May the ice block it for ever and the seals be left alone. the carnage of this has gone on for years and is a disgrace to any land to allow such a thing.

Go Captain Paul Watson, and Captain Alex Cornelissen keep up the pressure on the scumbag sealers! Got any rotten butter to throw on the coast guard ships? :)

Patricia and Sim, are you vegan? Do you eat only organic meat? If not, your are supporting a system that is radically more inhumane, cruel and environmentally devastating than the annual seal hunt. Those animals are just not as cute and are hidden in concrete bunkers for the duration of their nightmarish lives.

re: "scumbag sealers"... I'd pay money to see you say that to their face.

The govt. of Canada tries to link the seal hunt-slaughter with aboriginal communiities despite the fact the commercial hunt-slaughter is not an aboriginal hunt. No one is opposing Inuit sealing in the far north. The opposition is to the mass slaughter in Eastern Canada especially Newfoundland where the aboriginal people were exterminated over a century ago by the same unjust violence that prevades this slaughter today. In Canada it is a fed. govt. crime to photograph, witness and recorcd the killing of seals. It however gives subsidies to the seal slaughters which are killing in a genocide overkill by the DFO, department of fisheries and oceans, the same outfit that set quotas for the cod fishery that led to its collapse. DFO in Canada is know for incompetence and unjust laws. There is not a single commercial fishery in Canada that is not in trouble because of the DFO's incompetence.

With regard to the fur, the best route to stopping this is to dry up demand. This happened with most fur years ago. Now it's back in fashion. I eat meat, so I'm not too holier than thou.

But, these are intelligent social animals and high level predators. Killing them is both inhumane and unsustainable, the latter especially in the light of climate change.

Idiots that think that seal oil is healthy should remember the mercury and PCB issue. Eating high level predators like seal, tuna, swordfish, etc. is unhealthy and also unsustainable due to their high mercury and PCB content and slower rate of reproduction.

Disgusting and despicable fact: The Inuit* eat seals, whales, and pretty much anyone else non-human who comes along. There are few or zero coal and chemical plants anywhere near them, so no direct sources of PCBs and mercury. However, Inuit women have breast milk that is so high in PCBs and mercury that it can literally be classified as hazardous waste.

Don't eat high level predators.

I'm not sure how to get the fashion industry off it's current fur kick. One of my favorite ads that I've seen around states:

Want the feel of fur? Try slamming your fingers in a car door.

* a.k.a. Eskimos though the latter term is offensive.

Guy Incognito,

I do buy organic meat largely for that reason. In North America, organic bison is even better since it's healthier and requires even less care. Even when not organic, it doesn't require all of the antibiotics. Organic and local is better. I have a green market nearby for relatively local organic small-farm bison.

Guy Incognito Wrote:

""re: "scumbag sealers"... I'd pay money to see you say that to their face.""

What is meant by this? That the sealers would react violently? Shocker! That you would personally enjoy seeing violence inflicted against a fellow human being because they exercised their rights to freedom of speech and expression?

Cruelty to animals is simply a run up to cruelty against humans. The sealers of the Îles de la Madeleine showed us this in 95 when they beat journalists and threatened the actor Martin Sheen. Those that supported the brutal attack and those that support the sealing industry are just as morally bankrupt. We’re not dealing with civilized individuals, but a collection of 18th century castaways that get their kicks directly through the suffering of animals and indirectly through the suffering of those who care about these animals.

The government subsidizes an inhumane hunt that blemishes Canada’s international reputation solely to employee people you wouldn’t want anywhere near your community or your family.

Shame on you Scott for eating Bison. In Native American culture, the Bison is looked upon with respect. It is true that Native Americans did eat Bison, but not in the same manner as the pale face.

Crow,

You know nothing about me. How dare you make such an accusation. Why not ask how I feel about them instead of making assumptions?!

I have tremendous respect for the bison. I have beautiful photos of them from when I saw them wild in Riding Mountain National Park in Canada. They are beautiful animals.

They are also a highly sustainable and easily ranched animal that can be an excellent source of healthy meat without the tremendous detrimental effects on the land caused by ranching non-native cattle.

Crow, I say to you that the bison numbers can be easily increased well beyond their current numbers by replacing cattle ranches with organic bison ranches where bison are decently treated.

We should also work to protect the last areas of remaining bison habitat and work to allow an increase in the wild population with the hope of regenerating their numbers to at least some appreciable percentage of their once great numbers.

Crow, I would further say to you that no humans on the planet have had zero impact on the environment. Long before European invasion and conquest of the already populated Americas, the natives of the Americas had already caused mass extinctions.

Within a thousand years of humans crossing the land bridge from Asia into the Americas, 83% of the large North American mammals species and 87% of the large South American mammal species went extinct.

So, if you are truly native American, and not just calling yourself Crow and pretending, then I say to you do not be holier than thou because of your heritage. All humans are the same. There is no Us and Them. There is only Us.

We humans cause death and destruction everywhere we go regardless of our individual heritage. The best we can do is to attempt to lessen our impact on the only planet we have. And we must all do so together.

Shame on you Crow for highlighting our slight differences rather than our tremendous commonality.

"Long before European invasion and conquest of the already populated Americas, the natives of the Americas had already caused mass extinctions." Scott, this is a typical EuroAmerican racist statement. I will not even reply to such a statement because it is so absurd. Look at Columbus, you should not say another word,except to apologize. It is our Bison, not yours. Stop eating them.

Crow,

I post a message of unity. You post a message of hate. There is a racist here and it's not me.

Scott, just stop eating my Bison. It is not EuroAmerican food. Go eat a cow.

Crow,

You're really being quite ignorant about all of this.

People eat cows and there are lots of them, too many given their high environmental impact. If we eat ranched organic bison, 1) they will be ranched in sufficient numbers causing an increase in the bison population, not a decrease 2) they will be cared for better than the cattle are, for the vast majority of cases, in this country 3) the use of antibiotics in ranching will be dramatically decreased since the animals are native and resistant to most North American pests.

Further, your comments sound like those of a troll rather than those of someone trying to have an intelligent conversation. The bison, certainly at least the wild bison, are neither yours nor mine. The bison belong only to themselves.

Scott, you should be a vegetarian. Bisons give off CO2 gases the same as cows. You and Crow are both destroying the enviornment. Only vegetarians are really taking global warming seriously.

re: "scumbag sealers"... I'd pay money to see you say that to their face.

I Would pay money to say it to there face!!!

Would love to know how a article about inhumae sealing turned into COW VRS BISON.

Christine dear, you are right to be concerned about the killing of the seals. Be consistent and be concerned about the killing of all animal beings. Who wants to eat cadavers anyway? Go vegetarian and be green.

Lee/Lucy Lu/Crow/Sanchez/Olaf,

Even you should know ... oh scratch that ... I shouldn't expect much from you.

Cows give off methane, not CO2. At least learn a little bit before you post yet another of your nearly identical and inane comments.

Damn. Now I've fed the troll.

Christine,

I'm sorry. I got a bit side tracked. The real discussion was about animal cruelty. Guy Incognito brought up an interesting point about killing seals versus killing for meat and the cruelty involved in both.

It is true that there is a lot of cruelty in the mass slaughterhouses as well as in the enormous factory ranches of the U.S. We should, if we eat meat, at least eat organic so that the animals get a decent life before their death. I would also hope that organic meats are the result of more humane slaughter methods. Does anyone have any information about this one way or the other? Preferably not the troll please.

Ted Turner believes that overpopulation is causing global warming and global warming will destroy the world's economy, turning humans into cannibals.

Isn't the obvious solution for people to start becoming cannibals now so we can quickly reduce the human population and so avoid global warming. Of course cannibalism might harm Scott's and Turner's Buffalo meat business so perhaps this is why he isn't endorsing it. It's unfortunate how self-interest often prevents environmentalists from advocating for what is truly best for the Earth.

A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.

The 400-page report by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, entitled Livestock's Long Shadow, also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. But in almost every case, the world's 1.5 billion cattle are most to blame. Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it - and clearing vegetation for grazing - produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain.
People who really care about the planet are vegetarians.

Lee,

I don't get your claim regarding livestock. These numbers make your conclusion seem highly unlikely. Would you mind posting a link to the report?

Here's the source I found.

www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html

Okay, I'm kind of fed up with the low wattage in some of this discourse and have voted Boomer, Norman, and some of Ice Man off the ship. Play nicer and you can come back.

I'm surprised Mother Jones zine would be so uncritical of the racist and classist BS from Watson and the Sea Sheppard Society. I'll never buy the mag again.
This goes way beyond any debate on the seal hunt. Watson's scum .

Yes... my point is that you would not get a very hospitable reaction... nor should you. It is very easy to be high and mighty from a few thousand miles away sitting in front of your computer. Mind your own business and don't slander people you don't even know. Those men are good honest hard working people just trying to support their families... which is not the easiest thing to do in Cape Breton and Newfoundland... not without leaving your family behind and shipping off to the Tar Sands in Fort McMurray to destroy the environment and poison the first nation reservations downstream.

Also, I'm not saying that I'm a fan of killing animals. I'm vegetarian! And of course two wrongs do not make a right. I could never kill an animal unless I was in a survival situation or owned my own small family farm (organic, free-range). I'm just saying that the radical opposition people have is based mostly on emotion. Shopping at your local supermarket supports VASTLY greater levels of cruelty and environmental destruction than the seal hunt, but you don't see Paul McCartney doing photo-ops in the local Safeway.

And yes, as far as "evil" people go, Watson takes the cake. His comments are simply unbelievable.

Just to clarify my feelings here... I don't necessarily support or oppose the hunt. It is what is is and I simply feel there are worse things and there are more important battles out there.

What I have a problem with is people slandering and insulting working class folks who are simply responding to a demand in the marketplace and trying to support their families.

Julia, how can you say that about Paul Watson? Paul Watson (born December 2, 1950) is the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a significant figure in the environmental movement and animal rights movement. He was named by Time Magazine in 2000 as one of its Environmental Heroes of the 20th Century.In October 1969, Watson joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing at Amchitka Island. The group which formed as a result of that protest was the Don't Make a Wave Committee, which evolved into the group known today as Greenpeace. Watson was an early member and sailed as a crewmember aboard the Greenpeace Too! ship in 1971, and skippered the Greenpeace boat Astral in 1972.Watson was arrested in 1993 in Canada on charges stemming from actions against Cuban and Spanish fishing boats off the coast of Newfoundland. In 1997, Watson was convicted in absentia by Norway on charges of attempting to sink the small scale Norwegian fishing vessel Nybrænna in 1992,[1] but Dutch authorities refused to hand him over to Norwegian authorities although he did spend at least 60 days in detention in the Netherlands before being released.

This article is such a biased work of fiction that someone should call Julia W on it. Not the pretender in the comments but the real Julia. Paul Watson is lying to the Sea Shepherd supporters. According to various websites, he actually did leave the french Island by plane. The people who forced the Farley Mowat to depart the dock are citizens of France not Canada. Paul Watson says Newfoundlanders are responsible yet the boat was not in Newfoundland when the incident occurred. Why would he lie like that? he said the hunt was postponed last week so his ship went to St. Pierre. the hunt was not postponed. It was ongoing. He cares more about donations and perceptions than reality. But most of the opposition to the seal hunt is based on perception alone not facts.

Julia, I see that you really got in touch with your emotions. " He is a manipulator and a psycho." This is name calling which really doesn't add much to the conversation."He is using the Seal Hunt to raise funds for his organization." Most charities do similar things. "Right now his vessel is hundreds of miles from the seal hunt anchored in hiding out of Canadian Waters for fear the boat will be arrested once it clears the waters of St. Pierre/miquelon" This is just being prudent. I would do the same, and I suspect you would too. I don't see you out there doing all the things that Paul as done for the environment. Sitting behind the computer and criticizing activists is something that anybody can do. But going to prison for your beliefs takes real courage.

I am also glad that the seals are being protected by the ice. It is hard to believe that in this day and age people are capable of such acts of brutality. And people can say oh they're good people and hard workers and all that, but you have to admit that it takes a cold heart to walk up on an animal and do something like that. Plus once you see the videos of them laughing about it and seeming to not only do it but to ENJOY it, you realize that these people are lacking in compassion. I pray every day that it will stop.

Are other creatures suffering in other places? Sure they are - but that doesn't mean we ignore ALL of it. There's nothing wrong with taking up a certain cause. It doesn't mean you don't care about other causes.

As far as Paul Watson goes, I would shake his hand and thank him, given the opportunity. This year alone he has saved the lives of hundreds of whales and brought awareness of these issues to a lot of people. I don't really care if he is on that boat right now or not. I don't care if he is getting money..as a matter of fact he gets my money. It costs money to do what he is doing, and I support the message.

"But going to prison for your beliefs takes real courage."

I guess Watson and his cronies have a real lack of that so called courage. They are afraid to enter Canadian Waters and risk being arrested. i guess even their righteousness has its limits.

Watch and see if some convenient reason pops up to stop the Farley Mowat from traveling to the front fishery again this year. I'm sure that everyone here is informed enough to understand what is meant by the front fishery.

"As far as Paul Watson goes, I would shake his hand and thank him, given the opportunity"

I guess you support him in his trivializing the deaths of those four sealers as well. Lots of compassion for seals but f those pesky human beings. What a bunch of looney tunes. protest the killing of animals for fur all you want, just don't impose your opinions and beliefs on others. Not everyone in the world feels the same about animals and their place in the food chain. Whether it be for fur or food, some people will oppose, others will defend.

"This is name calling which really doesn't add much to the conversation"

Jill, Paul Watson runs around calling all Newfoundlanders, Nova Scotians, and other Maritimers, sadistic baby killers, murderers, scum, cigarette smoking apes, rapists, wife beaters, incest committing savages, amongst a myriad of other insults and derogatory names.

He is not just talking about Sealers but anyone who lives in the general area. I am not a sealer, I oppose being labeled by hate mongering liars like Paul Watson.

The fact that he said the lives of seals outweight that of four human beings makes him a crazy loon. Thats my opinion like it or not.

Hilliary, every great activist uses hyperbole. Get over it. What are you personally doing to stop the killing of your brother creatures? Have you been to prison for your activities?
Are you tired of namby-pamby environmental groups? Are you tired of overpaid corporate environmentalists who suck up to bureaucrats and industry? Have you become disempowered by the reductionist approach of environmental professionals and scientists?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Earth First! is for you. Earth First! is effective. Our front-line, direct action approach to protecting wilderness gets results. We have succeeded in cases where other environmental groups had given up, and have drawn public attention to the crises facing the natural world.
Earth First! was named in 1979 in response to a lethargic, compromising, and increasingly corporate environmental community. Earth First! takes a decidedly different tack towards environmental issues. We believe in using all the tools in the tool box, ranging from grassroots organizing and involvement in the legal process to civil disobedience and monkeywrenching. No compromise in the defense of mother earth.

While I will agree with some of the things that are said by this society I must say it seems that the facts are in large part ignored and people are mislead by what you say. A quick example: "baby seal" leads people to believe that the seals being killed are the cute little whitecoats which haven't been hunted since 1987 over 20 years ago. I will agree that there are a few bad apples out there (as there are in any hunt or activity for that matter) being cruel and inhumane to the seals but for the most part the animals are shot with a high powered rifle and not clubbed. And, if done correctly the animal will feel pain for only a second or two if it is clubbed, (if I ever had to be uethanized let a sealer club me). The canadian coast guard is not some big bully out there to ward off protestors, they are there to enforce rules that you did not obey (you came much too close to the sealers endangering lives of men with families) which is why you had to flee to french waters in st.pierre (a small french island off the coast of newfoundland), where I might add your lines were cut and you were cast away. I should say I agree that the whole animal should be taken not the carcass left on the ice. I think that is a big waste and a mortal sin. The sealing hunt is however sustainable. They are not being hunted to extintion like the sharks of the world. Please don't think the coast guard are like the authorities down there who are paid off to do whatever the shark hunters want them to do. I went out of my way to avoid reading the comments posted by other people as I cannot stay here all day and say what is wrong with what some "misinformed" people have said. One only has to look at the propaganda being published in Hawaii to know that there is a lot of misinformation about the subject floating around.

God is hearing our prayers regarding the slaughter of these poor baby seals! I will NEVER buy fur, seal oil and not anything else from Canada until this horrific slaughter ends! I continue to pray that God will hear the cries of all of us who want to save the bison in Montana!

You are right Vicky. We need to save the bison in Montana from the Misanthropes that want to eat our brothers. The bison is such a majestic creature.

I have the utmost respect for Paul Watson. He and his crew get out there in person, risking their safety, to defend helpless baby seals, whales, sharks, and other ocean life from people with virtually no scruples. As for the four sealers who died, he had nothing to do with their deaths. It was carelessness on the part of the ship towing them. I personally have little sympathy for those who have no mercy at all toward animals, especially helpless ones like baby seals. I love animals so I don't wear them or eat them, either.

Watson's a racist.
Read up on his anti-immigration views and his opposition to the Makah people. His BS about the four dead sealers is nothing new, he said similar crap about a young native boy who drown.

He's a conservative environmentalist of the worst kind.

I am a Canadian and I am ashamed of my country. Our record for preventing animal abuse is atrocious. We kill baby seals, we torture ducks and geese for the sake of their diseased livers (fois gras) and the abuse that goes on in slaughterhouses is unspeakable. And Canadians pat themselves (collectively) on the back for being better than other countries (particularly China). We should hang our heads in shame.

I fully support Paul Watson and his crew. I wish you all the best. Keep up the good work!!!!
This is to the people that support the seal hunt, European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas just released a statement saying that a ban on seal products will be put in place if the seal hunt is found inhumane.The seal hunt is everything but humane and they will know about it because animal organizations have already sent them footage of the 2008 seal hunt. I need not say anymore.

Bison Belongs to bison. u dont have 2 be a vegitarian 2 save global warming. and the ppl who kill seals are twisted, just plain evil

Bakunin I think that you are the real racist. You don't fool us. The hunting must stop. Get over it. Grow potatoes.

I would pay money to give a seal a spear/hook and stick it in a seal hunter's eye. Make them scream while being skinned.

I wish the hunter's nothing but a voyage to hell.

Why the hate Pla? You are probably a person who also hates races that are not your own.

How dare any of you look down upon seal hunters! You sit at your computer and protest seal hunting then you turn around and eat an inch thick beef steak. Hypocritical don't you think. Cows and pigs are slaughtered daily for food, they have no life yet you all eat them without thinking of the pain and suffering they go through. You have first of all no idea about seal hunting, all you hear is what the GreenPeace activists feed to you. It is against the law to kill baby seals, and touching a baby seal gives it a new scent and then the mother kills it herself after not recognizing her baby.So all you GreenPeace activists who accuse sealers for killing the babies, I hope you know you killed the first baby seal of the hunt. Second of all seals are no longer clubbed, they haven't for years, it also is against the law. Seals are shot in the head and die immediatly, whereas cows suffer for 5 minutes before their dead and pigs bleed out of their slit throat until their death. As for Paul Watson, you will get what you diserve one day because karma is a bitch. Have you no heart or soul, these men make a living the only way they can and instead of using that pirates gold you speak of, why don't you invest into creating jobs for the people who hunt seal, and maybe then reduce the amount of seal hunts taking place. Watson I feel bad for you because for you to simply feel no sympathy for the men who died is a shame. So before you go accusing seal hunters, sit at your table and look at that juicy steak you're eating. I hope you see that tortured cow your eating because it lived a horrible before it reacted your plate.

Support The Hunt! Paul Watson is a vegan. Just thought you aught to know that.

As for the whole debate and all the comments about racism... It has nothing to do about where you come from or what colour your skin is... The point here is that it's acts like the seal hunt, the trade in shark fin, the Illegal whale hunts that are direct contributors to global warming and the current state of affairs of the Earth. In fact, the most detrimental species to the survival of the planet is the human race - the vast majority of humans see the Earth as a never ending resource for our own usage. The Earth is limited and we have nearly exploited that limit in total. Fisheries have collapsed due to human overfishing, habitat destruction has seen the extinction of thousands of species and we haave done this out of greed and stupidity!

Biodeversity is the key to our future. What I would like to know is, when are we, as supposedly intellegent beings going to realise this and stop the carnage?!

Erin, if the world would be vegetarian like me and many Chinese, then the world would be a better place. We are thin and so pretty(all the White guys like us). Meat makes for so much of our greenhouse gases(methane is 10 times as dangerous as carbon combustion.) Meat eaters smell. I don't date meat eaters. They never see my [deleted]. I work out a lot so have a lot of muscles where it counts.

Wow anorexic much bitch? I eat meat and I work out but your better than me because you open your legs instead of eating meat? Don't think so. Think about you just said you fucking slut! How does sleeping around save the animals.

"support the hunt", please don't use the "f" word. This is one of the words that the FCC does not allow. Your language is crude which is a reflection of your position.

Please, if you're a meateater, Google "slaughterhouse" and then please tell me what right you have to protest the Canadian Seal Hunt. Seals die in a far more humane manner than the poor chicken that ends up on your plate as a McNugget. As for the whole Bison conversaton, how are they killed? 98% of seals are shot, not clubbed. Is the Bsion on your plate lulled to death in a tranquil manner?

Paul Watson was kicked out of Greenpeace because he's a NUTCASE!!

Brenda, you are the nut case, along with that Lucy Lu.