UK NEWS

OUTCRY AS SEAL CULL GOES AHEAD

HORROR ON ICE: A hunter at work in Canada

Wednesday March 26,2008

By Polly Buchanan

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(21)

MORE than 275,000 seal pups are set to be slaughtered in Canada’s annual cull, which begins this week.

The figure was admitted by the country’s government yesterday – amid international outrage over the hunt’s barbarity.

The European Union was said to be on the verge of an import ban that could help end the controversial cull.

Animal welfare groups are behind a move to bring in an EU-wide ban on seal products.

The size of this year’s quota has also led to Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans being condemned by the Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States.

Our picture of a harp seal pup frolicking on its own on the ice was taken in Charlottetown, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, where seals face an uncertain future as much because of the melting ice caps as the hunter’s club.

Breeding has been hampered in recent years by unseasonably mild conditions that turned vast areas of the ice to slush.
Up to 20 per cent of Canada’s seals are born in the Gulf.

Ice floes in the northern Gulf and around Newfoundland are said to be solid enough this year to support the pups and their killers. The hunters use a “hackapick” to club and hook a seal before skinning it.

Although they are supposed to club the seal three times, many do not – and sometimes the animal is skinned alive.
Last year, thousands of seals were spared after bad weather left scores of small hunting boats trapped in thick ice off the country’s Atlantic coast.

THE WORLD CONDEMNS CANADA FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF BABY SEALS

01.04.08, 6:35pm

The Canadian seal slaughter is an annual rite of macho cowards, most of whom are drunk when they grab their hakapiks and start swinging. That is why so many seals are skinned alive. This brutal attack on these defenseless animals has been condemned by religious leaders around the world. There is absolutely no justification for this carnage and infliction of unbelievable pain and suffering on baby seals, many of whom are only 12 days old. Brute, retarded Canadians, get a life and stop scapegoating baby seals.

• Posted by: chloe6 • Report Comment

WHERES ME WAISTCOAT!

27.03.08, 11:46am

ha ha!!
i knew you would take the bait!!
i also know all about the grey squirrel, i dont need a history lesson, but thanks for offering, very kind of you!!
have a nice day.

• Posted by: supernova • Report Comment

SUPERNOVA

27.03.08, 5:48am

Aha I knew it

For your enlightenment the Hedgehog is a voracious predator also, and not of just worms and slugs.
They are whats known as a niche predator, they have discovered that ground nesting birds and chicks taste Nice and are a plentiful supply of protein at certain times of the year, and because of these prickly little sods the ground nesting birds of the western isles and elsewhere are having a hard time surviving,

WRAPPED IN CLAY AND BAKED WORKS, AND THEY TASTE OK AS WELL.

If you would like the lowdown on the Grey Squirrel, that original American Gangster I shall be only too pleased to assist in your education

• Posted by: Mickle • Report Comment

WHERES ME WAISTCOAT

27.03.08, 12:09am

as a matter of fact i do like hedgehogs what harm do they do!! i put bread an milk out for them
i get squirrels too, they are rodents looking for a free meal as well, i like animals way better than the illegal immigrants,
squirrels etc are happy with a few nuts and seed!!

• Posted by: supernova • Report Comment