Vote to STOP THE SEAL HUNT

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ELECTION 2011 (Canada-wide)
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The Green Party is the only political party with a full and comprehensive vision for Canada's future, and the ONLY political entity opposing Canada's sadistic commercial Seal 'Hunt' - in which seal nurseries are invaded by hakapik-wielding half-humans called sealers, who turn the ice floes into an unforgiveable, bloody carnage by bashing baby seals to death in front of their frantic mothers...

This makes voting easy – for me AND for the seals.  Because Canada needs to stop the seal hunt: NOW



This shameful, UNSUSTAINABLE slaughter is not only barbarically cruel but a gross violation of our constitutional duties as wildlife stewards – supported by our federal government's DFO via false claims that seals need "culling" because they "destroy" juvenile cod populations thus "jeopardizing" Canada's fishing industry. YET SEALS EAT MAINLY HALIBUT, MACKEREL AND OTHER PREDATORS OF JUVENILE COD (i.e. FEWER SEALS = FEWER COD)!!  In other words, "sealing" is a senseless violent crime committed against a harmless wildlife species.

The plain facts expose our government's ignorance, lies and willingness to deceive the people of Canada - FOR WHAT? THE SEALING INDUSTRY - WHICH YIELDS LESS THAN 0.1% OF SEALERS' INCOMES - SERVES ONE PURPOSE:  PROVIDING PELTS FOR MANUFACTURE OF FASHION APPAREL (which is why, horrrendously, up to 42% of the baby seals targeted are STRIPPED OF THEIR PELTS WHILE STILL CONSCIOUS, their carcasses discarded onto the ice floes to rot).

Increasingly and repeatedly, most Canadians have denounced this disgrace in countless petitions, polls and protests. The United States outlawed all trade in seal products years ago, and recently the European Union caught up with a Europe-wide ban on all seal-pelt trade. Other countries, eg. New Zealand and Scotland, have legislated protection of their seals (see http://www.seashepherd.org/get-involved/rewards.html).

So why is Gail Shea, Canada's DFO Minister, appealing the European ban AT A COST OF $10 MILLION taxpayers' dollars??  And why does our government NOT support non-lethal harvest of seal hair, a viable new industry initiated by SeaShepherd's Paul Watson (which got declarations of support from Canadian fishing industry groups, conservation, animal rights and academic organizations, and the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1998)? Scroll to March 1994:  http://www.seashepherd.org/who-we-are/our-history.html.

WELL:  May 2nd is the day to ask for change – by doing the right thing:  VOTING GREEN!! (see http://www.greenparty.ca/)


REMEMBER:  Not voting = denying yourself a democratic voice; Voting AGAINST a candidate/party in some odds-based strategy = denying your true values representation. The REAL YOU needs to be heard!

AgainsT AnimaL TesTing

FACT: Animal research is not only cruel:  it's also USELESS...

"There is nothing quite as useless, misleading and harmful as animal experimentation."
-Professor Pietro Croce, M.D.

Dr. Croce is part of a large and growing movement of doctors, scientists & educated public who are opposed to animal-based experimentation on the grounds that:
a) Animals & humans do not get the same diseases;
b) The way a non-human animal responds to treatments does not predict how a human will respond.

Ignoring these fundamental differences has been very costly to human health - as these examples (just a tiny fraction of the thousands) prove:
- PCP is a sedative for chimpanzees;
- Penicillin kills cats & guinea pigs but has saved many human lives;
- Arsenic is not poisonous to rats, mice or sheep;
- Morphine is a sedative for humans but is a stimulant for cats, goats & horses.

In other words, all information documenting reported animal responses in laboratories does NOT determine a product's effectiveness/safety for use by humans.  Human medicine cannot be based on veterinary medicine; it is in fact dangerous to apply data from one species to another. So why continue harming/torturing animals with these evil tests?
ANIMAL TESTING IS FUNDED BY PHARMACEUTICAL CO's, TO PROTECT THEIR ASSETS BY PROVIDING THEM WITH LEGAL ALIBIS IN CIVIL SUITS and/or COURT ACTIONS.
Abolishing animal research would mean that the billions of dollars poured into worthless animal experimentation could be redirected into prevention & the kinds of research which actually have a chance of advancing human medicine.

If you STILL feel testing human products on animals serves the slightest worthy purpose, please read the damning declarations on this topic by experts in the field - i.e. some of the world's top doctors, experimenters & scientists - @ this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQjNAT1rbJAYp_P7pNnp-EAX3Dm86vU-j_Ix5wdE9ps/edit

SOURCE: http://caatinfo.org/CAATHOME.htm

To OVFA...

[My guestbook comment on Our Voices For Animals website, 01/05/2011]

OVFA, i admire your work very much - Sabrina's writings are particularly moving, and strike a resonant chord. I've loved animals since I was little - as most children do: our natural instinct from day one. Not to belittle, or to eat, or to use for any other selfish human purpose. That the opposite has been encouraged by even those considered “good” people for so long is perplexing, if not upsetting at the deepest level of my being. I too aspire to a world in which animals are respected as fellow creatures, and treated by all humans with compassion and kindness. Only then, as Albert Schweitzer once said, is there any hope of being happy - now or in future...

Support IS Foundation!

Save the Sled Dogs: Reform BC's Anti-Cruelty to Animals Law

TV's Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhelder's IS Foundation started an important petition on http://www.change.org/ - here's the link:

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-sled-dog-reform-british-columbias-anti-cruelty-to-animals-law#comments

Being an avid animal-rights advocate, I have signed it (my accompanying comment below) & encourage everyone to do so:  updating legislation to reflect British Columbians' needs/opinions/priorities/values is an understood requirement of our provincial government.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         role of government requirement of of yone ought to) - here's the comment i added, below:

[Sarah Chesterman]
HOW could such a horrible fate be decided for these innocent creatures? in an 'industry' that would, presumably, put animals first + ENFORCE THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF ANIMAL TREATMENT?? Makes you wonder what goes on in other industries (eg. farming) where animals are considered 'livestock' purely for human consumption (watch the film 'Earthlings' & you too will consider going vegan to save our creature cousins from such cruel fates)...

Those responsible need to be made examples of in court, to show how grossly unacceptable their actions are & to get proper animal-protection laws in place.

I hope this sickening story will stick in people's minds as a sobering-up of how many animals are abused for selfish human purposes, & just how WRONG it is. If people made this tragedy a turning-point for change, at least some goodness could come of all this pain.

Time to put our mouths to good use - tell the govt. we won't allow animals to suffer similar horrible endings as these beautiful sled-dogs did!

Poor doggies (& all non-human creatures forced into lives of serving my uncaring species), i weep for your pure hearts & wish i could undo the terrible endings you are undeservedly made to suffer...

BE KIND 2 ANIMALS (for F@#K's sake!)

IF humans can be so cruel to their BEST FRIENDS...
WHAT ARE WE COMING TO???

February 1, 2011 :  A Whistler, BC man sought financial compensation for 'emotional trauma' after slaughtering - in the most cold-blooded, disgusting manner possible - 100 of his own sled-dogs, afterward horrifying most of the general public by trying to JUSTIFY his decision to 'cull' (= kill) his beautiful hard-working animals saying he couldn't afford them after 2010 Olympics business dropped (huh? who wouldn't anticipate that math? NOT valid...) & that they weren't 'adoptable':  a 'cullible', heartlless P.O.S.... Here's my response:

HOW can such a horrible fate be decided for these beautiful, innocent creatures in the first place? by an animal-based outfit - IN AN INDUSTRY THAT, YOU'D THINK, WOULD PUT ANIMALS FIRST & ENFORCE THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF ANIMAL TREATMENT?? How could anyone who owns/runs a dogsledding outfit NOT be an animal lover??? & how could an animal lover even CONSIDER carrying out this monstrous & merciless act of PuRE EViL?????
I became vegan because these & other equally difficult questions have no happy answers. Most humans suck.
Is 'culling' (= killing) BC's precious wildlife (& now, apparently, its working creatures) so common that those with cruel intent toward them think such brutality is OK?  It is NOT.  SO, BC Government:  I suggest we legislate much stricter laws to protect the innocent - i.e. non-human - animals among us, to afford them the protection they deserve from such potential harmful situations - inflicted on them by humans.  Natch.
Those responsible for this sickening slaughter MUST be severely dealt with in court, to be made examples of in underscoring how grossly unacceptable such actions are in our society.  Secondly, we need to put proper (i.e. updated) animal-welfare laws in place to protect our most vulnerable members of society.

One wonders, post-trauma, why the SPCA did not conduct an inspection of the sled-dogs' home and place of work, as they had apparently intended?  Why did Eileen Dreger (of the SPCA) decide these dogs were 'not adoptable' on one person's (sight-unseen) say-so? Why did the SPCA not at least attempt to provide some sort of help where it was clearly needed?  I just don't get it.

As an anti-speciesist & longtime-vegetarian-turning-vegan, lifetime pet owner, I have come to believe that the very best we could do for all the thousands (if not millions) of non-animal species with whom we share the planet is to LEAVE THEM BE to live their lives as their ecosystems/instincts dictate, without human interference - which would of course include keeping their wilderness habitats intact & therefore preserve Earth's precious ecosystems.  BUT!  THAT ideal doesn't take into account our historic ties with domesticated animals & our self-appointed [arrogant?] positions of responsibility as their 'stewards' (which STILL does not authorize/legitimize 'culling' of any sort)... If we weren't such selfish creatures, as some rare & dedicated souls (eg. Jane Goodall) have discovered we can learn so much more about them (& thus about ourselves) through sensitive hands-off observation of animals in the wild than by killing/owning/using them for selfish purposes.  Instead of diminishing, the latter has grown to unsustainable proportions - ( which would be logical, given our increasingly sedentary - i.e. lazy - lifestyles/outlooks & lost connections with Earth/nature).  With nature - in particular rainforests - in such a global crisis, going vegan really would  -dependance on technology that distance us further from our ties with nature & Earth obviously grown  of :  this perspective is gaining many followers, because it feels good - AND because its practice helps reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecological/environmental destruction caused by meat-producing industries... Do yourself a favour and look into Veganism's many benefits - if you haven't already...

[ Related article (click this link) ]

I hope this sickening story - and the justifiable outrage surrounding it - will stick in people's minds as a sobering-up of how so many innocent creatures are abused for selfish human purposes (kept from view and just as undeservedly forgotten).

Eg. The massacre of baby seals on our east coast continues, despite endless petitions and protests, with government subsidies/supprt from fisheries minister Gail Shea – an avid proponent of this unthinkably indecent horror show, who recently filed a formal challenge to the EU ban on trading in these commodities of butchery on behalf of Canada (behind our backs)...

Since Canadians get nowhere telling government (= our public servants!) that we support the EU's and all other (U.S.) widespread bans on all trade resulting from Canada's cruel SealHunt, then we must protest with our actions and - most importantly - our pocketbooks.  This involves:  (a) BOYCOTTING all Canadian seafood products, which includes fast-food chains such as McDonald's and Red Lobster, (b) BOYCOTTING all fashion designers who market products made from baby-seal fur/skins - such as Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan/DKNY, Gucci, Prada and Versace... [For a highly comprehensive list of answers to questions on the Seal Hunt, go to Paul Watson's Sea Shepherd site @ this link:  http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals-faq.html ... Don't let our wildlife suffer such horrible endings – if we don't take the initiative to change – who will?

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