Please help stop this senseless slaughter
 

The 2006 Canadian seal hunt left at least 354,344 seals dead -- almost all of them were babies as young as 12 days.

Today is the day that the 2007 seal hunt starts. Please help us to stop the seal hunt forever by joining the Canadian seafood and tourism boycott. https://community.hsus.org/campaign/protectseals/

Here is a link to a video that will show you what I am talking about. <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/uwxHAIA3X6M" height="350" width="425">
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Can you honestly watch this video and not feel upset and angry at what is going on? If it makes you angry then please use that anger constructively to help stop this madness once and for all.


Seal hunting is an off-season activity for Canada's east coast commercial fishermen. They earn a small fraction of their incomes from selling seal skins to the fur industry: only a reported $17.5 million (Canadian) annually, compared to the nearly $3 billion taken in by the Canadian fishing industry from seafood exports to the United States. The connection between the commercial fishing industry and the seal hunt gives consumers all over the world the power to end the cruel slaughter of seals.

The Canadian fishing industry has suffered a $350 million (Canadian) decline in the value of snow crab exports to the United States.

Once you've signed the pledge, you'll be able to identify Canadian seafood by using HSUS's downloadable pocket guide. You can also find out which restaurants and other businesses have also signed the pledge--and which ones to contact to ask them to sign on.

Thanks for joining me in ending this cruel hunt.

Here's a link to show you what you can do to help. http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/p...ou_can_do.html

Here is the email address of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada: Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
You can address it to the Honorable Loyola Hearn.

Please forward this message to everyone on your contact list. If you belong to any other forums then please post this message there if you are allowed, to help spread the word and increase pressure on the Canadian government to stop this senseless slaughter.

Thank you!

Even off-topic, I wonder if this qualifies more as an appeal/ad type of post, rather than a commentary of some kind?

I agree RG. Or maybe spam?

omg how sad :(

How can you regard this post as spam? It's an important issue. Something that has been going on for years and needs to be stopped.

It seems to me that if the true concern is to stop seal hunting and expose those companies who practice it, that one would not be required to sign a pledge in order to receive the names of the fishing companies who partake in it, in order to "have the power" to stop it.

Perhaps not spam, but a solicitation. (That's what spam is tho, isn't it?)

sarah

Of all the things to try and rally support for on the planet right now I really don't think this is the wisest one to start with. Global warming will put an end to the seal hunt anyway. Or Haarp, or oil drilling. There are more then enough human beings getting clubbed to death around the world for us to worry about.

So what's the OTHER side of the story?

Humans have been killing and using animals for our benefit in various ways since the beginning of time. Is this something that just started in the last few decades, or have these seals been hunted and killed since people have populated these areas?

Sounds very PETA-ish to me.

(By the way, I had veal for dinner tonight -- baby cow for those who don't know.)

Do we want to open the forum up to every controversial favorite cause that spins someone's beanie propeller, and just turn this into one nasty, controversial, conflict ridden forum? What's YOUR favorite cause?

Against abortion? Why, let's appeal to the members to stop forever this killing of baby humans! The 2007 abortion season is already under way!

Or are you FOR abortion? Let's stop those right wing, extremist, radical, jack-booted oppressors of women's rights. The 2007 anti-abortion protesting season is already under way!

See what I mean?

Let's just keep it light and easy.

Let's keep

Lol. America has to look beyond it's own borders to uncover atrocities? I'm not so sure about that. Except in the case of Guantanamo lol. Someone should start a rumor that they beat the detainees with seal pups. That place would be closed in a heart beat.




Too bad most people arent as cute as baby seals.

I have cancelled my membership. I can respect people who don't want to have an opinion or who can come up with reasoned arguments but nobody here has. Everyone has either just focused on whether the message is spam or come up with sarcasm. Obviously most of you can't think beyond where your next spanking is coming from. You can reply however you like I won't be reading so won't really care. Good bye.

Hope she didn't let the cyber door smack her in the a** on the way out.

Oh my. I certainly can't think of anyone in this forum who is looking for that!:)

And here I was all set to contact Big & Rich to see if they'd do an update on their song "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy." I was thinking "Save A Seal, Whack A Spanko" had "hit record" written all over it.

He was a she?

I must confess to feeling a little off-put by the hostility in this thread. I'm not sure if it's because there's an animal-lover among us, or because there's a non-spanking thread on the, er, off-topic board, or... something about this isn't sitting well with me. What happened to, if you don't like it, don't read it? Maybe something has happened behind the scenes that I don't know about, and it just isn't obvious here.

I was all revved-up to ask for help on a project I'm doing to help a shelter for battered women. I now know better than to share my feelings on causes that are important to me!

Hey
 

If they don't have a seal hunt, where are the rap and hip hop artists going to get their seal fur coats.

I'm kinda with Adelina. Are we missing something? I just don't quite understand the venom this thread gathered. Yeah, it put a bit of a damper on the happy vibe we've got going here, but we're not usually so sharp-tongued. When I first read this thread, I just assumed it wouldn't get any attention and would drift off the home page in short time.

Attacking her for posting something that she's passionate about really seems like an @$$hole thing to do. This thread screams "personal issues" all over it.

I agree that this thread has taken on some venom and everyone should probably just "tap the brake" a bit.

Overall, I agree with Sarah's assessment that someone shouldn't have to sign a petition just to get more information. That's what smacked of "spam" to me. I am convinced however that spankedbrit believes in the cause and didn't see it as spam. But that's just me. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

I think we get into a danger area when posting "personal causes." It's kind of like discussing religion and politics. It's going to be polarizing, no matter what the cause.

As moderator, I thought about deleting this thread a few days ago, but I really hate to be judge and jury. I want to keep this forum clean and open to everyone and have yet to delete any post or thread. I'd like to keep it that way.

Let's just let it lie and make a note that personal causes are something that can be a lightning rod.

:)
 

Bye bye brit!!! :rolleyes:

From Gary, the owner of AS and this message board:
And after that from DVDSTOYS:
Perhaps I just have a different understanding of Gary's statement. ;)

That's exactly why I'm not a fan of these groups. Suddenly battered women are being equated with Seal Hunting which should not happen. They get people's priorities all buggered up. There are two sides to the seal hunting story and they both make good points. And they both have misrepresented the truth many times. Personally I find it much more humane hunting animals in the wild with picks then to breed them in cages and fatten them up with steroids to the point they can't stand and then slaughter them. Something that happens on every farm in the world. My sarcasm is just because personally I think it's crazy that the protestors couldnt even land there helicopter on the ice due to global warming. Seals, along with many other marine mammals need ice to survive and they will not have it in 10 years regardless of the seal hunt or the protesting. Unfortunatly a video of seals being clubbed to death get's more reaction then a video of a seal searching pointlessly for a patch of ice.
My comments arent just pointless criticisms. I honestly feel that these protests are detracting attention from reality. If you honestly feel that attacking the economy of an underpopulated country that seems to be able to maintain a decent equalibrium between man and nature is the best use of your time then post away. We are all entitled to our opinions. Including me!

With the actual subject itself aside, I have a couple of things to say about the type of post I feel this was, & the reactions.

You used the word "petition" when, in actuality, signing a 'pledge' is required. Hence, they are asking that you send money in order to receive the 'empowering' information. This is not only a solicitation, but one that smells of a sCam. This is what televangelists do -- send money, go to heaven. (Ok, that's an oversimplification, but you get my drift ;) )

The problem I have with groups that do this is that they use your emotions (poor baby seals, watch them being clubbed) then say, "We need to stop this atrocity. YOU have the power! Send (Pledge) money and we'll expose those companies who participate in such heinous acts."

To give PETA credit, they may distribute the same kind of emotional plea, and even ASK for donations to help their cause, but they damn sure don't make it a requirement in order to solicit your help of your own free will if you are willing to protest with them, or become a vegetarian. They FREELY point to those whom they wish you to boycott. They scream it from signs in front of KFC. They WANT you to know who is engineering boneless, beakless, featherless chickens.

Adelina, I doubt very seriously that in your request for help that you were going to use the heartstrings to get to the purse strings. If something is personal to you, obviously you share it with those you believe can help.

I don't know about this site, but on many others, controversial subjects are allowed. Many, however, do not allow solicitations for money to support certain groups or advertisments. This was clearly a direct copy/paste advertisement.


sarah

I think in an off topic members should post anything they want. Sarah obviously feels very strongly about this subject. If you don't agree then just move on don't watch the video forget about it. The vitriol is way out of proportion and as a newbie it's not something I expected to see. We all have a common iterest so lets stick together.