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It’s disgusting. There is a 280,000 quota for dead baby seals for virtually no reason but never ending red tape and money. The babies in question are innocent and come running up because they are only 3 months old and do not know the cruelty of man. Many are skinned alive.
Many organizations are in the sea and the air documenting the abuses.
Read more and what you can do to stop it: http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/confirmed-first-seal-killed-today-in-2009-hunt/.
Good news from Russia. Yesterday it announced a ban on the hunting of all harp seals less than one year old. I wondered how they sort that out? But when I read the ENS (Environmental News Service) report further it stated: “Later this week, the world’s largest seal hunt will begin off the east coast of Canada. Last year, more than 217,000 harp seals were killed, 99.8 percent of which were under three months of age. Canada does not allow the clubbing of whitecoats. Sealers must wait until the animals get their darker gray coats at about six weeks of age.” Considering 6 weeks up to 3 month old seals are the predominate intent of the kill, this new ban is significant.
To help halt the hunting of baby seals worldwide, the report also said: “On March 2, a European Parliamentary committee voted to ban products derived from seals from being imported into the European Union, exported from it, or even transported through EU territory.” Ireland joined in on St. Patrick’s Day announcing its ” support for the total European Union trade ban on seal products from Canada and South Africa with no loopholes and no exemptions.”
I hope the momentum keeps up with Canada. More and more pressure is mounting against them. Animal welfare organizations and their memberships are the driving force of these changes along with concerned citizens who have literally taken to the streets in protest. Russia stated that large protests were held in 25 of its cities. The whole world wants an end to this decidedly inhumane practice.
The Humane Society International referred to veterinarians who studied Canada’s commercial hunt for 50 years who never failed to find high levels of suffering and this is why there is a world wide agenda to end trade in seal products.
Read more: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-18-03.asp
Wonder what’s been going on behind the scenes on Capital Hill while the campaign takes over the news? I have. I don’t trust them. While the campaign smoke screen is up a lot has been transpiring, or rather conspiring against wildlife and the environment in an effort to get us away from foreign oil. How will the Saudis like that? Is that why we’re supplying guns and ammo to them, because we’re weaning them off? Anyway, here is a sample of the urgent e-mails I’ve been getting from many environmental groups because our dubious administration is at work again.
I belong to Care2.com, a wonderful website of over 8 million members who care passionately about something, kids, people’s rights, animal welfare, the environment, etc. I got an e-mail to petition none other than Dirk Kempthorne, Secy. of the Interior, again. The same guy that is angling to kill off the entire wolf species in Idaho, and possibly Wyoming by aerial hunting, snares, etc. It seems we haven’t done enough to polar bears, now Kempthorne’s positioned to allow drilling for oil in the middle of their habitat too. Here is what the petition states: “At a time when the polar bear’s future is literally on thin ice, it’s no time to add insult to injury by drilling in their fragile Arctic habitat. But it could happen. Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – also known as the Polar Bear Seas – could be opened to drilling as early as February.” Better start pressuring Kempthorne, or join Care2.com and sign the petition, and many others on their website for a better world. This is almost a done deal. It doesn’t look like Kempthorne’s going to add the polar bear to the endangered list.
The Wilderness Society posted an e-mail that states: “A draft environmental impact statement to be released next week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will pave the way for 110,000 acres of wildlife habitat within the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to be traded to the native-owned Doyon Corporation for oil and gas development. Under the proposed deal, Doyon also would obtain 97,000 acres in subsurface rights within the Refuge. Doyon would turn over approximately 150,000 acres of corporation land to the Refuge in the proposed exchange.” Sounds OK? Not so much. As the USFWS well knows, “Oil and gas development are not compatible with the purposes of the refuge—something that USFWS itself has acknowledged in the past. Development poses a threat to water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, subsistence cultures, and the wilderness and recreational values of the refuge and its adjacent public lands.”
A Clean Water Action e-mail stated: “Polluter attacks on the Clean Water Act continue. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting public comments until January 21 on a policy that will determine which rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands are fully protected.” This maneuvering by “[t]he Bush Administration has sought to limit Clean Water Act protections through direct attacks on the law, by misinterpreting Supreme Court decisions and through a series of “No Protection” instructions to the federal and state bureaucrats.” But the e-mail asserts, “Congress is considering legislation to clarify that the Clean Water Act is meant to protect all water bodies. But the e-mail asserts, “Congress is considering legislation to clarify that the Clean Water Act is meant to protect all water bodies. In the meantime, we have to stop these backdoor attacks on the laws that protect our water quality.” This is a good link to take you right to the EPA site.
The only good e-mail I received is that the Greenpeace boat, the Esperanza, caught up with the Japanese whalers and is chasing them around the Southern Ocean. You might want to donate to any or all of these charitable organizations. We have no idea the sacrifice these people make to protect things we cherish like our national parks and rivers, lakes, wildlife, and environment. People like you and me are up all hours, in bad parts of the world, arguing/fighting with foreign countries sometimes, in adverse conditions for what they believe in. Imagine boarding a ship, leaving loved ones, to chase and confront another ship in frigid seas and rotten conditions out of passion for the cause. And we take them for granted. These organizations of everyday citizens are the “THEY” we all have spoken about when we say: “Oh well, THEY will do something about it,” or “I’m not worried, THEY will come up with something.” But THEY not only need monetary support, if THEY ask for people to write to congress or the Queen, please do it. It costs nothing but the time you’re spending goofing around on your pc anyway. And every voice behind these people shows those in charge that it is a force of many, many more people than THEY that are out there actually doing the job. God Bless THEM.
To write to Kempthorne about drilling in polar bear habitat: http://www.doi.gov/contact.html. Read more about Kempthorne ignoring senators, fishing industry, petitions, etc., http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20080102.cfm
To join Care2.com and sign many petitions about many causes and meet a network of 8 million worldwide who care: http://www.care2.com/.
For more about the Alaskan Land Swap: http://www.wilderness.org/Library/Magazine/Summer2007/yukonflats.cfm.
For more about the Clean Water Act: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2155/t/203/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22196.
So is this how we celebrate the wolf in January 2008 America–slaughtering them as a species? President George Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secy. of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, (former Gov. of Idaho), current Gov. Butch Otter of Idaho, and Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, as well as, Gov. Palin of Alaska are advancing their plans to skip the threatened and endangered species list and eradicate wolves by aerial helicopter, plane, snaring, etc., in Idaho and Wyoming. Alaska is already obliterating wolves by aerial hunting there. Gov. Palin just wants to keep the carnage going. I find it interesting that while Gov. of Idaho Kempthorne pushed to get state control over wolves and now he is in charge of Dept. of the Interior overseeing this latest wolf assault.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970314a.html
While Kempthorne heads the Dept. of Interior, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Research Center has current reports that wolves have restored much balance in the wild, keeping coyote populations down. Another 3-year study radio collared wolves in packs whose habitats surrounded the perimeter of cattle ranches. The wolves constantly crossed through cattle herds at night. In 3 years, wolves killed only 8 cattle. The National Geographic Channel aired a segment about Yellowstone’s wolves being a great success for the environment there. Why the rush to kill wolves after allowing them to flourish, especially if they are maintaining a balance among other predators?
This concept of wolf slaughter via aerial planes and helicopters is a hideous irony considering the American wolf is a major and honorable component in Native American history. Native Americans like the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapahoe admired wolves for the way they “operated in packs, caring for each other and sharing food, as well as the strength, endurance and hunting skills displayed by the Native American wolf. These were the same qualities that would help to ensure the survival of the tribe, qualities worthy of emulating.” http://www.native-languages.org/composition/native-american-wolf.html.
Running an animal to exhaustion from a helicopter or a plane to shoot it with sighted high-powered rifles from above isn’t honorable hunting skills. It’s sacrilegious that our government officials are willing to hunt an animal in such a cowardly manner while Native Americans revere the animal for its hunting skills. Wolves are not rats. Many Native American Tribes believed wolves to be teachers and called their scouts “wolves” that were brave enough to be the first to venture out and bring their experiences back to the tribe as wolves do for their pack. Right now many Christian Americans embrace creationist theory for their origins. Native Americans have their own creationist theory that includes wolves, “… the Medicine Wheel atop Medicine Mountain in the Bighorns, [] the Massaum Ceremony, “the medicine dance of the ancients,” a beautiful and integral part of traditional Cheyenne culture in which the wolf, and the “Wolf’s Lodge,” is essential to creation, to life, and renewal in the spiritual and physical,” http://www.infohub.com/vacation_packages/3367.html.
And so here we are in 2008 allowing an already dubious administration to slaughter an icon of our heritage by cowardly if not sadistic means while we cry to other nations to stop clubbing seals, hooking dolphins, and killing whales for research. This administration attempts to evoke a sense of patriotism in everything else they do; yet they overlook the wolf. Look at some of the names of the leaders of some of the greatest tribes that once ruled America.
“Little Wolf was the Native American chief of northern Cheyenne. Little Wolf, who led a military society called the Bowstring Soldiers, was a leader in the Northern Plains wars. He and Sioux and Arapaho warriors fought together in the War for the Bozeman Trail, which was also known as Red Cloud’s War, from 1866 to 1868. Little Wolf was a signer of the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868,” http://student.britannica.com/comptons/article-9312204?
Among the signers of the Laramie Treaty were many native chiefs whose names included wolf: Of the Ogallalah band of Sioux chiefs there was High Wolf and Big Wolf Foot, of the Uncpapa band of Sioux chiefs was Wolf Necklace, and of the Arapahoe chiefs there was Spotted Wolf, Big Wolf, Wolf Mocassin, and Wolf Chief.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0998.htm.
There are many citizens interested in Native American culture that should embrace the seriousness of what is being proposed for wolf populations in these particular states. Out of heritage, patriotism, and humaneness for America’s wildlife, call or contact your congress people to stop this type of eradication process for living things once and for all. Contact the media for more coverage about wolves and their future in America.
Just got an e-mail from Defenders of Wildlife. It appears Bush/Cheney spent their holidays plotting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to just go ahead and start slaughtering hundreds of wolves by helicopters and planes in what should be their sanctuaries, our national parks, particularly Yellowstone.
Wolves haven’t been taken off the federally protected, threatened and endangered list. Threatened by Bush/Cheney that is. Human beings are still the most heartless hunters and some of the decisions out of this administration show lack of empathy for any living thing. What is the difference between a canned hunt, Internet hunting, and the aerial chase and kill that is proposed for wolves especially in Idaho and Wyoming? The animals are trapped. They cannot possibly outrun the planes, helicopters and technology.
We citizens wrote letters, voiced opinion, and literally raised hell over the dog fighting indictment against Michael Vick and we’re going to allow this to happen? Wolves mate for life, raise their young with care, and are not the enemy of man. When are we going to stop listening to the propaganda of this administration?
Wolves are an important part of the entire ecosystem of this country that is systematically being destroyed by a handful of people in power and that power is out of control. Thousands of people have protested the aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska for years. It never stops and is spreading? It’s evident no one in this administration has any regard for the opinion of its people. We are such a poor example to the rest of the world as far as the environment and wildlife, that to ask Japan to quit heartlessly killing dolphins and whales will fall on deaf ears. And our neighbors to the North will keep clubbing innocent baby seals to death as long as we keep setting stellar examples like this.
Between canned hunts, internet hunting, aerial hunting and every other kind of extremely non-sporting and bloodthirsty hunts that have come up since you know who is in office, why do we put up with it? Our world and everything in it, and our reputation as a nation of moral, decent citizens is in jeopardy over whom we’ve elected. While Christians everywhere were given a message to embrace environmentalism over the holidays, a very amoral group in Washington plotted to eradicate an entire species of animal in at least two states without ever taking them off the protected and endangered list.
According to Defenders, “Just last week, Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), George Miller (D-CA), Jim Saxton (R-NJ) and Norm Dicks (D-WA) warned in a letter to Secretary Kempthorne that de-listing wolves in the Northern Rockies now is a mistake.”
Evidently, this administration doesn’t listen to the elected officials that represent us either. I say if they would do this to an innocent animal, they would do as much to us without batting an eye. So much for trust hey? And Bush made the most admired list in a recent gallop poll? If that’s the truth than America’s average IQ of 98 just dropped a notch.
Email Dirk Kempthorne Secy. of Interior formerly governor of Idaho that helped get grizzlies and wolves under jurisdiction of the individual states and in a position for slaughter. Looks like he’s been plotting for quite awhile—almost 2 terms as governor and only a year in this position and he’s on his way. Let him know what you think of his bloodthirsty, unsporting proposal: webteam@ios.doi.gov
I just got through reading some current worldwide environmental news and have to say, we don’t seem to have a clear-cut view of anything. What we profess, what we say, and what we actually do is all contrary. First, I saw the Pope give his blessing and speak on behalf of peace and the environment over the Christmas season to over one billion Catholics. And the World Council of Churches that represents 560 million Christians worldwide is calling concerns over global warming a matter of faith. The WCC has had a program about climate change since 1992 and books about ecotheology (I’m interested). Dr. Samuel Kobia the Secy. General of the WCC stipulates that Christians are well aware that dominion over all living things was given to us. He said that meant, “We were entrusted with the care of the rest of God’s creation.” The emphasis is on the word “CARE” here.
Care doesn’t come under savagely taking a machete to an orangutan trying to defend it’s young, or hooking a live dolphin in the side and sending it to be stripped of skin before it’s even dead, while the resulting meat is basically poison from ingesting too many pollutants, or shooting 6 elephants dead for stepping into a coffee field that is supposed to be their sanctuary. We should actively try to get this stopped, but our demands for things like lumber and coffee encourage it. Oh and don’t forget about native animals and the latest Internet hunting websites that have yet to be banned in over 20 states.
There was the news about a zoo tiger that got loose and killed one man, and maimed two others before it was shot dead. The media wanted to know and put this question out to the public if it is wise to keep caged and wild animals? 145,000,000 people visit zoos every year without incident. If we didn’t have zoos the likelihood of seeing a live polar bear, tiger, elephant, orangutan, gorilla, condor, panda…etc., would more than likely be nil. I have to wonder about the media here. Do they operate with any type of perspective about things, or just pounce on a bit of fantastic news with so much fervor it gets skewed out of proportion and normalcy? People are maimed in cars every day and no one says: “Gee, should we really be driving?”
We’ve heard about individual states taking their own course of action for the environment with many implementing their own environmental laws especially since the Supreme Court decided that the EPA is supposed to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases according to the Clean Air Act but has not done so. So what do I read? The Bush administration: “Thursday announced that it will block efforts by California, Maryland, and 15 other states to cut emissions of global warming gases from cars and trucks.” Now that is an example of talking out of two sides of one’s mouth isn’t it? Aren’t we supposed to be forging ahead with alternative energy anyway?
This administration got elected based on a big moral majority. Do we or do we not celebrate animals? I hope we understand the world is in our care. We simply can’t keep spreading and demanding, taking up room where other things live. We end up killing the very same animals we ooh and ah over at the zoo. We love cartoon movies with animals, little talking pigs, Flipper, the Lion King. We are supposed to teach our children to be kinds to animals. But when animals act out in their normal manner we talk about dispensing with them right away, like the zoo issue. We sacrifice living breathing creatures in our own species chain over things we need for our big houses or our big lifestyle. And we elect our president/vice president based on morality when this latest threat to block states trying to do right by the environment proves the opposite. So where do we stand between what we believe, what we say, and what we actually do about our world and everything in it because I can’t tell?
By the way, a current gallop poll has President Bush as the number one pick among the most admired men and women of 2007. Is that not the icing on the cookie for contradictions as far as you’ve read them here?
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-24-01.asp.
A few blogs ago I wrote about setting an example as far as being humane to animals before we point fingers at other countries that dolphin hunt, seal hunt, whale hunt, and kill tigers, elephants, and apes. Someone retorted about other countries, which was exactly what I made a point about NOT doing. After all, isn’t that one of the first things we teach siblings, not to point fingers elsewhere?
Anyway after the same commenter digressed to this being the best country in the world, the idea of being a good example was kind of lost in conversation. But it is important, and I am resurrecting the notion. Being good examples for all types of humanitarian efforts would give us much better leverage for persuading other governments to give up inhumane hunts like the renewed Japanese whale hunt.
An example of what I am talking about jumped off the “Verbatim” page of Time Magazine’s December 3rd issue. This Japanese whale-meat butcher in the whaling port of Shimonoseki, the home of Japan’s largest whaling expedition in decades, remarked about the inhumanity of it all: ‘”How is eating whale different from eating pigs or cows?”‘ See my point?
We’ll never get anywhere asking other countries not to seal, whale, or dolphin hunt when we slaughter and treat animals inhumanely ourselves. It looks like pollution may halt hunts like these before conscience even comes into play. The Japanese plan on hunting 50 endangered pin whales and 50 threatened humpback whales, along with others, totaling 1000. Trouble is, just like the dolphin meat from the barbaric Japanese dolphin hunt, the whale meat is more than likely poison, tainted by chemical toxins. Many of the larger species of fish and mammals in the ocean are contaminated. A current study by: “Norwegian scientists found that killer whales – or orcas, as they are sometimes known – have overtaken polar bears at the head of the toxic table” according to a BBC article. It said: “No other arctic mammals have ingested such a high concentration of hazardous man-made chemicals.” I was a little amazed at what was found in the blubber, traces of pesticide, flame retardant, and PCB’s. The WWF or World Wildlife Foundation says, “The Arctic has become a chemical sink.”
But are the Japanese worried? Why should they be? An opinion poll done last year by the Nippon Research Centre found that 95% percent of Japanese never or rarely ate whale meat. So why the hunt? Like I stated in another blog, this hunt is being done under the guise of research. The odd thing is another study found that, “65% of Japanese students agreed with the view that scientific research on whales should only use non-lethal methods.”
All the bad international press about this whale hunt embarrasses Japan’s leadership. Japanese don’t eat the meat. A majority of Japanese college students do not advocate the killing of a species in order to study it. And the meat is more than likely poisoned. But the hunt goes on? Sounds like other countries have the same problem as we do where a majority of voices go unheard, and unheeded.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4520104.stm
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/fearing-us-reaction-japanese
(The photos are from Defenders of Wildlife, defenders.org.)
Todays Detroit Free Press had a huge article about global warming wreaking havoc on thousands of animals. It said 3000 flying foxes dropped dead falling out of trees in Australia, butterflies that lived in high altitudes of our continent have vanished, and many more species will disappear in our lifetimes due to global warming. Knowing I’m part of the human population that has created this makes me ashamed. Yet we have state’s governors working themselves into a frenzy to obliterate every last wolf if they have their way.
There has been a campaign for quite some time to stop the aerial killing of wolves. It started and continues in Alaska. Many Alaskans want it stopped, and people all over the country have petitioned Alaska to stop it. Alaska has a new governor and it’s become even worse for wolves there. The issue has finally made it to Alaska’s ballot to stop aerial hunting once and for all.
Defenders of Wildlife disclosed that Alaskan officials earmarked $400,000 in public, or taxpayers dollars, to launch a campaign of lies trying to defend its aerial hunting policy. It’s the wilderness for God’s sake. Where are these animals supposed to live? They serve a purpose, a very important purpose.
The Discovery Channel aired a special from Yellowstone Park. A ranger took the TV cameras to watch wolves. The park is thriving due to their return. The ranger showed rows of different types of brush and trees that were being eaten down by animals the wolves feed on. He pointed out how the wolves helped balance the park in many ways. They are a good thing and welcome there.
As far as livestock, there was a special on the National Geographic channel not long ago that chronicled researcher, Shaun Ellis, who has literally given his life to the study of wolves. He has proven that wolves are family oriented, stick together, and have their own territory. Wolves that might attack rancher’s cattle were deterred by simply broadcasting the howl of another family of wolves. The new invading wolves stayed away for good not wanting to disrupt the territory claimed by the other wolves. I think human beings could benefit greatly from studying wolves. They “RESPECT” one another, yet we shoot them from planes and helicopters.
There is another serious viewpoint to the politics of these wolf hunts. This inhumane hunting practice undermines the efforts of others. Our own Senator Carl Levin created a bill to stop the clubbing of baby seals in Arctic Canada. Why would Canada listen to us about seals when like barbarians, we hunt wolves this way? It isn’t about the hunters or hunting. It’s about the politics of being a horrible example to the rest of the world, and where our credibility takes another bite. America does this all the time. We point out wrongdoing elsewhere and have garbage in our own back yard to clean up, including wars, and threats of wars. Who will listen to a people who allow these things to happen? All we’ve done to exact change in this country in the past 7 years is to vote. When we do see demonstrations against politicians anymore, we are looking at other countries, not America.
This wolf witch hunt hit me and hopefully many others at a time when I am just fed up with killing. I’m already disheartened that so many animals we grew up with, that have been around for our lifetimes may just disappear. As humans we have done enough damage to the earth and everything in it. Yet we pursue more killing and once again it’s coming again from our leadership. It’s a leadership that is so out of touch with citizens that it pays no attention to petitions and outcries from the public. Isn’t this thirst for blood getting a little stale? In retrospect, the wolf commercials from the last election certainly depicted the wrong villains.
And there are worse than Sarah Palin, Gov. of Alaska, Idaho’s Gov. Butch Otter has worked his gun toting constituency into a frenzy against wolves. That state launched a ballot initiative to remove ALL wolves. What type of intelligence is this? And it comes from a governor of a state? It’s a lynch mob who uses technology to try to wipe out an entire species of animal. They obviously haven’t bothered to learn about or care enough to explore all venues for control, if control is even needed. It looks like sport hunting to me. Wyoming wants to follow this mob. The Bush/Cheney administration is pushing to hunt them in our, “OUR” national parks too.
It’s easy to see our states are no longer united. When federal legislation that was put in place by us and preceding presidents for protection of these animals is repealed by this determined, uncaring machine of a government, then the states will each have their way. This is just an example of how divided our states are already and will become even more so in the future if we keep dismantling the federal government like extreme right wing ideologists would like and have pretty much done.
I don’t like the face of this so-called moral, but militant, hostile America. I like the old vision of open plains, majestic mountains, clean water and air, animals in their natural habitat and citizens that actually act like moral beings. The message that we, “will know them by their deeds” has been neglected for far too long. The proposed deeds of this handful of governors without conscience and the Bush administration says much about their inability to have empathy, or concern for living in harmony with nature, a basic sin for this country from the beginning.
Representative George Miller of California has introduced the PROTECT AMERICA’S WILDLIFE bill, (PAW) Act HR 3663. Write, e-mail, or call your reps and tell them you want this bill supported. It will ban the use of airplanes and helicopters to kill wolves nationwide.
http://www.rallycongress.com/letter2congress/698/?gclid=CNmHspeIlJACFQdfgQodXEeO5w.
http://www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/wolf.htm
http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=52
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