Canada's Seal Hunt to Get Under Way

[DeclinetoState]

By BETH DUFF-BROWN
Associated Press Writer

<!-- BEGIN MEDIA BOX NUMBER 1 --><!-- END MEDIA BOX NUMBER 1 -->TORONTO (AP) -- Canada's contentious seal hunt will soon start, the government accounced Wednesday, despite protests by former Beatle Paul McCartney and other animal-rights activists who condemn the killing of the pups as inhumane.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn charged that the media had misrepresented the hunt, and said Canada is committed to ensuring the seals are killed by humane methods.

"Canada's harp seal herd is a conservation success story," Hearn said in Ottawa. "We continue our surveillance and monitoring to make sure that Canada's is the most tightly regulated, closely watched and, above all, most humane seal hunt in the world."

Registered sealers will be allowed to kill up to 325,000 pups in the ice floes off the Atlantic when the annual season opens, up from the quota of 320,000 last year, Hearn said.
<!-- BEGIN MEDIA BOX NUMBER 2 -->

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CANADA_SEAL_HUNT?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-03-15-20-40-28

"Canada is committed to ensuring the seals are killed by humane methods."

Sounds like an oxymoron to me.

[Dubyah]

You're telling me that Canada has a sport in which they "humanely" kill seals for no reason?

[Native American]

By BETH DUFF-BROWN
Associated Press Writer

<!-- BEGIN MEDIA BOX NUMBER 1 --><!-- END MEDIA BOX NUMBER 1 -->TORONTO (AP) -- Canada's contentious seal hunt will soon start, the government accounced Wednesday, despite protests by former Beatle Paul McCartney and other animal-rights activists who condemn the killing of the pups as inhumane.

Beth needs merely advise Mr. McCartney, "Paul, think of them as little baby humans, and you'll quickly realize that the hunter's right to choose is of paramount importance here."

[PaulRevere]

He said fishing communities of Quebec and Newfoundland, whose livelihoods were devastated when the Atlantic cod stocks dried up in the mid-1990s, earn 25 percent to 40 percent of their annual income by selling the seal pelts and blubber for about $70 each.

It's always easier to massacre ravenous varmits when they are ugly, but cute seal pups that have no natural predators around bring out the bleeding hearts.

[Rhino]

"Canada is committed to ensuring the seals are killed by humane methods."

Sounds like an oxymoron to me.You lost me. Are you saying there is no way to kill an animal humanely? Are you a vegetarian?

[Riverboat]

OOOH! I want one! My wife can make a dandy pair of gloves and matching hat. Somebody get Bridgette Bardot's walker out for her. She's gonna need it if she intends to repeat her last crying gig.

[DeclinetoState]

You lost me. Are you saying there is no way to kill an animal humanely? Are you a vegetarian?

No, but if I watched animals being killed routinely, I'd probably become one. :(

[DoctorDoom]

If there are 325,000 of them on the block, then their breeding is prolific. That leads one to wonder what would happen if the seals bred without limitations. Is their feeding ground ample to sustain them, especially after a few years?

Nature is much harsher on critters than man.

[The_Sonarman]

If there are 325,000 of them on the block, then their breeding is prolific. That leads one to wonder what would happen if the seals bred without limitations. Is their feeding ground ample to sustain them, especially after a few years?

Nature is much harsher on critters than man.

Amen, Doc.

Harp Seal Stew. Yumbo.