Sea Shepherd Announces: Seal Defense Campaign 2008! Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

[Old Codger]

http://www.seashepherd.org/

Sea Shepherd Announces:
Seal Defense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

Captain Paul Watson and some of his crew will not rest after defending
whales when they return to Australia after three and a half months of
chasing and harassing Japanese whaling ships, and will instead
continue on to defend baby seals.

Within days of returning to Australia in late March, they will be
flying halfway around the world to Bermuda where Sea Shepherd’s other
ship the Farley Mowat is docked. From there they will head North into
the ice packs off Eastern Canada to defend baby harp seals from the
ruthless clubs of Canadian sealers.

“There is no rest on planetary duty,” said Captain Paul Watson from
onboard the Steve Irwin off the coast of Antarctica. “Half our year is
spent amongst icebergs and on ice floes. Our job is to hunt the
hunters to defend their victims and that takes us from the bottom of
the world to the top and many places in between.”

Captain Watson has been fighting the Canadian seal slaughter all his
life. It was shut down in 1984 and resurrected in 1994.

“All our victories are usually temporary,” he said. “Unfortunately our
defeats are usually permanent.”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is confident that years of risk
and effort will soon pay off. The European nations are banning seal
products and seal products have been banned in the United States since
1972. Sea Shepherd has been slowly lobbying to remove the markets at
the same time as we have been mounting dramatic confrontations on the
ice to physically save the seals from the cruel clubs of the sealers.

Patience and persistence is paying off. The seal hunt survives only
because of subsidies doled out to the sealing industry by the
government of Canada. It has become a glorified welfare scheme where
in return for killing seals for a few weeks the sealers can qualify
for unemployment insurance for the rest of the year.

“They say it’s part of their culture,” said Captain Watson who himself
grew up in an Eastern fishing village in the Canadian province of New
Brunswick. “It’s a culture based on the cruel clubbing of baby seals
for a few weeks each year and drinking Canadian Club and beer the rest
of the year. It’s a culture that any Maritimer with half a brain
abandoned generations ago.”

In addition to the hazards of thick ice and nasty weather, the Sea
Shepherd crew face the threat of violence from the sealers and the
threat of arrest under the Canadian “Seal Protection regulations” that
make it a criminal offense to “witness or document the killing of a
seal without the permission of the government of Canada.”

“As a kid I remember these baby killers bragging how they would slice
open the beating heart of the first baby seal they kill each spring,”
said Captain Watson. “They drank the hot blood and smeared it cross
upon their foreheads and dabbed blood on their cheeks. They called it
the “Rites of Spring.” I called them barbarians then, and I call them
barbarians still, and as a Canadian and a Maritimer, I have been
ashamed of this bloody evil tradition all my life and I’ve dedicated
my life to shutting this monstrous obscenity down forever, and I
believe that soon we will see that day when the killing is ended.”

In 2005 twelve Sea Shepherd crew were arrested after being attacked
and assaulted by sealers on the ice. Despite being struck by sealing
clubs, punched and kicked, not one sealer was arrested for assault.
The attack was video-taped and the sealers identified yet the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police stated there was “insufficient evidence” to
charge the sealers. The Sea Shepherd crew were jailed and fined for
approaching within a half a nautical mile of a seal being killed.

[J***@gmail.com]

Post by Old Codger
http://www.seashepherd.org/
Seal Defense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

<lies snipped>


<crap snipped>



Once again, the Sea Shepherd organization starts it annual fund
raising campaign by spreading lies about the seal hunt...using the
pictures of snow white cuddly seals to enrage a public....despite the
fact that those seals ARE NOT HUNTED.

Whitecoats have not been hunted for more than twenty years. The seals
taken today are older than the average chicken you roast in your oven.
Most are adults.

So, why do they still spread their lies? Cause it generates enough
revenue to keep them afloat. Before you buy into those sensationalist
lies above, do your own research.

The hunt is humane. The WWF has stopped protesting it because they've
determined the hunt is sustainable and humane.

The hunt only takes ~ one quarter of a million seals...out of a
population that exceeds 5 MILLION!!! The herd is in no danger of
extinction...even with global warming and declining ice, the seals are
expected to adapt well.

More than 90% of the seals are no longer clubbed. They are shot...just
like a deer or moose.

The entire carcass is used, providing the pelt, meat and oil (that
unlike fish oil, is free of contaminants such as mercury).

When Paul McCartney came here to protest (dragged here by his then-
wife), he went on Larry King Live to debate the Newfoundland
premier...and not only was every single one of McCartney's arguments
put to rest, McCartney didn't even know WHERE HE WAS!!! (He thought
he was in Newfoundland...he was on Prince Edward Island).

If one is going to protest this hunt then they can't be meat eaters.
The treatment of the cows, pigs and chickens in the slaughterhouses is
far worse than any seal. Chickens are strung up on a conveyor and
their throats cut so that they bleed to death as the conveyor moves.
Cows get a nail drilled through their brain. Studies have found that
clubbing seals is as humane, if not more humane, than the methods used
in commercial slaughterhouses.

So why is the Sea Shepherd and other protesters not lining up to
investigate those sites? Because they're not permitted inside.

So the seal hunt becomes an easy target with the Canadian government
foolishly allowing the protesters access to the hunt sites. Seal hunts
(including hunts for whitecoats) occur in Alaska, Siberia and
Scandinavia - so why don't you hear about them? Because their
governments do not permit protesters to view the hunt. Just like the
slaughterhouse owners.

Don't buy into these foolish anti-sealing campaigns. Do your own
research. Learn the facts of the hunt. It is humane and sustainable,
providing up to 35% of the fisher's annual income.

Save your money. Send it to a cause that really needs it. Send it to a
children's hospital, a food bank, a women's shelter. Don't send it to
an organization that has to lie to get your money.

[Old Codger]

Post by J***@gmail.com

Post by Old Codger
http://www.seashepherd.org/
Seal Defense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

Once again, the Sea Shepherd organization starts it annual fund
raising campaign by spreading lies about the seal hunt...using the
pictures of snow white cuddly seals to enrage a public....despite the
fact that those seals ARE NOT HUNTED.

Actually the pictures are harp seals and they are slaughtered by being
battered to death.

Post by J***@gmail.com
Whitecoats have not been hunted for more than twenty years.

That was only stopped due to international protest.

Post by J***@gmail.com
So, why do they still

Expose cruel, senseless slaughter of wildlife? Because it's the right
thing to do even though a few weirdo's like yourself may get their
kicks from cruelty.

Post by J***@gmail.com
The hunt is humane.

The hunt is cruel, brutal and inhumane. The hunters treat humans in
the same manner who should dare to protest about their evil deeds.

Post by J***@gmail.com
The WWF has stopped protesting it because they've
determined the hunt is sustainable and humane.

WWF never did complain. WWF are a pro hunt group and was formed by
trophy hunters to ensure the survival of it's prey species. They have
successfully conned society into thinking they care for wildlife and
try very hard to obscure their agenda.

Nice try Mr Gnome but thanks for the opportunity of putting the record
straight.

While your here and so keen to remove the fishing gnome angler groups
from your post, which I have reinstated,perhaps you could tell us
where's the fun in sitting on your fat arses on the edge of oversized
fishbowls, throwing loaves of bread into the water. What kind of lard
arse hobby is that?

Anyway.

The Wicked Wildlife Fund

http://www.wickedwildlifefund.com/abuse.html

The WWF Endorses the Killing of Wild Animals, Too
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) gives special meaning to the word
“conservation.” The organization, founded in 1961 by a group of
wealthy trophy hunters, apparently believes that conserving animals
means keeping them around long enough for well-heeled “sportsmen” to
blast them out of the woods, oceans, skies, plains of Africa, and
jungles of Asia. Past WWF chapter presidents include C.R. “Pink”
Gutermuth, who also served as president of the National Rifle
Association, and trophy hunter Francis L. Kellogg, who is legendary
for his massive kills. In its early days, the WWF even used fur
auctions to raise funds.


Since then, the WWF has learned that most people are appalled by
hunting and trapping, so today, the organization veils its true stance
under phrases like “sustainable development,” arguing that killing is
acceptable under some circumstances. When answering difficult
questions about its policy on hunting, trapping, and whaling, the WWF
is careful never to state outright that it approves of all these
activities. But don’t be fooled, the WWF’s intentions are all too
clear and deadly.


Sealing
According to the Web site of the WWF’s Canadian office, “WWF is not an
animal welfare organization. We support the hunting and consumption of
wild animals provided the harvesting does not threaten the long-term
survival of wildlife populations. WWF has never opposed a sustainable
seal hunt in northern or eastern Canada.” However, despite the WWF’s
portrayal of the situation, the Canadian seal hunt is anything but a
“subsistence” hunt––it is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in
the world. Quotas established by the Canadian government have soared
to an all-time high: 350,000 seals per year for the next three years.
Not since the mid-1800s, when unrestricted slaughter saw a million
seals per year killed, has so much blood been shed on the ice off
Canada’s East Coast.
Worse is that the Canadian government has stated in internal documents
that having the WWF’s support for any raise in seal quotas is
important, and the WWF’s position statement suggests that it had been
working with the Canadian government before the quota was announced.
In other words, the WWF had the power to help avert the largest quota
of harp seal pups in history but chose, instead, to let it happen
without so much as a word of opposition.


Whaling
While the WWF states that it opposes “commercial whaling,” it does
support the slaughter of whales by native tribes and under some other
conditions. When asked directly about its policy, WWF is vague,
stating: “WWF’s views on whether sustainable whaling should be
permitted derive from its mission ‘to conserve nature and ecological
processes and to help build a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature.’” In the past, WWF officials have clearly stated that
“WWF International has the national WWF organizations behind it in the
view that as soon as one can ensure a sustainable commercial harvest
of the great whales under secure international control, then whaling
will no longer be a WWF concern.”


Sport Hunting
As one would expect of an organization founded by hunters, the WWF
does not oppose the slaughter of animals with guns and other weapons
for sport. Rather than working to stop the killing, the WWF believes
that hunting should be regulated, arguing that wealthy trophy hunters
can bring income to poorer nations. The WWF claims that it has no
power to stop hunting, stating, “The decision to allow trophy hunting
is a sovereign one made entirely by the governments concerned. … We
will continue to monitor governments’ enforcement of important trade
laws to ensure that trophy hunting is done within the legal standards
of that area.”


Elephants
The WWF believes that culling—another way of saying
“killing”—elephants is acceptable, as is the trade in ivory, because
the profits that it brings spur governments to keep elephants from
going extinct. In 2000, U.S. News & World Report reported that WWF
representatives traveled to Nairobi to ask the United Nations to lift
the ban on the ivory trade in order to allow a “sustainable harvest of
ivory for horns and hunting trophies.”


The WWF’s bizarre view—that we must kill some animals now in order to
save animals to kill later—has proved false time and again. The trade
in ivory has only encouraged rampant poaching, the senseless slaughter
of elephants. The WWF tries to duck the issue by falsely stating, “The
decision to cull, or to select animals from the herd for removal or
death, is indeed an agonizing choice, but it is one made entirely by
the governments concerned and there is no international involvement in
those decisions.”


Trapping
As with hunting and whaling, the WWF refuses to condemn the massive
killing of animals with steel-jaw leghold traps. While calling itself
a “preservationist” organization that “seek[s] to be the voice for
those creatures who have no voice,” the WWF stands back from the
issue, stating that “the trade in furs, skins, and other products of
animals that are not endangered isn’t the focus of our campaign.”
But no matter how hard the WWF tries to “greenwash” its support of
animal slaughter, its real message rings out loud and clear: Animals
are ours to hunt, trap, kill, poison, and use as we see fit. And
although appeals to preserve genetic diversity, ecosystems, and the
planet sound good on paper, they mean little if what the WWF is really
advocating is more efficient killing fields.


Wolf Hunting
Despite an ongoing international tourist boycott that was called in
response to the wolf “control” program in Alaska, in which at least
100 wolves have been shot as of March 2004, the WWF is promoting
several trips to Alaska throughout June, July, and August 2004 as part
of “WWF Travel,” an “ecotourism” program. When asked why the WWF was
sending its members to Alaska, effectively undermining efforts to save
wolves in the state, the WWF travel desk representative stated that
the WWF did not consider the matter of wolf-killing a priority.

[c***@excite.ca]

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com

Post by Old Codger
http://www.seashepherd.org/
SealDefense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

Once again, the Sea Shepherd organization starts it annual fund
raising campaign by spreading lies about thesealhunt...using the
pictures of snow white cuddly seals to enrage a public....despite the
fact that those seals ARE NOT HUNTED.

Actually the pictures are harp seals and they are slaughtered by being
battered to death.

Pictures taken 30 years ago. BTW, clubbing the seal is a "humane" way
to kill it. The skull is so thin, it doesn't take much to kill the
animal. Not that it happens much anymore. More than 90% are
shot....just like the average hunter who goes out for a deer. Too bad
the forest isn't white...you could get really good shots of evil
Wisconsin hunters butchering Bambi.

Or how about the poor chicken...hung upsidedown on a conveyor belt,
get their throats cut and move along as they bleed to death. How come
we don't see Paul Watson outside a slaughterhouse protesting that?
Why? Cause chickens are not CUTE....and no one is going to fill their
pockets with money to save a bloody roast chicken. Oh...a chicken
that's much younger than the seals that are hunted.

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com
Whitecoats have not been hunted for more than twenty years.

That was only stopped due to international protest.

International protest based on lies. Protest based on the simple
assumption that seals are "cute." Stick the pic of a cute whitecoat
on a poster and voila...money rolls in...the protest was a cash cow
for them. Funny that they still use the whitecoat on their
posters...despite the fact that they're no longer hunted.

That's the only reason that the whitecoats are no longer hunted. The
fact that the hunt continues PROVES that it isn't only about the
pelts. The animals are taken for their meat and oil as well.

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com
So, why do they still

Expose cruel, senseless slaughter of wildlife?

THEN WHY ARE THEY NOT IN THE WOODS PROTESTING THE SENSELESS SLAUGHTER
OF DEER AND MOOSE AND WILD BOAR AND POLAR BEARS???????????????

Yes...polar bears...animals on the verge of being endangered....are
still being slaughtered by AMERICAN hunters for their PELTS.

Sound familiar??????????

Except the endangered part. The seal population is huge...almost 6
million animals. But unlike deer and moose, the seals are CUTE.


Because it's the right

Post by Old Codger
thing to do even though a few weirdo's like yourself may get their
kicks from cruelty.

Ah...it never fails...resorting to insults is a sure sign of a losing
argument.

Don't like meat. Don't eat it. It's that simple. But don't presume to
tell anyone else how to live their lives.

[Old Codger]

Post by c***@excite.ca

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com

Post by Old Codger
http://www.seashepherd.org/
SealDefense Campaign 2008!
Sea Shepherd Crew to Shift from the Southern Ice to the Northern Ice

Once again, the Sea Shepherd organization starts it annual fund
raising campaign by spreading lies about thesealhunt...using the
pictures of snow white cuddly seals to enrage a public....despite the
fact that those seals ARE NOT HUNTED.

Actually the pictures are harp seals and they are slaughtered by being
battered to death.

Pictures taken 30 years ago.

Irrelevant.

Post by c***@excite.ca
BTW, clubbing the seal is a "humane" way
to kill it.

No more *humane* than clubbing a human to death.

Post by c***@excite.ca
Or how about the poor chicken

Your fake concern does wonders for your argument! But I guess as a
garden gnome angler you don't have much else!

Post by c***@excite.ca

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com
Whitecoats have not been hunted for more than twenty years.

That was only stopped due to international protest.

International protest

That's already been said.

Post by c***@excite.ca
That's the only reason that the whitecoats are no longer hunted.

Yes, International protest.

Post by c***@excite.ca

Post by Old Codger

Post by J***@gmail.com
So, why do they still

Expose cruel, senseless slaughter of wildlife?

THEN WHY ARE THEY NOT IN THE WOODS PROTESTING THE SENSELESS SLAUGHTER
OF DEER AND MOOSE AND WILD BOAR AND POLAR BEARS???????????????

We are.

Post by c***@excite.ca
Yes...polar bears...animals on the verge of being endangered....are
still being slaughtered by AMERICAN hunters for their PELTS.
Sound familiar??????????

Oh yes.

Post by c***@excite.ca
Except the endangered part. The seal population is huge...almost 6
million animals. But unlike deer and moose, the seals are CUTE.

All animals are cute. What does that have to do with your pathetic
argument of defending harming them to get your kicks, and only then
because they cant fight back?

Post by c***@excite.ca
Because it's the right

Post by Old Codger
thing to do even though a few weirdo's like yourself may get their
kicks from cruelty.

Ah...it never fails...resorting to insults is a sure sign of a losing
argument.
Don't like meat. Don't eat it.

What's that got to do with it? So if you eat meat it's ok to abuse
animals is it?

Post by c***@excite.ca
It's that simple. But don't presume to
tell anyone else how to live their lives.

In a modern civilized world any weirdo who gets their kicks harming
people or animals can expect to be called on it. You'll get over it.