Letter to GovT: Please uphold the ban on Seal-Hunt products!

{i'm on a ROLL}  YOU oughta write one too -
Use this link:  HSI Letter  


                                                                (from Humane Society website)

This is what i added (inside HSI's intro & ending in blue):

SUBJECT:  Please withdraw Canada's WTO challenge

Dear Decision Maker,
I am writing to express my strong opposition to Canada's request for a dispute panel to be established at the World Trade Organization in response to the European Union ban on seal product trade.

After a decade of increasingly active campaigning opposing Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt, i have come close to despair at Government's strange refusal to even acknowledge its rising swell of opposition - despite record-breaking numbers joining in the rally to 'Stop the Seal Hunt!', via numerous petitions boasting 100's of 1,000's of signatures, global high-profile celebrity appeals & involvement by virtually all large animal-welfare non-profits besides HSI:  PETA, IFAW, WSPA & many others.  I've watched wistfully as other, smaller, campaigns achieve results... cheered when the EU seal-products ban was announced... & cried tears of joy when Putin banned all seal-hunt trade in Russia.  Yet --still-- we Canadians are forced to suffer the shame of seeing our public servants (INEXPLICABLY) dig in their heels, refuse to compromise & stubbornly support the Seal 'Hunt' using lies, misinformation & misnomers via mainstream media.

On video-streaming websites like YouTube, the general public can see exactly what this appalling event is about.  If you have never seen it (& it seems that is the case), i recommend you view for yourself exactly WHO & WHAT you are supporting using OUR tax dollars, against most Canadians' wishes.  You will see why much of this footage comes with warnings of its graphic nature 'not suitable for children'.  You will see that, contrary to what you may be told, there's NOTHING noble, 'traditional' --or even HONEST-- about this supposed 'way of life' (which First Nations don't even support).
Full info @ this link:  The Cdn. Seal Hunt

NOBODY I know (including me) WANTS to watch filmed footage of the Seal 'Hunt':  the most disturbing, sadistic display of cowardly violence i have ever had the misfortune to witness.  Even if the Seal 'Hunt' WERE economically sound, sustainable & humane (which it's clearly NOT), the extreme distress inflicted so brutally would, for most Canadians, cancel out any benefits.  As with other questionable stances taken by Govt. recently, it appears we're being led away from future self-sufficiency/ sustainability, against the wishes of 86% of citizens & against our constitution (which asks us to be 'wildlife stewards') while condoning abuse of young wild seals in their own native habitat (which our constitution says must be protected) in a remote community that becomes more of a burden/drain each year...
[WE MUST DEFEND OUR WILDLIFE, NOT KILL THEM!]

PM Harper's reckless WTO challenge to the EU ban would cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $10 million --yet another subsidy to the sealing industry stolen from the overwhelming majority of Canadians who want it to end-- just as Canada attempts to negotiate a trade deal with the European Union reportedly worth $12 billion annually to our economy.   It seems incomprehensible to risk beneficial relations with our second largest trading partner (leaders in sustainable technologies as well as our key source of ecotourism) while rushing to push through a dodgy deal (FIPPA) with an undemocratic republic (China) whose environmental record is already the world's WORST! These are not the sound moves of a well-informed government.

I implore you to consider the many benefits of upholding/ respecting EU's ban - aside from purely economic ones, which are no-brainers. We must see this ban as a blessing, an opportunity to free Canada from unnecessary dependencies & thus pave the way for modern, streamlined, sustainable technologies that don't involve destroying crucial wildlife ecosystems, disrespecting other life forms or polluting our environment.

I am asking that you immediately withdraw the WTO challenge against the EU & do everything in your power to put a final end to 'Canada's Shame', the Commercial Seal Hunt.

Sincerely,
Sarah Chesterman
Vancouver, BC

Oppose SITE C DAM-age to BC {Part II}

Part I here:  Oppose SITE C DAM-age to BC {Part I}

As an addendum to my (April 5th) post on this crucial BC matter - to which all BCers would be unequivocably opposed if properly informed of Site C dam's repercussions, i.e. its resulting degradation of BC's air/ land/ water quality (eg. our precious natural resources, without which we have a 3rd-world future) - via the letter template found @ StopSiteC.org hsent to relevant government officials...

I am extremely concerned about Site C's effects on the following:

- Hundreds of productive working farms in this fertile region would literally be washed away by flooding, along with their invaluable, sustainable food-security benefits & services! To even contemplate such irreversible destruction of BCers' livelihoods & future self-sufficiency - which could not be mitigated - is a terrifying testament to BC's inept (if not willfully corrupt) business/government/utility leaders re. environmental/ resource mgmt. protection issues impacting this province.  NONE OF THESE ENTITIES have the constitutional right to green-light such misuse of our province's human/natural resources without due process comprising carefully considered analysis of any such project's effects.

- My fellow BC citizens operating viable agricultural outfits in the Peace River Valley - many for several generations - are naturally concerned that Site C Dam would forever RUIN not only their own livelihoods but those of BC's richly fertile agricultural industry as a whole & the Peace River Valley's prolific part in it.  Such a prospect is not merely conjecture but an inarguably predictive adjunct of Site C's development, which would turn longtime Peace River inhabitants out of their established farms/homes & render them refugees in their own province - as well as turning one of the world's richest agricultural oases into a derelict floodplain (i.e. adding to unsustainable waste production) NOT TO PROVIDE FOR BC'S ENERGY NEEDS BUT TO SERVE INCREASED FOSSIL-FUEL/ FRACKING/TARSANDS PRODUCTION FOR EXPORT TO CHINA, ALREADY THE WORLD'S WORST POLLUTER.  Thousands of BCers have expressed repeated opposition to this appalling direction & called for transition to clean, renewable energy production in the face of government's negligent disregard for its own citizens' futures.

I.E. Building Site C Dam would entail AN ENSUING DISASTER SITUATION OF CATASTROPHIC PROPORTIONS FOR BC'S LAND & PEOPLE. This is irresponsible, short-sighted & unacceptable...

- Further deleterious effects of Site C Dam include putting BC's indigenous wildlife species in peril, include destruction via flooding of already-diminished critical habitat which would further limit access to the ecosystems on which wild species such as Cariboo, Grizzly Bear, Coyotes, Wolves & many others depend for their survival.  Such serious threats to BC's healthy biodiversity (= also a measuring-tool of human health) are significant.  Yet Site C's proposal looms over this precarious balancing-act as a very real threat highlighting another foreboding aspect of governmental ignorance that would signal failure to meet their most basic pledges dedicating allegiance to BC's best interests - which includes protecting BC's precious wildlife species, along with their habitats & our province's healthy biodiversity in general.

- The above points do not even take into consideration  Site C Dam's necessary destruction (through flooding) of First Nations heritage sites, including burial grounds & places of cultural/spiritual significance along with their low-footprint way of life which they have sustained (& which have sustained BC's natural riches) for centuries.  Such disgraceful (mis)treatment of our native people ought to be deal-breaking grounds for refusal by ANY assessment panel. If Government were smart, & forward-thinking, our First Nations would rightfully hold top consulting positions in all land management matters & our required critical transition to clean-energy/sustainable technologies which need to take place NOW, as per global directives on climate-change & emissions reduction. THAT is the forward-thinking business of any modern government entity, in order to secure futures - the LEGACIES to which Ms. Clark referred so frequently in her recent electoral campaign.  If there are to be any 'legacies' for BCers then economic returns must be bolstered by smart, sustainable resource management - i.e. safeguarding our forests, lakes, mountains, rivers etc. from unsustainable development/ industry.  If we don't, pollution will poison our fresh-water sources & cripple any chances of providing legacies for future generations. Building Site C Dam would further contribute to environmental damage via rising carbon emissions, in polar opposition to NASA's warnings that these levels MUST decrease to reverse global warming trends...

- FOR ONCE let's be smart vis-a-vis conservation of BC's precious native fauna/ flora (= the bulwarks of future survival/ sustainability) & respect for our First Nations, without whose knowledgeable/ skillful preservation of its ongoing bounty/ renewal BC's valuable forests & natural resources would be non-existent today.  Building Site C Dam would degrade both, jeopardizing BC's health & the lives of future generations.

  

- The financial cost to B.C. taxpayers, who would have to shoulder this $8 billion megaproject - NOT for the purpose of domestic consumption but to facilitate further unsustainable fossil-fuel/operations & increased pollution - makes this proposed project that much more untenable to BC & our future as a thriving province.

Why is BC, apparently a wealthy part of the world (for many), so desperate to continue favouring big-money POLLUTERS??

STEP IT UP -- & STOP SITE C DAM, BC!!

(photo by Graham Osborne of WildernessCommittee.org)

My response to THE DEATH OF TRUTH by Chris Hedges...

Here's the article on TruthDig.com:
Hedges' Death of Truth

As mentioned, many of these sickly 'secrets' ALREADY came out, in 2010. Are they worse than what came out about the WWII camps? Russian totalitarianism? African slavery? aboriginal genocide? religious rape-and-pillage? apartheid? British imperialism? China's pollution? Truth gets out - with or without WikiLeaks - & it ALWAYS shows how those in 'power' betray their own with evil agendas, manipulative lies, tyranny ETC... using the money & power vested in them and/or stolen from their own. And when these gross testaments to corruption ARE revealed - AFER THE FACT - the humiliated 'host' country's public is usually absolved in a show of global understanding, while their traitorous 'leaders' are targeted & turned out...

Maybe what the U.S. leaders really fear is dissolution of unnatural/unnecessary hierarchies (i.e. world peace)?

If the internet has taught us anythng, it's that most people - regardless of petty differences like race, religion, etc. - aim to get along with others & help their fellow humans make a better world. Wars have proven CATASTROPHIC over time (however we're convinced otherwise by divisive warmongers): crippling repercussions of decisions by controlliers... The sick joke is, even dire disasters can be traced not to elevating inspiration by noble specimens of greatness but to crimes against humanity committed out of desperation/ fear/ paranoia/ psychosis;: the inevitable danger/ stupidity of having too few control too many.

This Wiki-Gate seems unique in that, FOR ONCE, we the '99%' are getting glimpses into America's weaknesses - BEFORE any rash decisions can set off more 'unprecedented' misery. We - not just Mr. Assange - are, as Hedges says, 'IN LIMBO', watching fascinated as the Empire is exposed & reduced by its own hyperbolic terror. WE have the upper hand, armed with rare 20/20 foresight~! Do we turn the tables on centuries of bungling abuse/ mis-rule/ treachery while we can? WELL.. YA!! (duh?)

Rather than jump on bandwagons built by our controlling 'cons' - regardless of 'nationality' & such BS man-made constructs (cuz we've ALL been HAD by has-beens green-lighting every dirty demand of the polluting 'global elite') - we need to join in global solidarity, get those greedy geezers grovelling, & say "ENOUGH!!" We'll turn the tables on the politicians & won't let go til every item on our 'List' is GRANTED...

At the top, i trust, will be curtailment of the worst offenses ravaging our/ kids'/ grandkids' futures, starting with deforestation & continuing thru sustainable transition:  the only way to guarantee thriving futures free from added handicaps filling our horizons (& our history books)...

Oppose SITE C DAM-age to BC {Part I: my letter}

[via LeadNow.ca]

RE:  Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for 'Site C' Dam

Dear Mr. Bennett/ Ms. Jones,

I am writing to let you know that the EIS for the Site C dam fails to adequately assess the significance of potential and cumulative impacts of Site C in the following ways:

* Constructing Site C would necessitate a third reservoir on the river, which would destroy virtually all of the historic Peace River that remains within B.C.

* Site C would flood a wildlife-rich landscape that also contains important aboriginal burial & other archeological sites.

* The EIS does not consider the impacts of the existing dams & reservoirs on the Peace River.

* Fracking & tar sands extraction are NOT environmentally-sound energy production methods, at a crucial crossroads vis-a-vis global directives to reduce our C02 emissions by 2020.  Site C & other assists to fossil-fuel/tar-sands extraction would raise Canada's carbon 'footprint', already at unsustainable levels.  See http://climate.nasa.gov/causes for further info.

[Image from www.bcpeace.com]

* Peace River is the largest agricultural region in British Columbia, & its grain production is a crucial source of food/income for this province.  Flooding the area would negatively impact this important BC industry.

* While other countries are spending money & working hard to develop clean-energy sources/ technologies, Canada has been negligent vis-a-vis its global responsibilities by continuing to hone emissions-heavy, non-renewable fuel extraction – of which Site C would be another part.  Canada needs to stop polluting & start operating sustainably. 

* Wide-ranging animals – such as wolverine, lynx & woodland caribou – are virtually excluded from the assessment.  This is not an example of forward-thinking assessment in any sense, not only in terms of healthy biodiversity but in the basic planning for a clean-energy future.  Canada is situated at the outset of becoming the wildlife-watching hotspot in the world, with billions of dollars in potential tourist income – but only if we preserve what wilderness remains.  The proposed area for Site C dam is one of the premier wildlife habitats in the world, which would be – stupidly – destroyed for short-term financial gain to help China further pollute the global atmosphere using unsustainable methods of fossiel-fuel extraction - i.e. fracking - right here in BC: UNACCEPTABLE!

* Peace River region wildlife populations already are unacceptably impacted by intense human activity & development. The only appropriate response is to deny approval of the Site C dam and implement a comprehensive management approach that will ensure the recovery of at-risk species like grizzly bears & caribou.  Site C would require development of an enormous area of Canadian wilderness, placing undue stress on our fresh water supplies which our native wildlife species also depend on for survival.  Such a compromise is, of course, unthinkable.

* Canada needs to better utilize its extensive research/science resources to update & upgrade the stale old status quo plugged ad infinitum by Resource Minister (& national embarrassment) Joe Oliver.  We need to step away from over-emphasis on superficial politics & stop spending money on expanding polluting industries.  INSTEAD, we must get down to serious business forming/ funding/ negotiating/ planning/ regulating clean-energy technologies in order to lessen our impact on wilderness habitats AND become sustainable (i.e. win-win).

* We the public have not been given adequate information on this project, nor full accountability from our public servants as to exactly WHAT purpose – if not province-wide energy supply – its construction would serve.  Meanwhile encroachment into wildlife habitat areas continues with as little public consultation/ process as govt. & industry can get away with – AS IF BOTH OPPOSE THE PUBLIC'S INPUT/ INVOLVEMENT! Such reckless disregard for the very sources of their own livelihoods AND for existing/ necessary legislation indicates a FAILING at the basic fundamental level of their sworn parliamentary pledges.  We do not pay our  govt. officials hefty salaries so they can get away with pandering to industry's demands, at our expense. Govt.'s JOB is to protect & serve its people – not sell out our autonomy/ environmental health to the lowest bidders. In light of dangers/ dilemmas before BC'ers vis-a-vis polluting industries (IT'S WHAT THEY DO:  FRACKING IS ONE OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE, HARMFUL & THREATENING ACTIVITIES ON EARTH!!), we simply can't AFFORD to have our own elected public servants operate behind our backs, ignore us & allow destruction of our most valuable resources - i.e. our FRESH WATER & our WILDERNESS.  A Govt. that tries to pull the wool over its own people's eyes about danger growing in its businesses/ industries is a threat to our own best interests & well-being.  And since Site C specifically allows for increased fracking operations, largely for an overseas market, its construction would be environmentally irresponsible & unsustainable, & therefore untenable.

* Pretending Site C dam is not one of the most devastating projects ever proposed in Canada, of a scale that would affect an enormous landmass comprimising healthy ecosystems (i.e. a renewable resource & key source of sustenance), suggests that Govt. is gung-ho on allowing the future degradation of this province's biodiversity, freshwater resources, landmass/soil quality etc.  It is no exaggeration to surmise that any Govt. who can stand before its people touting Site C as a project that would benefit BC's economy/ environment in any way is either corrupt, duplicitous, ignorant, irresponsible, weak or all of the above (& a federal resource minister who questions the validity of scientific findings & TOUTS INCREASED FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION AS A NON-POLLUTING, SUSTAINABLE ACTIVITY IS NOT SOMEBODY ACTING IN CANADIANS' BEST INTERESTS!)
Article: PR proposed to compensate climate-change cuts

*Why is Canada so slow to act on global calls for clean-energy production/ pollution reduction?  Unlike other parts of the world (eg. Amazon Rainforest, Bolivia, Malaysia, Tibet), most Canadians have not yet had to deal with the devastating results of widespread wilderness destruction in their daily midst – eg. deforestation in Malaysia – since much of BC's ravaged countryside (mostly from logging & mineral extraction/mining) is located in sparsely-populated parts of the province.  The effects are no less devastating.  Yet unsustainable operations - largely approved if not promoted by a fatuously self-serving & short-sighted government - continue to wreak havoc on the environment & put our futures at risk.  Site C Dam, however - if approved - would crank up the devastation several notches by its intended primary purpose of supporting Canada's fracking/tar-sands extraction industry to supply overseas (Asian) markets.  Whereas the 20th century saw corrupt leaders of what quickly became 'third-world' countries handing rich nations approval to freely degrade, harm, poison & rape those regions by deforestation, drilling, excavating & mining (i.e. the most destructive human activities on the planet) - thereby disabling their own populations' self-sustaining agriculture & in turn initiating today's global climate/food crisis - the now-'developing' world looks to exploit their former exploiters in the same way.  Approving fossil-fuel projects like Site C dam is another step along that road - & recent history has shown where that road leads.  Except now, with dangerous emissions & diminished wilderness (eg. essential forests) at critical levels, such approval would put not only Canada's climate/self-sustaining agriculture in jeopardy but that of the entire world.
Article: BC mining favours foreign workers

* If allowed to continue unabated, activities like deforestation & fracking will literally kill all life on Earth in due course.  Why?  BECAUSE THESE ACTIVITIES DON'T JUST COMPROMISE THE AIR WE BREATHE, THE QUALITY OF OUR ENVIRONMENT & THE BALANCE OF OUR CLIMATE – THEY GRADUALLY DEPLETE THE VERY SOURCE OF OUR OWN SUSTENANCE, ON WHICH WE ARE, ULTIMATELY, 100% DEPENDENT – i.e.  NATURE – AT A RATE THAT IS UNSUSTAINABLE, meaning Nature cannot regrow/renew quickly enough to keep up with their rate of destruction...

* & since Nature provides all the elements needed to support life on Earth - i.e. is, literally, our ONLY PROVIDER - we need to quit stupidly, unsustainably, depleting those supplies & operate at sustainable levels that guarantee continual, indefinite regrowth/renewal.

* WE HAVE MUCH CATCH-UP TO DO VIS-A-VIS DAMAGE ALREADY DONE BY POLLUTING INDUSTRIES.  The fact that Canada's own contributors to climate change still operate unsustainably is a horrifying testament not to industry's greedy lack of scruples (that's old news) but to our GOVERNMENT'S weakness in allowing the ruin of this land.  Scientists, our last bastion of impartiality, have proven why we can't AFFORD a Govt. that permits remaining wilderness to be recklessly - unnecessarily - destroyed/killed - let alone to make way for further pollution/risks of fossil-fuel extraction.  The CEAA should reject Site C Dam on the basis alone that such damage CANNOT BE MITIGATED.  Our government needs to follow their directives, which align with our best interests, with responsible initiatives/laws/legislation that will keep BC clean, healthy, flourishing & productive for future generations.  Without these basic prerequisites as government's guiding principal force, the 'legacies' to which Christy Clark referred throughout her provincial election campaign will be as barren & valueless as those promised to Albertans to justify the wilderness destruction that made way for their ill-fated foray into fossil-fuel extraction...

Thank you for considering my points above in your assessment of this cripplingly costly, destructive & ultimately untenable Site C dam proposal.  Please deny Site C, now & in future.

[Part II addendum of this EIS public input letter here:  Oppose SITE C DAM-age to BC {Part II}

The task @ hand...

i.e. WHAT WE GOTTA DO (me 'n' you...) YA YOU TOO!
(from my CaRe2):
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/3511663

(Illustration by me, Saz C)

Letter to PM Harper

[NB:  Sent last year, this letter was recently revised & re-sent.  Feel free to use the PM's email address & any info herein to compose your own letter. Click this link to sign PETA's petition:  http://is.gd/Y8QFUl]


Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
E-mail: pm@pm.gc.ca

RE: THE CANADIAN COMMERCIAL SEAL HUNT

Dear Prime Minister,

As a fellow university alumnus (UBC) and native of western Canada (who also loves my cats), I write to you without ego or presumption - but with the respect due my country's prime minister.  At the risk of appearing naive (having been assured this letter wouldn't reach you), I feel the need to correspond directly as (a) my federal MP is great but doesn't have the time/inclination to undertake the in-depth research I have done nor to edit all that data into a succinct letter, (b) nor does our national media, (c) your official actions in this matter are directly at odds with your public image/ stated principles, as well as with the wishes of thousands and with firsthand/ scientific evidence, suggesting the information you have is incomplete or manipulated to serve your sources' political ambitions/ interests, or both, and (d) MP's/ lobbyists who were entrusted by thousands failed to put certain legislation through in Jan. 2013 despite assurances of its inevitable success.    So I'll cut to the chase and strive for brevity by editing out all known/probable redundancy.

I've taken it upon myself to research the yearly event which your DFO Minister Gail Shea has called a "Canadian tradition", a "cull" and a "humane" activity:  the Commercial Seal Hunt. After steeling myself to spend many difficult hours over the past few years reviewing a panoply of material from a broad range of resources I feel equipped to appeal to your consideration of this letter with more objectivity than emotion.

Having undergone what feels like trauma but is merely gut response to firsthand accounts thereof - thus insignificant compared to real effects on actual participants - I must draw your attention to the regrettable reality of the Seal Hunt, which owes its continuation to your government's approval.

It is difficult to accept such approbation upon viewing firsthand documentation of this event in the form of streaming video depicting grown men out on the Atlantic ice floes (i.e. the native habitat where mother seals recover with their newborn young) proceeding to clobber defenseless, petrified seal pups using giant hooked 'hakapiks'.  What can only be described as callous and unwarranted ruthlessness relished by the perpetrators, this repugnant scene negates aLL claims that the Seal Hunt resembles a 'humane' activity in any sense of the word.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su6CGssYM60&list=PL82DF2DB802B9413F&index=3]
Video footage of Canada's Seal Hunt from HSI shows sealers revelling in the sickness of their own sadism, defiantly drawing out - instead of minimizing - the tortured anguish, desperation & distress of their terrified little victims - maximizing the abusiveness of their unfair advantage & openly disrespecting life's beginnings for these gentle creatures. The nightmarish sight prompts more outrage from my fellow viewers than excerpts of Holocaust death-camp scenes in WWII's aftermath (NOT taken lightly themselves).  It would be easier to believe we're witnessing clips of criminals caught in the act, or severely mentally-disturbed post-trauma patients, or a scene from some sick gore-flick, than 'ordinary' citizens carrying out an activity encouraged by the Government of Canada.  That we're expected to dislocate our innate sense of what is right & dispassionately accept something so obviously wrong engenders extreme resentment of those entrusted with our country's leadership.  Mr. Harper, what we've seen ISN"T right & I'm appalled you allow it to continue.

The eyewitness evidence sheds sinister new light on Ms. Shea's public assurances that such cruelty could conceivably be called a 'Canadian tradition'.  What was once considered necessary for surviving Canada's winters bears no resemblance to today's Seal Hunt:  a sadistic 'pastime'/sport indulging torture of baby wild animals played by degenerates/social outcasts/ violent  thugs - i.e. a senseless carnage now banned in most global markets yet supported by the federal govt.  (see this recent post:  http://liberationbc.org/blog/tag/seal-hunt/). Ms. Shea undermines the very people she claims to support in her stubborn refusal to help upgrade their community's obsolete 'industry' into a productive, sustainable operation free from harmful interference in wildlife ecosystems.

As if government's resistance to progress weren't insulting enough, Ms. Shea's defence of last year's quota of 400,000+ seals as a 'CULL' to "stop the [2-week-old?] seals from decimating cod-fishing resources" is either misinformed or a blatant lie.

In fact, young cod makes up only 3 percent of the seals’ diet. The majority of their diet actually consists of fish and squid that prey on young cod; therefore, removing the seals from the equation may actually result in more cod disappearing as predatory fish flourish. The currently low cod population is the result of poor management on the part of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Even the Department of Fisheries and Oceans admits the seal hunt has no positive impact on cod population, explaining that the hunt is "...not an attempt to assist in the recovery of groundfish stocks...Seals eat cod, but seals also eat other fish that prey on cod."17 

http://liberationbc.org/issues/seal_hunt

Ms. Shea's ignorance makes one wonder:  why is she so desperate to condone this sickening bloodbath inflicted by yobbos terrorizing baby wildlife? Why does government keep justifying these yearly massive killing sprees at taxpayers' expense?  And HOW can you justify spending more taxpayers' money to dispute the ban on seal-hunt products (i.e. failing in your duty to our native wildlife) while importing pandas from a country with a woeful record of animal welfare abuses?  It doesn't make sense! I'm EMBARRASSED to admit I'm from Canada now, it's gross...

NO commercial, ethical or scientific argument - much less the ridiculous lies with which Ms. Shea continually undermines your government's integrity - can explain the sickening slaughter of defenseless seal pups.  As you ought to know, the international bans simply reflect contemporary society's growing awareness and must be accepted if we're to move with the times.  Rather than wastng money & resources on a dying industry, sealers ought to be provided with (or equip themselves with!?) alternatives that engender self-sufficiency as opposed to government-funded murder/ waste.  Judging from videos on sites like YouTube most sealers operate outside the limits of professionalism with offensive & unethical behaviour (if not signs of mental trauma) that degrades themselves AND all Canadians.  I cannot stay silent as long as it continues.

I beseech my country to uphold all international bans on trading in these death-skins, & to stop using taxpayers' money to challenge the EU's decision to halt this trade.  Such misuse of public office casts doubt upon your reputation as a democratic world leader.  A decisive move to end this abuse of the wildlife Canada's constitution pledges to protect would be more fitting.  Please do the right thing by allowing wildlife the benefits of being a loved & honoured native of this country:  i.e. protected & celebrated as part of what makes Canada beautiful.

Thank you.

SARAH CHESTERMAN

iMPoRTaNT ANTi-SeaLHuNT LiNKs...

(UPDATED POST)

The commercial Seal Hunt iS 'Canada's Shame' - a gross insult to this gentlest, most harmless native mammal - as are all human intrusions into wildlife ecosystems.  So I must help stop this terrible cruelty any way i can...

Won'T you please join me? Below are some important links...

('We're worth it!')

PETITIONS:

URGENT:
*Support Sen. Harb's Bill to End Canada's Seal Slaughter:*
CLiCK THiS LiNK to SiGN:  http://is.gd/Y8QFUl

As per this letter recently received from PETA (below), Senate is debating the issue - so your support by signing the above petition would be timely!

Oct. 17, 2012
Dear Sarah,
As you may know, Canadian Senator Mac Harb introduced Bill S-210 to phase out the commercial seal hunt.  Just yesterday Sen. Harb delivered a compelling speech before the Senate, and debate on the bill resumed. He stated, "The government has to sit down with the stakeholders in the industry and talk realistically about an industry-wide buyout."  Now that Russia -- which had been importing 95% of Canadian seal pelts -- has joined the U.S., EU, Mexico and others in banning seal fur imports, there are no markets.
In a recent Huffington Post blog post, Sen. Harb acknowledged that animal advocacy groups such as PETA and our supporters have played an important role in moving Bill S-210 forward.  Now is the time to show support for the bill as the debate continues by taking action here.  As Sen. Harb says, "Your efforts are making a difference."
Thank you for everything that you do to help animals!
King regards,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals


SOME KEY LINKS TO FRIENDS OF SEALS:

www.friendsforseals.org/ - 100% dedicated to ending the Seal 'Hunt'

www.twitter.com/FriendsForSeals - Follow FFS on Twitter!

http://is.gd/f4dCz1 - FFS's list of Cdn. seafood co's to boycott

http://www.hsi.org/issues/protect_seals/live_from_the_ice.html - Humane Society Int'l + 'Protect Seals'

http://www.ifaw.org/seals - International Fund for Animal Welfare

www.seashepherd.org/ - Paul Watson + his band of Sea-heroes

The HARD FACTS on the Seal 'Hunt', by PAUL WATSON:

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-110401-1.html

http://www.peta.org/ - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

www.mediapeta.com/ - PETA's media page

http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/ - Canada's Anti-Sealing Coalition
www.catcahelpanimals.org/ - Ericka Ceballos, animal-rights activist

www.all-creatures.org/hope/antisealing-20070401.htm - Anthony Marr of HOPE (Heal Our Planet Earth)

www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/Actions-Canada/Canada-Index.htm - Animal Liberation Front's Canadian page

www.twitter.com/detonarte - my Twitter, link to many seal friends

http://is.gd/H0NOR8 - brochure i designed for CATCA (cover)

http://is.gd/D3sBJ9 - brochure i designed for CATCA (inside)


OTHER ANTI-SEALHUNT LINKS:

http://www.myspace.com/sarah-doll/blog/330279353 - MySpace blog

http://is.gd/hOevPo - My letter to Michael Ignatieff

http://is.gd/wfuGTA - My letter to Prime Minister Harper

http://is.gd/KDJioG - My letter to HSI's 'Protect Seals' project

- See also my blogroll & 'Sites i Like' @ R.H. sidebar -->

Let me know of other like-minded links, & i'll add em!

Thanks,
SxO
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Saving LiVES, 1 PETiTiON @ a Time...

Petitions are a viable way of influencing decision-making powers through 'strength in numbers', as popular sites like CARE2 prove.  Here are a couple of my latest projects - with links for you to access - on CARE2.com:


STOP THE ENBRIDGE TAR SANDS PIPELINE IN CANADA 
(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/787/589/822/)

# 31,414    Nov 11, Ms. Sarah Chesterman, BC
Today @ Broadway & Cambie a sweet young guy with pen & clipboard was approaching people, offering a petition to sign - & mostly being ignored. Hearing him say "pipeline" stopped me, & i didn't have to wait for the expected "Enbridge" to impatiently sign my name - with a pang of shame @ being 1st on the page... PEOPLE: WAKE UP - & APPRECIATE EACH CHANCE YOU GET TO VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION! (Doesn't our PM's approval of this pipeline PROVE this protest's worth?) How about proving YOUR worth as a citizen of BC - i.e. the province that's counting on YOU to protect its precious coast... [PLEASE: don't let BC down, as the old-school FOOLs reporting our supposed "News" have clearly done -- blaming them for your own ignorance won't reverse the oil spills which WILL --NOT "COULD" or "MIGHT"-- result from its approval…]  ENBRIDGE PIPELINE = DEATH OF BC'S COAST.

DECADE TO SAVE TREES & SAVE THE WORLD(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/24/decade-to-save-trees-save-the-world/)

# 174   May 25, Sarah Chesterman, Canada
The bottom line is, do we want to change our ways to be Earth-aware/ Nature-friendly... OR do we want to continue with same-old (i.e. feeding corporate profits while destroying what makes Earth liveable/ sustainable)??  If you aren't being responsible and/or vigilant RE. environmental quality & our state of health on Earth, then you're part of the problem:  i.e. you're assisting - by your actions/inaction, purchases etc. - the continued rape of Mother Nature.  Which is UNACCEPTABLE - as well as stupid, since nature iS THE provider/supplier/sustainer of life on Earth...
Instead of killing animals, we could learn from them:  NOT as experimental lab subjects (from which we learn nothing but our willingness to be duped by rapacious pharmaceutical co's) but as sustainable users of Earth's resources & integral elements of their wild ecosystems - habitats which humans have gradually but persistently diminished by deforestation, development etc.  Our natural tendency toward improvement would have led to global sustainability in action, not just in theory, if it weren't for humans' less admirable tendencies (selfishness, short-sightedness & greed) perpetuated by over-emphasis on material realities.  When we open our hearts & minds to our spiritual link with the universe, a world of possibilities is freed up - along with practical solutions.  With such freedom, fortified by success, comes the desire to reach out to others - as you were reached, to help become the enlightened vegan you are today?   
[For me,  being vegetarian came naturally.  After high school graduation, i took the opportunity to go abroad to be an 'au pair' (nanny).  Close to my departure date, i was told my 'family' was strictly vegetarian and 'Would i be OK with that?'   I was in fact super OK with it, since i'd always loved animals and hated the thought of eating 'my friends'.  That was before i knew anything about the cruelty of dairy production, or what happens on fur farms, or the harm to Earth's environment caused by the beef industry... Like most people, my knowledge of the world - & our part in it - has expanded gradually over time and is an ongoing process, rather than some 'all-or-nothing' miracle of osmosis.  Each new piece added to the puzzle has led to the unflinching finding-out of many more, along with the resolve to share with others what i've learned...]


UPDATE CANADA'S ANIMAL CRUELTY LAWS (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/next_action.html?pId=965702026)

Sarah Chesterman, Canada
Legislation simply sets in writing our society's rules of personal conduct & expectations of others', based on our values... And Canada's laws do not accurately or adequately reflect Canadians' conduct, expectations or values vis-a-vis non-human species - having changed dramatically due to gains in knowledge/ understanding thereof.  Thus our government's failure to incorporate these changes into new, updated laws is glaringly remiss, if not tantamount to criminal negligence in allowing undesirable conduct & disrespect for our fundamental values to go unnoticed/unpunished.  Most Canadians care deeply about this issue, and would be shocked at the amount of animal cruelty that goes on unchecked behind closed doors in their own country.  Canada's lack of transparency & its outdated animal-welfare laws/ practices are shameful, and hold us back from necessary progress toward sustainability & an improved harm-free (i.e. stress-free) outlook...
Amending laws to properly align with expectations & future aspirations, updated with modern scientific knowledge/research, MUST include respectful treatment of Earth's environment, nature and all living beings if we are to continue thriving...


CDN. PEOPLE ASKING U.S. TO BOYCOTT OUR FISH (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/canadian-people-asking-us-to-boycott-our-fish/)
 
# 6   13:38, Apr 03, Sarah Chesterman, Canada
To be clear: i don't WANT to support cutting off Canadians' livelihoods. But i CAN'T stand by & do nothing as long as this disgrace to the human race keeps taking place in my country - against Canadian, European & global demands to STOP this sickening slaughter of thousands of baby seals each year. WHY, when such sadistic cruelty against animals is no longer necessary for survival, let alone acceptable by any standards of conduct, is MY government not taking a leadership role as a 'developed' nation & SHUTTING DOWN "Canada's shame"? Its failure to do so forces me to ask that you boycott the sealers' main income source: Canadian.seafood. Thank you very much.


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Vote to STOP THE SEAL HUNT

________________________________________

ELECTION 2011 (Canada-wide)
________________________________________

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!

Anti-SealHunt Motorcade: MEDIA!

Anthony Marr's blog report of the Anti-SealHunt Motorcade:
http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2011/03/

See the video of this event here:
http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2011/03/video

PlanetSedge said...
I felt privileged taking part in this event protesting Canada's commercial Seal 'Hunt', for the sake of the seals. But i'm somewhat shocked to be the first to comment here, more than a week later - since the Seal Hunt's sadly still going strong, with thousands more baby seals set to be slaughtered...
I for one cannot in good conscience allow this senseless, unfair ambush on wildlife habitats (where humans have no business even BEING) in a gruesome bloodbath that defies all decency + degrades our very dignity as Canadians ~BESIDES MAKING A MOCKERY OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES AS WILDLIFE STEWARDS...
So our only other option is to try + stop this slaughter, using our solidarity from the Motorcade as a weapon for fighting this 'evil within'...
With this Call to Arms, i hope to see some of those nice people i met last weekend on this blog - where (with Anthony's expert guidance!) we can formulate more strategies + increase our chances of success!?
Here's to you,
SARAH C. (the redhead who held up starting-gate traffic!)

MOTORCADE FOR THE SEALS 2011

Organized by CATCA and HOPE-CARE

The Anti-SealHunt Motorcade - March 26th, Saturday at 10:00AM

This year for the Annual Anti-Sealing Day, CATCA is delighted to join forces with HOPE-CARE and its Founder/President, our colleague Anthony Marr, who is well known for his animal advocacy work around the world and who was honoured with the "Best All-Around Activist Award" by Negotiation Is Over (NIH) in January 2010, and the "Henry Spira Grassroots Activist Award" by Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM) at the 2010 Animal Rights National Conference in Washington DC.
"Tell someone that 360,000 baby seals are being killed this year, his left brain will shelf it under 'big number', and his right brain doesn't quite see it, his emotion doesn't get involved," says Anthony, "But if you can somehow show his right brain its scale, he'll likely take action."
So, how do we show this vision to the public? Via media, of course. Says Marr, "What media wants is not so much information but drama, something new in the message or the delivery - preferably both..."
The idea of the motorcade was conceived by Marr for his Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE-tours), which have proven extremely effective as media tools.
Although he has done many motorcades in the US, Marr has yet to have one in his own hometown of Vancouver. Now it's Vancouver's turn!
We ask that media show up around 10:30 AM, when we will be decorating vehicles with posters and ribbons. TV cameras will go around zooming into the posters etc., while reporters will randomly interview participants.
At 11:00 AM, Anthony Marr will lead the procession on his motorcycle from downtown Vancouver via the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler, rain or shine. The event will end at Whistler at 1 PM with a media conference.
We hope you will able to go all the way to Whistler for a good arrival show. Even if not, please join in the departure from Vancouver.  After that, you can go as far as you want - Horseshoe Bay, Lions Bay, Brittania Beach, Squamish... Those without cars, please come for the media assembly.  See you there!
Ericka
Campaigns Against The Cruelty To Animals
Western Canada Anti Sealing Coalition
http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/

TIMELINE: MOTORCADE for the SEALS - VANCOUVER to WHISTLER
10:00 AM - Meet at the waterfront parking lot @ Beach & Bute
10:30 AM - Vehicle decoration & media reception
11:00 AM - Departure from Vancouver
12:00 PM - Media reception in Squamish
 1:00 PM - Media reception in Whistler
 1:15 PM – Lunch in Whistler, then return to Vancouver

Co-organizer Ericka Ceballos of CATCA has taken her message to Europe and participated in many large animal-welfare conferences worldwide. Due in large part to her efforts, the EU joined the US in banning the importation of Canadian seal products.

Check out Ericka’s past work @ http://www.catcahelpanimals.org/

MEDIA RELEASE:  http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2011/03/video

CATCA helps seals...

(at least, they're trying to!) - and SO SHOULD WE...
My friend Ericka Ceballos of CATCA kindly forwarded me the following link of a blog written by an Anti-Sealing Coalition activist who has witnessed the commercial Seal 'Hunt' firsthand.  Here it is, wrenchingly disturbing info and all...
http://antisealingcoalition.ca/blog/category/anti-sealing/
(Oh, i just wish this bloody 'Seal Hunt' would STOP!!)  It's animal abuse at its most extreme, + a governmental cover-up that BARS anyone from witnessing, photographing or otherwise observing this disgraceful slaughter (two were prosecuted + sentenced for WITNESSING the seal hunt - i'll find the lnks)... it's a heinous misuse of public funds, used to subsidize an 'industry' that has achieved a Europe-wide ban on its trade - but also, is being used to APPEALING this ban, to the tune of $10 million public funds, by DFO Minister Gail Shea.  She violates her duty as a public servant - along with her constitutional duty to wildlife stewardship, which does NOT include mass killings thereof!) - and her lies, posturing and outright propaganda in support of the Seal Hunt are SERIOUS BREACHES of OFFICE - if not crimes against diversity...
This isn't a worthy OR sustainable Canadian "tradition", as Shea claims:  it's a shameful legacy of lies, murder, pain, and violence against our country's native wildlife species - WHOSE HABITATS WE ARE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT...
FIGURE IT OUT, CANADA:  VOTE AGAINST THE SEAL HUNT!  The Green Party is the only Canadian political party that officially opposes this Seal 'Hunt' sickness, if you can believe it.
YES, that means CONS, LIBERALS + NDP's perpetuate + support corruption, mixhandling taxpayers' money and unsustainable activities/businesses... So you may want to reconsider a party which has the integrity to reject old 'status quo' warhorses for a positive new direction.  Check them out::  www.greenparty.ca

I hope all my friends will be attending the Motorcade to Save Seals this Saturday, March 26th. (More info on that to come)
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            ....DOES THIS LOOK RIGHT TO YOU?
    
COME ON, CANADA - VOTE TO STOP THE SEAL HUNT!
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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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