Canadian seal hunters trapped in ice

Canada's annual seal hunt yesterday suffered an unscheduled delay as 100 small boats bearing hunters were trapped by thick ice off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, Reuters reports. An icebreaker was deployed to free the vessels, at least one of which had to be abandoned. CBC television reported that some boats were running …

[Ted Treen]

Just deserts?

Shame the icebreaker was around. Leave 'em trapped in the ice, and wait 'til the polar bears arrive. Interesting to see if any of the bar-stewards are brave enough to try to club a fully-grown hungry polar bear...

[Andrew Kay]

Joy

I'd echo Ted's sentiments, only without the Polar Bears. Just leave them to start clubbing each other over the head when they get REALLY hungry. Scumbags.

[Mitch Warner]

Double negative

"I've never, ever experienced nothing like this."

Surely this sentence is reason enough to leave that guy stranded. Just consider it a cull on idiots.

[Ian S]

Tee hee

irony is fantastic sometimes :o)

(isn't global warming supposed to decreasing the ice not encircling Canadian clubers?)

[Rich Harding]

Happy, happy, joy, joy

Oh dear, how sad, never mind :D

[Chris Collins]

Maybe seals taste yummy

I can't see the issue with bashing seals on the head, it's an instant kill. even if you have a second whack 'cos you missed the first time how is this any worse than hanging a live chicken upside down and whizzing it round on a roof-top conveyor, whre it may or may not be successfully stunned before having its head buzzed off (if they wriggle they miss the electrified pond)? Or shooting a cow in the head with the bolt or bashing it on the head with a big hammer? Several million of them a year. Or, in fact, being crunched up arse first by a killer whale as its guts squirt out of its mouth and nose.

If seals tasted yummy there'd be no issue.

[sandra]

Real intelligent

Well Chris Collins, what a brilliantly stupid comments you felt compelled to leave here. In case you haven't noticed, this article was about the sealer being trapped on the ice during the seal hunt. So, when people appropriately respond to the topic at hand, you take that as to mean that they approve of the issues you mentioned. Real brainer there aren't ya. I guess next time a person leaves a comment, they'll be required to list everything they have a problem with or else, their opinions are worthless. Dumbass.

[Bill Noseworthy]

Seal does taste yummy

I had some yesterday and it was delicious. No kidding.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yummy Seals

First of all Seals do taste yummy. The flippers can be made into a very nice meat pie.

Secondly one of the misconceptions is that Seal Hunters still club seals. The Gaft was banned many years ago, despite independent observers concluding it was the most humane method of killing. These days all kills must be done with a high powered rifle.

Finally all those images you see of pretty baby seals being taken... well again the hunting of whitecoat pups has been banned for years.

Read http://www.thesealfishery.com/misconceptions2.php for more.

[Robert Ramsay]

Serge, the Seal of Death says:

IT WAS YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!

<hail of machine gun fire>

[Anonymous Coward]

Seal hunting

Of course seal hunters still club seals. The use of the hakapik, a club with a sharp hook on the end, has not been banned and many hunters use them. At least try to look up some basic facts before commenting. It's not hard- try Google if you get stuck.

Although the clubbing of whitecoat pups has been banned, hunters are allowed to club seals as soon as they start molting - about 12-15 days after birth. Although the seals may not be completely white, most are still very young pups. Here's a link to counter the earlier one:

http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/protect_seals/about_the_canadian_seal_hunt/

It's from the Humane Society so it has an animal rights perspective.

[Morely Dotes]

Bugger the lot of them.

The seal hunters took a chance. Let 'em freeze.

The seals will continue to breed, so there'll be a fresh crop next year.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Let them Freeze - the reality TV show!!!

Whilst I appreciate the who argument for "we are keeping alive the traditions of our forefathers" surely one of the traditions would be quite a lot of them dying in the process.

So why not bring these ancient traditions to a much wider audience so we can all appreciate them? How about a reality TV show charting the progress of the ice locked hunters - over a period of days we could watch their slow demise, maybe vote in the polar bears, etc.

Of course a good chunk of the money raised would be donated to the local communities for thier betterment; they could use the cash for some useful civic building - a MacDonalds for example!!!!!!!

Ohhh that could lead to a sponsership deal....

[David]

Correction: Clubbing is rare!

Your last statement is incorrect... the vast majority (over 95%) of seals are harvested using rifles. The "clubbing" of seals is not even accurate, as the tool, when used is not a blunt instrument.

And, for the record - baby seals are NOT killing in this hunt, and have not been killed in the hunt for about 20 years! That doesn't play well for the anti-hunting lobby, though, so the prevalent image of seals in the media is a cute, small white baby seal.

[sandra]

Definition of "baby"

Well David, thank you for ill-informed input but to a vast majority of the world, a "being" is considered a "baby" at the age of 12 to 14 days. Especially when the "being" is in the stages of learning how to swim and haven't had a solid meal in their life.

So yes, while whitecoats were banned from being killed in the 80's, once the baby start to molt their white fur, they are legal to kill which occurs around 12-14 days.

Like other people previously said............a baby.

[David]

Baby rebuttal

Ok Sandra, lets talk about babies for a minute. You are right, the seals lose their white coat after only a 2 or 3 weeks (rareless less than 2 weeks). They are also no longer suckling on their mother... they are weaned and self-sufficient - something which I would not describe as a baby.

A seal is not a human. They are not "babies" they are pups. Humanizing them does not help the the fact that a 3 week old seal is not longer mother-dependant and can survive on its own.

Now lets talk about what is best for the overall seal population. This "hunt" is actually a cull of the herd. The size of the harp seal herd off of the north-east coast of Canada is over-sized and is being managed in the same way that many populations of animals are managed.

Did you know that killing younger seals is actually better for the overall herd health than killing old seals? A seal will take 4 years to mature and become able to reproduce. If the sealers were forced to kill only older animals, the seal herd would be in much more danger of a dramatic drop in numbers as a result. This is a fact that is not debatable, it is the science of population control applied without some misguided humanization of the animals.

Anyway just go eat some 6 week old chicken for your dinner... yeah they are 6 weeks old when they are harvested... imagine that... YOU would even call them babies!