (not shocked) public. The world is f*cked up as a result of a long and complicated process of mismanagement. The solution is equally long and complicated. Solving one problem only to create others has got to stop, regardless of the goodness of one's intentions.

Want to make a change? Become a teacher or a politician. Its a hell of a lot more work than signing a petition but that's where we need the good people.
 
Tremendous post, Mmmmmmm. One of the sanest I've read here in a long, long time.
 
Tremendous post, Mmmmmmm. One of the sanest I've read here in a long, long time.

Thanks, Worm. One never knows whether these things fall only on deaf ears, so to speak.
 
Not deaf ears at all. I admit, while I agree with you fully on most points, I tend to think that groups like PETA (and, um, Bono) do more good than ill and deserve some lattitude. But when I got to this...

Want to make a change? Become a teacher or a politician. Its a hell of a lot more work than signing a petition but that's where we need the good people.

...I was convinced by your argument. I've had the same thought many times. The problem today is that the right has been so devastatingly successful with their propaganda that the temptation is to turn around and embrace propaganda for the left, no matter what form it takes, to further "liberal" or at any rate less conservative ends (I make this distinction because even many conservatives, in my country anyway, are starting to grow uneasy at just how far right our politics have moved). The Michael Moore phenomenon a few years ago is proof. The only real, lasting solution is education. Otherwise people are just choosing whichever lies flatter them on any given day.
 
First, I would not and could not become a politican EVER! This is because I feel too frustrated within corrupt industry or organizations that are dominated by idiots who have no skill or craft or talent to offer the world but instead have to tell everybody what to do - to make themselves feel like they are important or useful or skilled and at the same time fulfill that power need.

Hats off to those less known conservation, environmental, animal rights groups that I have never heard of... hats off! but nobody knows about them... so they do not educate and they do not effect the mass collective consciousness... Example: I was veg at 12 playing meat is murder at 13 really into it and I would in the beginning try to convert friends to veg - 3 years passed and my best friend continued with the hamburgers... then after seeing one shocking video by PETA then reading a pamphlet by them - BOOM - veg... by college she was in activist protests.

Peta keeps me informed and keeps a torch burning and holds a presence for the BIG PROBLEM - the general MASS public... the masses know APPLE IPOD, the GEICO caveman, Anna Nicole... STAR magazine... they certainly don't know about some tiny little group with no marketing budget who goes out doing their thing saving the environment and animals. They need Leonardo, Bono, Oprah, PETA... see where PETA comes in? They are a door to interest and concern and awareness... then people will discover - as i did, that they mainly want me to get active on a political level, writing senators or talking to people at tables etc etc... and this was at a time that I wanted to smash the windows at pet stores with monkeys in them and shoot ladies in fur coats with paintball guns. Yes they are frustrating... but I think they are important.

I think the seal hunt should stop. If ecological problems are there... then the awareness of them will sprout and create real problems for the country and the world... but killing off the seals is just hiding the effects of the devistation. When people see dead animals all along the shoreline due to environmental devistation - that is a sign.

If I live by a lake that is polluted and all the fish float up the shore and stink up the place and lay there dead and floating on the water when i take my kid for a walk - i am not going to say that the solution is to make sure we catch all of the fish and kill them so nobody sees that the lake is polluted... to me that is just a stupid solution.

As for traditional industries like seal hunting... its the same story everywhere... the Long Island baymen have idiots like Billy Joel screaming that they have fished for generations... but there are no more fish so the regulations are imposed and they all freak out! Get a new job. Move with the times. Whaling is a very old industry... tradition... handed down from father to son... does that mean that it should continue? No?
What if I manufactured VHS recorders for a living... would I keep making them nowadays crying about the DVD... move with the times... tradition is dead... or did you not notice? It does not work!

Horray for people who want immediate and very strong action to liberate animals... horray for the other, smaller groups that many people probably come through after having become interested with the help of PETA sparking a fire thats cracks through the media driven industry. Mozza is good for that too... like PETA in a way - he reaches people who would otherwise perhaps not think about it.... and so much more... but this is not about my adoration for Mozza :o

I do not want to argue with you - no - and I realize that you are not lecturing me... possible i was being a bit pissy... and I appreciate your input... but I do think that reaching the masses is important because masses are causing the problems. So many of them are desensitized and flooded with imagery all day and night that sometimes I think you need to shock just to be seen by many of them. I would say "screw them" if they did not cause so many problems!

I take a little string bag to the market... it expand and holds as much as two plastic bags... its just normal for me. I ride my bike places for transportation in the warmer months. I research fuel efficiency when i buy a car... I think about these things. I buy bulk, I bring bags back to the store and reuse them if I use them. Little things make big difference when a lot of people do them... if only a little. Obviously the environgment is getting hollywood attention, political attention... I think Leo is doing what he can... Bono is doing what he can - good on them I say! The more you reach the masses with big marketing - the better it is even for those smaller groups nobody knows about.

I think we would get along very well and I don't want to sound terrible... but I send these PETA notices to all of my friends and I hope that they visit the fur is dead site and look around and explore and at least spend a moment with something that they otherwise never ever ever even think to consider.
Masses are going to have to have good ads, impact, and in some cases shock just to stop and think for 2 seconds... and most of them wont even give it that much time. I think without it - nobody would have ever heard about peta, there would be no presence of any animal rights within the mainstream consciousness at all.

I also do not think that a business plan for PETA is going to make much change, but some major structural change in political leaders... I think we need a MERITOCRACY - not a democracy or anything else. Meritocrasy means that QUALIFiED people are in charge of the laws... scientists, geologist, biologists would determine environmental policy in this system... not big oil companies. I got that idea from Osho... another beatiful being.
All I know is that I have to make my tea and I am happy that you too are so interested in animal rights... at least somebody is and I figure its better if we team up and try to come up with some ideas that are worth proposing to people like PETA or govt - than argue amongst ourselves over details when we generally agree on the basics - we care about the earth and its inhabitants and we hate to see what goes on... basically.

I have no faith in organizations of any type... PETA included. Organizations FAIL. but better than nothin... despite your statement, well worded by the way, about that... I still maintain its better than nothing.
 
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