An unprecedented offer and one that will be hard to refuse

[compassionategirl]

An unprecedented offer and one that will be hard to refuse with any credibility.

 

The Canadian Government and the Newfoundland provincial govnt have refused to end the seal hunt on the grounds that it is "vital for the economic survival of Eastern Canada." Well, we now have yet another opportunity to see just how sincere these economic justifications/claims for the hunt are. If it is truly an economic matter, as my govnt has repeatedly claimed, then Canada should accept this offer. Check out the details of the offer below, and keep your fingers crossed for the baby seals.

_____________________________________________________________

 

Cathy Kangas Offers $16 Million to the Canadian Government to End the Seal Hunt. Will Canada accept, or will it prefer to perpetuate its senseless and irresponsible orgy of blood and suffering on the ice floes?

 

Last year the Canadian seal slaughter realized $16 million in income to East Coast seal killers.

 

This year Sea Shepherd member and supporter Kathy Kangas has offered $16 million to compensate the sealers if they do not kill seals.

 

Kangas the CEO and Founder of PRAI Beauty, a global beauty company has made the offer in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

 

"If you stop this year's hunt immediately, we will provide you with the $16 million to be distributed at your discretion." Said Kangas.

 

Ms. Kangas also proposed working with the Canadian government to institute a program to buy back existing fishing licenses and launch a program of eco-tourism in Northeastern Canada to replace the seal hunt. "Canadian fishermen could earn more money serving as park rangers for high end tours to Canada to see the beautiful spectacle of seals giving birth on the ice floes," she noted. She said that whale-watching tours in Canada have been very successful attracting visitors.

 

"We are providing you with an alternative to what Paul McCartney called 'a stain on the character of the Canadian people.' If this is really simply an economic problem, then take our offer," Mrs. Kangas stated in her letter. The money, she pointed out, will be raised from private citizens and animal protection groups worldwide.

 

Mrs. Kangas added: "With the worldwide boycott of Canadian seafood, the television coverage of baby seals being clubbed to death for their pelts, and the involvement of high-profile celebrities such as Heather and Paul McCartney and Bridget Bardot, one would think that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would welcome an economic solution to the seal hunt. We are willing to negotiate in good faith. However, should he choose to ignore my letter and continue with the hunt, we need to ask the world what will it take for Canada to end this barbaric practice?"

 

As CEO and Founder of PRAI Beauty, a global skin and beauty care company sold through the Internet and home shopping networks, she created "Beauty With A Cause." Under this program, her company contributes a portion of its proceeds every month to a different animal protection organization.

 

A copy of Mrs. Kangas' letter to Prime Minister Harper is below. Check it out!

 

 

CATHY KANGAS

106 CLEARVIEW LANE

NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT 06840

 

March 21, 2006

 

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper

Office of the Prime Minister

80 Wellington Street

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada, KIA O42

 

Dear Prime Minister Harper:

 

Your government has repeatedly stated that the $16 million realized from

the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of

the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. If you stop this year's hunt

immediately, we will provide you with this $16 million to be distributed at

your discretion.Furthermore, we will work with your government to institute a program to buy back the fishing licenses and begin a program of eco-tourism in Northeastern Canada, which would replace the seal hunt. Through this program, high-end tour companies, such as Abercrombie & Kent, would provide opportunities for its customers to see the beautiful spectacle of seals giving birth on the ice floes. This could be a whole new source of revenue for the region and fishermen could serve as Park Rangers showing the seals and protecting them.

 

The eyes of the world will be on Canada when the seal hunt begins. We are providing you with an alternative to what Paul McCartney called "a stain on the character of the Canadian people." If this is really simply an economic problem, then you will take our offer. The money is being raised from animal protection groups worldwide including The Humane Society of the United States, which alone has more than 9 million members.

 

We are asking you to negotiate with us in good faith. If we do not hear

back from your office before the start of the hunt, we will have no other

choice than to take this offer to the Canadian and worldwide media. We are providing the Canadian government with an opportunity to end the seal hunt and provide fishermen with an alternative livelihood. We look forward to discussing this offer with you. I can be reached through my assistant Diane Jacobitti at (941) 929-7435.

 

Sincerely,

 

Cathy Kangas

Edited April 5, 2006 by compassionategirl

[JW]

That is absolutely AWESOME!!!!

thanks for sharing that cg

[compassionategirl]

It has also recently come to my attention that there are vegans in Newfoundland (and possiby abroad) that are sympathetic to the sealers and are asking the rest of us NOT to boycott them but instead help them find alternatives. They are also labouring under other false assumptions and untruths. Once and for all, let me set the records straight about the REAL DEAL with Canada's massacre of seals, so as to lay to rest any sympathy that any of you may have for the sealers and for the province of Newfoundland. I hope you find the following informative.

 

 

One Newfoundlander vegan writes: "Ok guys... hold your horses. Before you boycott all things Canadian and think we're all barbarians here in Atlantic Canada, I think it's important that you hear from someone who has been living in Atlantic Canada since birth and dealing with this issue all of her life."

 

Paul Watson responds: I am also from Atlantic Canada, raised in a New Brunswick fishing village and I've been opposed to the seal slaughter since the age of 10 i.e. since 1960. I have been actively opposing the seal hunt on the ice since 1976. I have gone to more seal hunts than the majority of sealers and I believe that I am quite well informed on the issue.

 

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "seals are not just used in the fashion industry. People use the bones for things such as carving tools, the oils are used for heating and a lot of cosmetics, creams and medicines, and I'm sorry Heather Mills McCartney, but people do eat seal. It's a delicacy and it's a common occurence.. there are millions of recipes that use seal. Trust me, people who eat Seal Flipper Pie are not just using the animal for the fur."

 

Paul Watson responds: You say that the meat is eaten, however DFO show that last year, meat was landed from only 33% of the seals or about 10%. 90% of the carcasses were left on the ice. Train oil i.e. seal oil has not been used for decades. The bones are left on the ice. There are only three marketable products. (1) the fur. (2) Oil used for the production of Omega 3 oil used as a supplement and (3) severed seal penis used for some sort of snake-oil remedy for impotence in the Far East.

 

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "On top of that, people don't club seals anymore. They are shot. They say that they were watching recent videos of the seal hunt, but I'm not sure that that's possible. Although I don't agree with this, I do know people who have hunted seal and I know this for a fact."

 

Paul Watson responds: Danny Williams looked like a fool when he said that the seals are not clubbed because as he said it, the images on the screen were of seals being clubbed. I personally was on the ice last year and did not see a single seal shot. I saw plenty that were clubbed. So don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.. You have not been on the ice to observe the seal slaughter - I have. If you had personally been on the ice you would not make such an uniformed statement! You are regurgitating government propaganda. You probably believe the killing is humane also. The government says so, so it must be.

 

The seal slaughter is subsidized. In other words it's a glorified welfare system. If the government paid the sealers not to kill seals, it would cost the Canadian tax-payers less.

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "And on to our government trying to cover up their mismanagement of resources. It's foreign overfishing that is the problem. Japanese ships get way more fish from Atlantic Canada than Canada does itself.. and they aren't the only ones. Other countries have been taking advantage of the once rich resources off the coast of Newfoundland for the longest time.. but since we're all "uneducated" and deemed useless by the rest of the country, we are unable to do anything about it on our own. "

 

Paul Watson: "The cod were wiped out by the Canadian dragger fleets. Yes the foreign draggers contributed outside of the 200 mile limit. Inside the limit they operated with permits sold to them by DFO. It was corporate greed that wiped out the cod and specifically it was Canadian corporate greed and DFO mismanagement that destroyed that fishery. Not the seals, and not the foreigners. When I opposed the Spanish and Cuban draggers in 1993, Canada arrested me for doing so - we found out that they were operating with permits from the government outside of the 200 mile limit!"

 

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "You can say that seals don't eat much of the cod here, but I beg to differ. Years ago, the seal population went out of control and the cod stocks went dangerously low. The did autopsies on dead seals and found enough fish inside one to feed a family for a week. But wait.. marine biologists know everything, right? "

 

Paul Watson: Even DFO does not push the seals eating the cod myth! Seals eat species that prey upon cod and thus when you diminish seal populations you increase predatory fish populations causing further declines. This is not a 3 species eco-system of seals, people and cod. There are over 800 diverse species interdependent upon each other in the Northwest Atlantic eco-system. Cod represents only 4% of a seals diet.

 

When there were 40 million harp, hood, grey, harbor seals and the walrus (now extinct in the area) there was no shortage of cod. Why because nature did not destroy the cod - people did. By the way, we predicted the crash of the cod fishery in the late 70's and the government said we did not know what we were talking about.

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "...unless you have come to Newfoundland and seen some of the small outport communities here that rely on fishing AND the seal hunt, you could never understand."

 

Paul Watson responds: "I have plenty of experience of being in Newfoundland outport towns and I see a way of life that has self-destructed. Newfoundlanders must adapt to living without destroying their eco-system or they will disappear. Newfoundland has a horrible record of driving species into extinction or extirpation. In the last two hundred years, Newfoundlanders helped to exterminate the Giant Auk, the Labrador Duck, the Newfoundland Wolf, the Sea Mink, the Walrus etc. And of course the Beothuk Indians were exterminated. "

 

 

Newfoundlander vegan writes: "I'm sorry I seem bitter about this, but our province has been picked on for years about everything and never given the chance to change anything. I agree with seal fishing as much as I agree with factory farms, but unless you have come to Newfoundland and seen some of the small outport communities here that rely on fishing AND the seal hunt, you could never understand. Don't boycott all things Canadian, help us make things better. Help the government make more money from tourism, from our exports.. then we'll have enough money to get rid of these terrible traditions so that they will never be missed.. so that people can live, can work and prosper better than they ever did with them. "

 

 

Paul Watson points out: We have offered alternatives including the utilization of naturally molted seal hairs. In fact, we have done more than just offer alernatives - we even secured a market for this and we were in a position to hire 300 people to start when the government pulled our permits after rioting sealers in the Magdalens attacked us saying that it was a "faggoty idea and seals were meant to be clubbed not coddled. !!

 

And by the way the thugs who attacked us, beat me severely, broke cameras (which was very convenient for them since it was further evidence that seals ARE in fact still being clubbed ) and threatened people's lives were barbaric. Read Mickey Dwyer's book. He's a sealer who wrote "Over the Side, Mickey." Even he describes what they do as barbaric.

 

You say that your government has not been given a chance to change anything. You have the chance now. Stop the seal slaughter. Actually one Newfoundlander is doing something. Rebecca Aldworth is a native Newfoundlander and she is leading the HSUS teams to the ice to oppose the seal slaughter.

 

We have tried to offer alternatives. I have been trying for three decades. Now we will speak the language the government and the corporations understand. Economic pressure. We are escalating the Canadian seafood boycott and organizing a boycott by musicians and the entertainment industry. We will be boycotting the 2010 Olympics. We will escalate the tourist boycott. And we will work to destroy markets for seal products worldwide. We will shut down this brutal and immoral industry even if we have to disgrace Canada to do it. I have seen to much suffering on the ice for to many years to have much sympathy for baby seal killers or those who sympathize with them. "

__________________________________________________________

 

So why listen to Paul Watson? He, along with his crew (The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society), have been on the ice floes, directly face to face with sealers and seal kills for three decades now, documeting, recording, being assaulted, researching and writing on this issue. He is the fountain of knowledge and facts when it comes to the seal slaughter. Indeed, there are few people that are more "expert" than he is on this campaign.

 

So this latest $16 million offer is yet one more alternative in a long line of alternatives that have been offered to my country to end this inhumane and ecologically disastrous slaughter.

 

So when Canada is bullsh**ing the world and telling the international community that it must engage in the seal hunt as a matter of economic survival, you can now confidentently and withour hesitation dismiss that right off the bat as b** sh**.

 

MY POINT: Please vociferously boycott all things Canadian and dont break out the violins for the "poor Newfoundland fishermen who are just trying to feed their families." The plain fact is that the sealing association and the provincial govnt has done nothing but lie compulsively about the seal hunt. They have proven time and time again that they are not interested in alternatives; they are interested in an orgy of blood and suffering just for the hell of it! It is getting to the point now where it would NOT be unfair to assert that the sealing association derives some sick sadistic pleasure in bashing baby seals' skulls. They simply dont want to stop no matter what alternatives are offered to them! We'll see what their reaction will be to this latest proposal.

[Bigbwii]

Wow!!!

 

Can't wait to see how that pans out!

 

I doubt if the Government will take the offer though.

[neil]

whoa!!! that would be cool.

 

money is power. sad but true. but not sad in this instance.

[JW]

powerful stuff!

thanks for posting the Paul Watson info

 

I will definitely use some of those facts!

[runner]

Think that this should be known to all!!

 

if the refuse than there is an other reason!!!

[compassionategirl]

Costco on March 1st announced that it had made the decision at the highest levels of its corporation to pull seal oil capsules (used for omega threes) off its shelves. This was headway we had made in the anti-sealing campaign.

 

Sadly, oN April 5, it reneged on its decision and announced that it will restock seal oil capsules and that it did NOT oppose Canada's seal pup massacre.

 

As a result, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is calling for an international boycott of Costco.

 

Please join the boycott until they pull this atrocity permanently from their shelves.

[endcruelty]

great and i posted that costco news story on my website, just great, assholes!!!!!!

[compassionategirl]

powerful stuff!

thanks for posting the Paul Watson info

 

I will definitely use some of those facts!

 

Hey JW!

 

Yup - I posted Paul Watson's point by point responses so ALL of us here can be better informed and be able to discriminate between Seal hunt MYTHS versus seal hunt FACTS.

 

There are a lot of myths and lies that I wanted set straight once and for all. Watson arms us with the facts and ammmunition we ALL need to speak intelligently about the Canadian seal hunt.

 

So to those of you who didnt read the second post (the dialogue between a Newfoundlander and Watson), please take a minute to do so- it will be well worth the read.

 

Thanks!

[compassionategirl]

Senator Hervieux Payette claimed in Canadian media that the hunt was humane. Captain Watson countered by saying that he had seen seal pups kicked in the face and skinned alive. The Senator said this was not possible because the hunt was humane. Captain Watson said, “Have you been on the ice Senator, have you seen the killing of the seals?” The Senator replied that she had not. “Then don’t call me a liar, go there yourself, see for yourself and then come back and tell me that I’m lying.”

 

Canadian Senator George Baker appeared on the CTV Mike Duffy program to claim that “Canada is the only country in the world that allows you to take a camera to the seal hunt to document the killing.” This is, of course, not true – seal hunts in the rest of the world are documented and Canada is the only country that requires special permits to film or photograph. It is also the only country that has arrested and convicted people for witnessing and filming the slaughter.

 

Newfoundland Senator Baker also made the absurd claim that Canada is the only country that has banned the killing of baby seals and further claimed that Americans were killing whitecoated harp seals and blue-backed hood seal pups. Baker was introduced as a vegetarian by Mike Duffy, something that he is not!

 

Blatant lies. Canada kills baby seals. That is a substantiated and documented fact. The only difference between the seal slaughter today and that of twenty years ago is that the seals killed today are one week older. A baby seal is still a baby seal after losing the whitecoat.

 

Additionally, the United States does not have a commercial seal hunt. Fur seals are killed by Aleut Indians in the Bering Sea as a subsistence hunt – not whitecoats or bluebacks as Baker claims and not baby seals. There is no U.S. commercial seal hunt!!!!

[compassionategirl]

SEALERS AND GOVNT TOO SCARED TO DEBATE THE SEAL HUNT WITH PAUL WATSON, VETERAN SEAL HUNT CAMPAIGNER, BUT NOT TOO SCARED TO BASH IN THE SKULLS OF BABY SEALS ON THE ICE

 

Captain Paul Watson was scheduled to debate pro-sealers in St. John’s Newfoundland on March 31st.

 

He agreed to attend a screening of the Newfoundland film My Ancestors Were Rogues and Murderers, a National Film Board of Canada production that supports the culture of killing seals in Newfoundland.

 

The debate had been organized by the CBC and the National Film Board of Canada. Three days before the debate, the event was cancelled when the pro-hunting supporters withdrew.

 

Ann Troake, the director of the film was one of the people and Premier Danny Williams was invited to the panel. Apparently Ann Troake felt that she would not be able to defend her bloody tradition and backed out.

 

Danny William, who was unable to debate the issue effectively with Paul and Heather McCartney would not participate.

 

In the end, the National Film Board of Canada and the CBC were unable to assemble any defenders of the seal hunt willing to debate the controversy with Captain Paul Watson.

 

Big, brave, club-swinging barbarians on the ice when it comes to bashing in the heads of baby seals but complete cowards when it comes to debating the issue with a seal defender with three decades of experience on the ice floes protecting the seals.

[CollegeB]

The 16 mil should be given directly to sealers to oppose the seal hunt. The govt actually has treaties with the U.S. and also Japan for these seal hunts, they are not going to stop just by counting on gov't.

[willpeavy]

What about spray painting the seals bright green so they are worthless to the sealers? I used to have an old Greenpeace video from the 80s of them going around doing that

[endcruelty]

ya i heard about them doing that sounds like so much fun see thats how to really do activism that might actually safe a life

[compassionategirl]

What about spray painting the seals bright green so they are worthless to the sealers? I used to have an old Greenpeace video from the 80s of them going around doing that

 

That has since been made illegal in Canada. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the govnt to respond to the spray painting idea.

 

But yes, for a while, greenpeace activists would spray paint seals with a non-toxic die that would ruin the commercial value of their pelts.

 

if this was legal, I guarantee Sea shepherd and greenpeace would still be doing it, and I would be right there doing it with them. I'd even do it by myself.