Login / RegisterDesperately, desperately want to booty call ex. He's crazy as it gets, but really really good at one thing, and lasts forever!
Newfoundlanders show remarkable ignorance about the seal hunt
The Conservative government increased the harp-seal killing quota this year.
IFAW/S. Cook
The annual commercial seal hunt has given the world the impression that Newfoundlanders are barbaric.
In fact, they're just ignorant, according to an Ipsos Reid poll financed by the Humane Society International/Canada.
More than half believe that the pups are at least a year old when "harvested". (Don't you love that euphemism?) Seventeen out of 20 think the pups are at least three months old.
The truth is that more than 98 percent were killed before they were three months old, according to the federal government's seal-landing reports.
I'm going to resist the temptation to make any Newfie jokes to avoid being dragged before any human-rights tribunals.
Only five percent of the sealers' annual income is derived from killing baby seals, according to Humane Society International/Canada.
This year, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper set the highest harp-seal quota since the feds began regulating this industry in 2011.
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.
@RUKidding Me cool story, bro.
5% of your income is significant if you are just getting by.
Cynicism aside, I'll give more credence to the Straight's heartfelt concern about the welfare of animals when I start seeing regular features about the conditions of Fraser Valley and Alberta slaughterhouses which produce meat for the braised shortribs and pulled pork sandwiches your food writers so lovingly describe. I found these remarks to be a cheap shot, and not typical of the Straight's reporting quality.
It is a "commercial harvest" that contributes virtually nothing to the Canadian economy, but gives Canada a black eye all over the world.
Stop it. Pay off the harvesters and send them away. Leave the real "hunting" to natives and others who actually eat the meat and use the skins for survival.
Why is that a certain segment of society feels that unless we solve EVERY problem, we shouldn't try to solve ANY problem?
Your comment is typical of that attitude. You're basically saying that talking about the seal harvest is wrong because The Straight isn't also talking (often enough, in your view) about cruelty to other food animals.
What would you rather have? No discussion of the seal harvest? Gimme a break. Change has to start somewhere - not everywhere.
@ Another Newfie
Whether they are babies or senior citizens, Newfoundland seals are not "hunted". They are commercially "harvested".
I point this out because (I think) it's important to distinguish between those who "hunt" (for food), and those who "harvest" wild animals for money.
By correctly categorizing this nonsense as a simple commercial operation (rather than something potentially useful like hunting), perhaps we can get beyond the rhetoric.
It is not a "hunt", it is a commercial "harvest".
Well, a news article doesn't need to make a point. It simply needs to convey the "news". Charlie plays fast and loose with that simple concept, but hey, it was just a news story.
Comments on the news, however, do need to make a point - as you did, and I did in response.
Soooo ... what's the issue here?
We don't agree with the word 'ignorant'.
We ARE surprised, however, at how many people the DFO fools with the concept that the commercial seal slaughter and the hunting by the indigenous peoples are one in the same.
The DFO does not attend the commercial seal hunt, and therefore no fines are imposed by the commercial fishermen who violate Marine Mammal Regulations.
This year's violatons, again documented on video tape, included: Not-landing, skinning-alive, hooking-alive, killing of protected Blueback seals, and killing of whitecoat pups.
-Fuck you
Kent