Images of Protest against Seal Killing

by redjade Fri Mar 16, 2007 09:35

Good to see the campaign still going string in Dublin - when will the Canadians learn?

Boycott Canada
May 13, 2004
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/65012

by Chris Humley Fri Mar 16, 2007 14:09

1. Seals are in danger of being wiped out
Despite the claims every seal cull that too many seals are being killed the seal population is booming. e.g. this anti-sealing website admits that:
"In a May 24, 2005 press release, the DFO announced that the harp seal population now numbers 5.9 million animals -- despite three years of the largest seal culls in half a century and a degraded marine ecosystem due to over-fishing, pollution and climate change. The press release did not explain why the government had failed to achieve a major objective of its 2003-2005 management plan: to reduce the size of the population."
http://www.sealhunt.ca/Resources/FastFactskjl.html

2. The killing is cruel
Much of the evidence seems to support this. There have been some effective and disturbing videos showing some severe animal abuse taking place. This could be solved by the mandated use of humane killers (effectively a shotgun cartridge activated rod which shatters the head) and the need to produce skulls showing evidence of this with each pelt.

In contrast it can be argued that although sealing is dominated by larger commercial companies the call to ban sealskin imports from Canada will hurt the Innu and other First Nations that argue along with the Inuit that their hunt is sustainable and important to them:
http://www.inuit.org/index.asp?lang=eng&num=280

Some of the dismissive reports of the commercial importance of the seal hunt to the fishermen on "The Rock" show a complete ignorance of the dire financial situation of people in the only province in which the net population has fallen (Statistics Canada's latest census shows that although the Maritime provinces in general have a static population the other provinces have had a net growth of between 5-6%, mostly due to immigration, but that Newfoundland has had a drop of about 5%. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that there are few job prospects on the rock). It is true that many of the fishers that take place in the seasonal seal hunt don't make a massive amount of money from it, but there's reason to suspect that a good deal of the income is not visible/declared, and even so it's money that they wouldn't have otherwise. The easy dismissal "only a few 1/10ths of a % of the Newfoundland economy) speaks volumes about the comfort and financial security of the people making that judgement.

Anyway, there's a lot that can be done in terms of making the hunt more humane, making sure that the fur-processing and couture and other value-added processing is done by Newfoundland and Labrador. The majority of people taking the easy decision to boycott the cute seals are probably not as consistent as the protestors (who are probably all animal rights advocates that are vegan) and that majority should look to their own meat eating (probably slaughtered inhumanely if any of the reports on abbatoirs are to be believed) before they snatch the crust from the mouths of some of the most economically hard-up people in North America.

by John Carmody - Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) Fri Mar 16, 2007 15:32 arancampaigns at eircom dot net ARAN Po Box 722, Kildare, Ireland 0876275579

Hello Redjade!

Thank you too for those kind words of support. ARAN's rally yesterday in front of the Canadian Embassy reached record numbers again - People across Ireland feel very strongly about Canada's seal hunt and it seems to be year on year the rally gets stronger and stronger.

We had a fantastic Body Screen TV which clearly showed footage of last years hunt to crowds of passersby, people came over to see what and why we were protesting, they took leaflets and wanted to know what they can do to help. We finally ended the demonstration by handing in a three page letter to the Canadian acting Ambassador to Ireland. But our campaign doesnt stop there, we work closely with respected international animal protection groups to make sure we continue to support the international campaign until this slaughter ends forever.

Please continue to visit our website to learn more about the work of ARAN and how you can help us make a real difference to animals everyday, www.ARAN.ie and be sure to check the website www.boycott-canada.com to learn more about the campaign to save the seals.

Thanks again for everything and anything you do to help animals

by Steve Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:40

Some post-demo drama involving Brown Thomas, Barnardo Furs and the Gardaí soon to be detailed here! Just waiting on the photos.

by Dorothy Wed Mar 21, 2007 16:14

the pictures look great, i have just being on yourwebsite www.aran.ie and i love it, i am now glad to be on the network of advocates helping animals, well done again aran

by john player Sun Apr 01, 2007 18:02

So whats the story with the post-demo drama??? Pics and info please!!!!

by maureen Fri Apr 06, 2007 01:28

this slaughter is still continuing, i am ashamed to be canadian i pray this will be the last year the hunt goes on thanks for doing this for the seals may god bless you