Christin's English Blog

Another Organization

ansoncd — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:58 +0000

Aside from all the organizations that provide information about saving animals that are becoming endangered, here is an organization that focuses on gaining support by creating a system that allows people to ‘adopt an animal’. The National Wildlife Federation has a website that is kid friendly. This is one of the few organizations that is trying to appeal to kids; a different approach to gaining support. At this website, you are able to purchase a kit containing a stuffed animal version of the pet you are adopting, and fun information about the endangered species.

One of the pages says, “You can play an important role in wildlife conservation by giving a gift that makes a difference. Proceeds from symbolic adoptions will help change the forecast for many imperiled animals and will be used where needed most – protecting America’s precious wildlife and wildlife habitats.”

Yet another approach to gain support for animal rights! woot woot!

Save the Seals

ansoncd — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:07:51 +0000

Aside from blogs and national organizations, there are even myspace pages devoted to saving the seals. This site is a page devoted to animal rights with a special focus on saving the seals. It is important that site like these have factual information so the average reader will be informed.

“With nearly one million seals killed in the past three years alone, Canadas commercial seal hunt has become the largest, most brutal slaughter of marine mammals on earth. Each year, Canada allows hundreds of thousands of defenseless baby seals to be cruelly clubbed and shot to death for their fur. The last time this many seals were killedin the 1950s and 1960sthe harp seal population was reduced by as much as two-thirds.” “Last year, The HSUS documented the commercial seal hunt firsthand. What we saw was shocking: conscious baby seals stabbed with boathooks and dragged across the ice, wounded seal pups left to choke on their own blood for more than an hour, and conscious seals sliced open and skinned as they struggled.

Petition

ansoncd — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:57:19 +0000

I thought in this post I would provide the website where one can sign the petition to save the seals. It is incredibly important to show support for this issue, so government officials will take it seriously. The more names there are, the more likely the issue will become noticed.

Sign Here!

“I will not stand by and watch our government turn away from the cruelty that is being administered to these defenceless creatures, nor will I stand silent amidst their cry for help. Please help support the petition Save Our Seals and together we can put a stop to an unnecessary hunt that is already threatening to endanger thousands upon thousands of marine animals each year.”

Celebs say ‘save the seals’ too!

ansoncd — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:52:03 +0000

Along with many avid activists, there are also celebrities who are supporting the campaign against the seal hunt. They include Pamela Anderson, Jayde Nicole, Kelly Osborn, Perez Hilton and Tricia Helfer.

Pamela Anderson just unveiled PETA’s new campaign against Canada’s commercial seal slaughter. The ad series features Anderson and other celebrities calling for an end to the annual massacre of baby seals, the largest mass killing of marine mammals in the world.

Says Pamela, “I can only hope that by bringing attention to the slaughter, the international outcry will force the Canadian government to end this shameful practice. Canadians aren’t cruel and indifferent, but our leaders have been on this issue.”

For the new ad series, celebrities around the world are posing in PETA’s striking “Save the Seals” T-shirt, which was previewed this summer by Sarah McLachlan at a Canada Day concert. Among the other Canadians featured in the ad campaign are Jayde Nicole (of the smash teen TV show The Hills) and Battlestar Galactica stars Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. Other international celebrities featured in the series include rocker Kelly Osbourne (who appears on the current season of Dancing With the Stars) and Perez Hilton, Hollywood blogger.

PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews adds, “This campaign is designed to put the issue firmly on the radar of the Twitter generation all around the world. The ads will appear in entertainment magazines and on blogs and will be tweeted in many languages starting this fall in order to keep pressure on the government year-round instead of just during the spring when protests are expected.”
—although many of these celebrities probably haven’t a clue about the true facts of seal slaughtering, the attention they bring with them sheds new light on the Canadian Government’s actions.

Summary of Posts 1-5

ansoncd — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:36:13 +0000

The previous posts were focused primarily on gathering information. I would like to take a moment to share my own opinions on this particular topic. Based on the information I gathered, it is easy to deduct that the killing of baby seals is incredibly brutal, and not to mention disgusting. Why would anyone want to kill them? They are absolutely adorable! Think logically, those baby seals are equally as cute as a puppy. Would you go puppy clubbing for their fur? I don’t think so! (if you do, please admit yourself somewhere) Seals may smell sometimes, but so do puppies, kittens, and goldfish. All household pets that are cute, but we don’t have a kitten genocide going on! Get with the program kids, clubbing seals is disgusting- and the people who commit this act are equally disgusting.

Evidence

ansoncd — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:20:09 +0000

Documentary evidence – in the form of two veterinary reports (one sponsored by the Canadian government), and video footage of the seal hunt obtained by IFAW over the past decade – simply does not support claims by the Canadian government that the hunt is “humane” or “well regulated.”

Seals are routinely clubbed (often with illegal weapons) or shot and left to suffer on the ice, before being clubbed again some time thereafter. Seals are still skinned before being rendered fully unconscious and few sealers are observed checking for a blinking reflex to confirm brain death prior to skinning an animal. As one of the veterinary reports concluded: Canada’s commercial seal hunt results in “considerable and unacceptable suffering.”

Canada and the Seals

ansoncd — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:57:16 +0000

Many people mistakenly think Canada stopped hunting baby seals decades ago. But as many seals are killed today as during the 1950s and 60s when overhunting significantly pushed seals down the road to extinction. In this section you’ll find out the real story about what’s happening on the ice each year, and why the Canadian government doesn’t want you to know about it.

Each spring, the East coast of Canada is host to one of the world’s most beautiful wildlife spectacles. It is here that female harp seals gather by the hundreds of thousands on newly formed sea ice to give birth to their pups.

The seals give birth from late February until mid-March, transforming the once barren ice floes into a huge, white nursery. The newborn pups will be transformed into fat, fluffy ‘whitecoats’ in about a week, thanks to the high-fat content of their mother’s milk.

After about 12 days, the mother leaves her fully fed pup to join adult males for the annual mating ritual. The baby seals remain on the ice, crying for their mothers at first, then becoming extremely quiet and still.

During this time the seals survive on the thick layer of blubber they have accumulated during nursing. A few days later, their white coats are lost to reveal the sleek, black-spotted, silvery pelt of the young harp seal known as a “beater.” A pelt they will soon be clubbed or shot to death for.

Baby Seal Cruelty

ansoncd — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:24:00 +0000

IFAW documents hundreds of examples of seal hunt cruelty each year, from seals being hooked and dragged across the ice while still alive for skinning, to others being shot in the water and dragged by hooks on to the ice, with no attempt made to check for consciousness. Facts/Statistics about the cruelty:

79% of the sealers did not check to see if an animal was dead before skinning it.

In 40% of the kills a sealer had to strike the seal a second time, presumably because it was still conscious after the first blow or shot.

42% of killed seals examined were found to have minimal or no fractures, suggesting a high probability that these seals were conscious when skinned.

Throughout the world, Canada is known and highly respected for its progressive systems of health care, education and values. The senseless cruelty of the seal hunt is one value they’d rather keep out of the world’s eye.

“The Canadian government insists that the seal hunt is an animal production industry like any other. They say that it might not be pretty, but basically it is just like any abattoir except on the ice. But we found obvious levels of suffering which would not be tolerated in any other animal industry in the world.” - Ian Robinson, British Veterinarian

Mediterranean Monk Seal

ansoncd — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:34:34 +0000

The Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, is one of the rarest seal species in the world and the number one endangered marine mammal in Europe: fewer than 600 are left in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. This rare species is listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and is protected by international conventions and the European Union. Remaining threats are from the development of the coastal region, tourism, fisheries and pollution.

The information above came from HERE!

Save the Baby Seals!

ansoncd — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:24:46 +0000

In my opinion I believe that killing baby seals is absolutely disgusting. Why would anyone want to kill something so cute? If people want their fur so bad, just learn how to make immitation seal fur, it is more humane and less expensive! The purpose of this blog is to get the message across that the murder of baby seals for their fur is not only gross, but blatantly wrong.