Outrage at new mass slaughter of baby seals

Guardian ^ | 04/11/04 | Mark Townsend

[drhogan]

by the way, i don't really wish you any real arm. i am just upset about the seal slaughter.

[Centurion2000]

What sort of man considers his income to be dependant on bashing in the skull of a seal?

It's an animal, not a human. Animals have been slaughtered by the billions since humans figured out how to get more leverage with a piece of wood.

How is this any different than fishing ?

[drhogan]

do you ever actually engage in the slaughter of defenseless creatures, or do you just like to get the animal lovers crazy? i'm beginning to suspect the latter.

[BossLady]

"The sudden growth of the cull has been aided by new markets in Russia and Poland alongside a sharp rise in the price of sealskin."

So, this is why it's suddenly 'OK' to kill these innocents seals.....

(But those tortured Iraqis under Sadam's regime.....fuggetaboutit......)

[ArrogantBustard]

It's no different from the production of lamb chops.

Don't be put off by the "whining about the poor, fuzzy, cute widdle animals" crowd. Their irrationality, viciousness, and incapacity for independant thought on these threads is completely predictable. They remind me of democrat voters. In fact, there's a huge overlap between the two groups.

[elbucko]

It's an animal, not a human. Animals have been slaughtered by the billions since humans figured out how to get more leverage with a piece of wood.
How is this any different than fishing ?

How is this any different than beating your pet cat or dog to death and selling their fur for my living?!

As a youth and for Summer recreation, I sometimes work for cattle ranches. I know about "slaughter", I've seen it. Having spent summers as a kid, protecting cattle from all sorts of dangers, I have watched them loaded into a truck that I know is headed to a feed lot, and after that, to a slaughter house. The contradiction is not lost on my reason or conscience. I know a quite a few cowboys that would not send their cattle to slaughter if they won a small lottery or inheritance. Enough to pay their bills and send their kids to school. But these cattle go to feed those that raised them, or to those willing to pay for the meat they eat. Cattle are not raised for vanity.

The seals that are bludgeoned to death, so as not to flaw the fur with a bullet hole, are not necessary to the physical survival of others. Economic survival, yes, but in a smarmy and parasitic manner made acceptable by the goods being sold in fine department stores. A butcher shop gives no pretext to the process of how it obtains its wares. The seals pelt is totally for vanity, the club for increased profit. Once the seals are gone, who shall they club next? Maybe your skin would make a fine lampshade (with apologies to the Holocaust). After all, the difference is only by degree? Why would you object? It won't hurt. You won't know what hit you.

Winston Churchill once remarked at a dinner, while pondering a chicken breast, "that someday, chicken breasts will be able to be produced without having to make the whole chicken". I look forward to that day, as well as the day that beef can be safely produced without having to grow the whole steer.

BTW, Yes, I do hunt. Deer, Elk and birds. And no, if you got within 10ft. of my horse with a club in your hand, you (or anyone else) would not walk away. Do I make myself clear?!

[Smokin' Joe]

I suppose they could allow them to overpopulate and starve en masse.

[rintense]

100% agree. I had an all white kitten with blue eyes who looked just like a seal pup. We named her 'Pup'. Deaf as a doornail, but one of the coolest cats I ever had.

Anyone who can beat a defenseless animal- one not even 12 days old, is void of a soul, IMHO.

[Centurion2000]

How is this any different than beating your pet cat or dog to death and selling their fur for my living?!

The difference is that if someone goes after MY property and I will kill the perp on the spot. I live in Texas, thank God.

The seals aren't yours; if you want to save them ... go collect and raise them. Kudos if you do, but until then other people are making a living off animal products. Deal with it.

[Long Cut]

"There is no honor in either three killings. What sort of man considers his income to be dependant on bashing in the skull of a seal?"

You have hit upon an important truth, here. It's the "honor" part.

Killing baby seals by clubbing them to death is, quite simply, not a fit occupation for any MAN worth the name. There is NO honor, NO dignity, and NO decency to it at all. Individuals who make a living doing it are not fit to be called "MEN".

I was once struck in the head with a heavy baseball bat, by someone who wished to kill me. By sheer good luck to me, and VERY bad luck to him, I survived. I later took my revenge. Those excusing this barbarity (and that is what it is, I've also seen the films of it)might think differently had they had the experience firsthand.

These animals posed no threat to humans; and they provide no survival needs. They are not bred to be harvested. Their cruel slaughter is entirely pointless; indeed, it does not even provide sport.

If an act contains neither honor nor dignity nor decency, it is an act that Men should condemn.

[Long Cut]

", recent eye-witness accounts claim otherwise, corroborating studies suggesting that more than four in 10 pups are still alive when hunters skin them."

What more needs be said? Such cruelty is simply astounding, and outrageous. Simple human decency forbids it.

I am NOT some wide-eyed animal-rights activist; indeed, I once hunted game myself, and still enjoy fishing.

Cruelty such as this, however, is a far cry from the clean, quick kills that a decent hunter strives for.

Just because we are smarter than animals DOES NOT give us the right to torture them to death in such a manner.

In fact, if one watches the video of the so-called 'HUNTS', one wonders who the animals really are...

[Skooz]

I agree totally.

Fox News just ran a clip of the "hunt" and it showed a baby seal desperately trying to run away from the big piece of puke weilding a club. It was heartbreaking. Anyone who can do this is less than human. I'm sorry, but they are.

[Eurotwit]

What about fishing?

[Redcloak]

Mmmmmm... Tastes like chicken... Well... OK... Blubbery chicken with a fishy finish.

[spald]

So if we don't kill off thousand of seals, they eat the very food, fish, upon which we depend.

You know, when man killed the wolves, he assumed the responsibilty of keeping the herds in check.

It's really that simple.

[areafiftyone]

We consume fish. Totally different. We don't eat baby seals.

[Skooz]

So if we don't kill off thousand of seals, they eat the very food, fish, upon which we depend.

Uh. No.

[spald]

Uh, yes.

Read my response (#55) in its entirety, if you please.

[Skooz]

Sorry, I can't make heads or tails of the rest of it. Is it sarcasm, or something? :)

[Eurotwit]

hmm. I wonder if they are tender?


Seriously though. I am no fan of the hunt.

I am just surprised by the enthusiastic outrage it creates.

I just wish some people where as enthusiastic about the war on terror and saving our sivilizaion (not you, obviously) as they are about the seal hunt.

Also the blatant hypocricy of many people who really don't mind animal cruelty when not cute little white seals are involved is odd in my mind.