Video just in PROVES that Sea Shepherd boat WAS rammed by Can. coast guard

[Shoelace]

amazing. I have been waiting for this video taken from Sea Shepherd's boat at the time of the incident, and it's plain to see that the Canadian coast guard boat came up along side them and rammed them. Then they backed up and rammed them again. TWO times! I watched it 3 times and I don't think there's any doubt left as to the ends the Canadian govt. will go to try to sabotage anybody who gets in their way of continuing the senseless slaughter of seals for fur coats and trinkets. They lie about the so called "new, more humane" law which is a farce at best. The seal killers aren't following the laws at all and that is well documented too on videos on Eco-beat's website as well as the US Humane Society's website.

All for the vanity of rich women who wear these seal coats, boots, etc. Senseless, horrid and barbaric as hell.

Eco-Beat has been doing a great job of getting in the latest videos of the slaughter. Watch the video/s yourself.

http://eco-beat.com/

[SteinbachMB]

1. It s a legal industry

and the seal hunt will continue: like it or not.

[Shoelace]

5. "legal industry"? it might be legal but it sure as hell is NOT moral

Hitler thought that killing the Jews was legal. American pioneers thought that the senseless slaughter of Bison was legal so as to sabotage Native American's survival.

This might be legal to Canadians but trust me, the rest of the world believes it to be a senseless slaughter just for the benefit of providing rich women with fur trinkets, coats. That is the bottom line isn't it. The bodies after being skinned, many skinned alive, are left to rot.

Are these people so stupid that they can't see that eco-tourism could be much more lucrative and possibly reinstate some sense of respect from the world which now considers them all as savages?

"Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."

-Albert Schweitzer

"Humanity's true moral test, its fundamental test, consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect, human kind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it." -Milan Kundera

"Auschwitz begins whenever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they are only animals."

- Theodor Adorno

"The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" -Jeremy Bentham

"If...the machine of government...is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law."

-Henry David Thoreau

[SteinbachMB]

9. Many smart men and women

think using animals for human consumption is wrong. But, that doesn't necessarily make them right.

[Shoelace]

10. what's that got to do with the seal slaughter?

I've seen this happen on many Canadian news sites. The comments invariably try to derail and/or change the subject away from the actual senselessness of the slaughter by bringing up the vegan thing as well as the killing of domestic animals. I'm assuming that you are amongst the few Canadians left who are still for the killing of fur seals for rich women?


Well look, I contribute to the Humane society which deals with all sorts of animal cruelty including the seal hunt. Here's their link and this page is devoted to the seals. The home page deals with all animal cruelty. Those of us who are actively fighting against the Canadian seal hunt are also actively fighting against animal cruelty on all levels.

http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html

[SteinbachMB]

12. It dealt with your post

The one where you quoted some smart people; but did not refer to the seal slaughter, specifically. (Do I have to spell it out for you?)

[Shoelace]

13. no, I caught your drift with your first post

nuff said~

[Annces]

7. EU will vote to ban

Good riddance to the seal hunt. Bashing in skulls, beating animals to death. How can you be so uncaring.

[sailor65]

2. That video supports the Coast Guard's position actually

The CG boat's bow wake does not suggest that vessel is turning, although the motion of the SS vessel indicates that Watson's boat DID do the hitting.

[SteinbachMB]

4. What else would you expect from eco-beat

...an admission of guilt? I wouldn't trust ANYTHING Watson's people said after he literally celebrated the deaths of the 4 sealers last week.

[Shoelace]

6. Sea Shepherd did NOT celebrate the death of the sealers!

more Canadian propaganda to continue this senseless slaughter? I think so.

From Sea Shepherd's own website is this:

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has previously warned the Canadian government that it was irresponsibly allowing wooden hulled non-ice-class vessels to participate in the seal slaughter. Last year, many of these vessels were damaged, and a few were crushed in the ice and lost.

This year, the Canadian government's irresponsibility has resulted in a major tragedy.

Last night, four Magadalen Island sealers died when their 12 metre sealing boat capsized while being towed by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

The boat had lost steerage about 40 miles North of Cape Breton Island. The Canadian Coast Guard responded to its distress signal and placed the vessel under tow.

Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd and a former member of the Canadian Coast Guard, said, I find it incredible that the Coast Guard would place a small boat like that in tow behind a powerful icebreaker in such heavy ice conditions without first taking the crew on board. They deliberately placed those men in an unsafe situation, and there should be a full inquiry into the circumstances that have led to the deaths of these four men.

Yesterday, over 100 sealers headed out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the Magdalen Islands on 16 small boats. In addition to the one that has already sunk, three other sealing vessels are in trouble in the waters off Cape Breton, with two of them taking on water and the third broken down with mechanical problems.

In his efforts to further his own political ambitions, Loyola Hearn is sending these sealers into treacherous ice conditions in unsafe vessels, and the Canadian government has demonstrated that they do not have the resources to come to their rescue efficiently, said Captain Watson. It appears that the government is more concerned about keeping Sea Shepherd from documenting the slaughter of seals than they are about protecting the lives of Canadian fishermen.

Sea Shepherd's ship, the Farley Mowat, is working its way through the ice of the Gulf of St. Lawrence towards the area where the seals are being killed. This will bring Sea Shepherd into contact with the sealing vessels caught in the ice.

We will of course rescue any sealers should they require help, said Captain Watson. Unlike the sealers and the government of Canada, the Sea Shepherd crew is motivated by both mercy and compassion and a respect for all life including the lives of those who inflict pain, suffering, and death upon the most innocent of animals the seal pups.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080329_1.html

[SteinbachMB]

8. I said Watson celebrated the deaths

not the Sea Shepherd people.

[go west young man]

14. Ok let's use a little common sense here.

If, as you say, Sea Shepherd did the ramming, wouldn't they have been arrested for that act? The fact the Canadian Coast Guard has not supplied their own video or detained Sea Shepherd speaks louder than anything you may post here. Obviously the Coast Guard are lying. Why they are trying to prevent people from filming the seal slaughter also speaks volumes. They obviously have something to hide from the world. It' sad when a country as great as Canada stoops to this level.

[flvegan]

3. Coast Guard pussies TRYING to instigate SSCS.

They'd have LOVED to catch Sea Shepherd retaliating.

But then, when you (the Coast Guard) are RESPONSIBLE for the deaths of multiple sealers already this season, what's a little ramming here and there.

[sailor65]

11. Self Delete

I was posting in the same thread....duh

[petronius]

15. It's tough to tell (if at all) who hit who from those clips

However, I thought the CCG move in the later clip - moving in between the SS and the sealers who were on the ice - was pretty unsafe. Unless the shot was really foreshortened, it seems like the push of the ship against the ice could have knocked those guys into the water...

[ConcernedCanuk]

16. This whole seal harvesting debate around the world is just bullsh*t IMO

.
.
.

All the animals that we harvest for one reason or other seem to get not much attention.

I fish

How do I kill them?

I knock them on the head and watch them quiver as their nervous system shuts down.

You eat steak?

Watch a video or two on how cows live and die.

You like eggs?

Watch a video on how chickens live.

Chicken wings?

Watch a video on how chickens are slaughtered.

And so on.

We hunt a lot up here - deer, moose, rabbits, quail, and so on

Killing the animal and cleaning it ain't pretty

But it's food and products(hides).

Humans have killed and consumed animals since time began

USAmericans slaughtered the multi-million strong Bison herd to the point of extinction -

FOR THEIR TONGUES

Gimme a break

[losthills]

17. Pointing out that there are other injustices in the world

is not much of an argument.

If you pay attention to what's going on in the world you'll learn that good people are protesting these other issues, too.

[Nihil]

18. I think your use of "seal harvesting" in your title is disingenuous at best.

> Humans have killed and consumed animals since time began

I doubt this is being contested (it certainly isn't by me at any rate).

If this was truly a "harvest" then the meat would be taken, stored and
sold on (or eaten by the people doing the "harvesting").
That is not happening here.

If it were then the standard slaughterhouse practices would not only be
applicable but would actually be enforced (rather than just the existing
"nod & a wink" towards the "humane" methods of slaughter on the ice).
Even that would be better than the current situation.

What is happening here is a disgusting exhibition of greed, corruption
and inhumanity whereby an animal is slaughtered in an uncaring, brutal
manner for the sole result of money. The meat and other possible resources
from each seal is wasted (usually dumped) whilst the skin is taken from
the living creature for sale to mentally sick people. Some of that money
is then paid as bribes to cover up the behaviour of the slaughtermen.

> USAmericans slaughtered the multi-million strong Bison herd to the
> point of extinction

So now Canadians want to be seen as failing to learn this lesson from
history (even though there has been over a century for it to sink in)?

The Canadians I know don't want anything to do with this senseless
sponsored regression to savagery. Maybe one day, the rest of you will learn.


PS: It is due to the horrible factory-farming conditions that I choose
to pay more for free-range chickens & eggs, pay more for bacon & ham from
free-range pigs, pay more for grass-fed beef & lamb and have not eaten
veal for decades (basically since finding out how it was produced).
Any more pointless distractions to try to blur the mercenary stupidity
of the seal-killers?

[kristopher]

20. That is the greatest bit of rationalization I've seen in a while

All you are doing is buying off your conscience. And you criticize others for being mercenary???
If you have the respect for all life that you are claiming you wouldn't be able to shove a piece of bacon down your throat. If it's real it isn't a value that is amenable to adjustment by inserting a few coins in your ear.

"PS: It is due to the horrible factory-farming conditions that I choose
to pay more for free-range chickens & eggs, pay more for bacon & ham from
free-range pigs, pay more for grass-fed beef & lamb and have not eaten
veal for decades (basically since finding out how it was produced).
Any more pointless distractions to try to blur the mercenary stupidity
of the seal-killers?

[Nihil]

21. That's pretty rich come from "Mr.Liar" himself!

> All you are doing is buying off your conscience.
> And you criticize others for being mercenary???

If you think that eating meat makes you "mercenary" then you really
need to get a proper dictionary (and maybe get someone to explain
the contents to you).

> If you have the respect for all life that you are claiming you
> wouldn't be able to shove a piece of bacon down your throat.

Why?
Where have I ever claimed I was vegan?
Where have I claimed that I was a member of the Jain faith?

I am happy to admit that I eat meat even though that has caused the
death of an animal bred for the sole purpose of being killed for food.
I take whatever care I can to ensure that its life & death is as humane
as possible but I do not lose track of the fact that it is raised as food.

My respect for life is precisely why I don't "shove a piece of bacon
(or chicken or beef) down my throat" if it has been factory-farmed.

You would only be correct if I condoned factory-farming of my chickens/eggs,
if I supported feedlot operations for my beef/lamb/bacon but, as stated
earlier, I don't. Do you?

You would also be correct if I bought seal-skin belts or wore furs.
I don't. Do you?

I do not kill things for money. Do you?

Nor do I skin living creatures for money. Do you?

Nor do I defend those people who pretend that their inhumane behaviour
is "necessary" or even "acceptable". (No question this time: we all know
that you *do* as you've been doing it on every seal & whale thread that
you've added to).

> If it's real it isn't a value that is amenable to adjustment by
> inserting a few coins in your ear.

I have no interest in *your* personal habits but I can assure you that
I don't insert coins into any of *my* orifices. (Mind you, I can see that
you pull most of your posts from one of them.)

[kristopher]

22. "I do not kill things for money."

Sure you do. The guy that hires the assassin is as bad as the assassin. Your money wields the tool at those slaughter houses that provide you your meat for pleasure. You do not need it for dietary purposes since your complex protein requirements can be met with milk and cheese products. The ONLY reason you eat meat is because you enjoy it. How if the sam hill is that any different than enjoying the fur.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I take responsibility for the killing that provides my meat pleasure. You don't. You try to buy yourself off by telling yourself there is some humane way to die.

Dead is fucking dead.

[losthills]

23. You don't comprehend this issue at all.

Why don't you go ride your skateboard and let the adults talk?

[kristopher]

24. I comprehend it perfectly.

As would most people who have lived on a farm and killed animals for food. My gripe is that the attitude that dismisses animals killed "humanely" for food trivializes the sacrifice of those animals' deaths in a way that is much more callous than any hunter with a club. He hunts to feed his family and himself just as surely as if he ate every morsel of the seal. He provides for his family with the death of those animals, just as whoever slaughtered your pig, cow, or chicken killed an animal to feed you a piece of meat you don't need to survive.
I'm just suggesting that trying to position yourself as somehow morally superior in the name of animals being killed bu basing that superiority on the specific method of inflicting death is difficult. If someone shoots you, clubs you or electrocutes you, you are still dead - that is the part that sucks, being deprived of life.

If you really care about the animals being killed (and I think you do) why don't you lead by example through having a reverence for the sacrifices of the animals and minimizing YOUR part in their slaughter. You can save a lot of critters if that's what you really want to do.

[losthills]

25. You are veering further and further away from reality

with every post.

The baby seal slaughter is really indefensible. It's brutal, it's inhumane, it's wasteful and it's environmentally damaging and unsustainable. Your false comparisons are actually lunatic in nature. The seal alaughter is not comparable in any way to hunting or to farming and those who participate in it have nothing whatsoever in common with hunters or farmers. Whether a person eats meat or not has no relevance to this issue at all.

You really do need to grow up, Dude. You have some serious shit wrong with your thinking.

[kristopher]

28. If

If recognizing blatant hypocrisy, self delusion and false logic is what you call having "some serious shit wrong with your thinking", I think I'll stick with it, thank you very much.

Dead is fucking dead. The only BIOLOGICAL reason to eat meat is because it contains a lot of high quality protein, but you can get your high quality protein from milks and cheeses, or even a planned diet with no animal products - so you don't NEED meat. You eat meat STRICTLY FOR PLEASURE. There isn't an iota of difference between you and those guys killing the seals except they are honest about what they are doing. Bon appetite

http://new-fitness.com/nutrition/protein.html

[Shoelace]

30. boycott Canadian travel until they stop this slaughter!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what it's going to take to wake you up Kris but "if" doesn't cut it anymore. All your "ifs, ands and buts" are pretty much like the host of global warming deniers who have seemingly given up here on these boards.
When will you give up with your endless diatribes to defend the actions of t he few left in this world who could get away with clubbing these baby seals and then skinning them whilst still alive?

Let the world know what a horrid atrocity to kill millions of helpless baby seals who have no hope of getting away from their killers. Let the Canadians realize that once and for all after 40 years of this God forsaken slaughter, the world unites to ban travel to Canada.

WE'VE HAD QUITE ENOUGH OF YOUR SEAL BLOOD STREWN ABOUT ALL OVER WHAT ICE IS LEFT OF THE WORLD. And most of us here had have enough of your "ifs" form now and evermore. There's no defense left. Deal with it Kristofer!

[kristopher]

31. No, I won't support your position.

In fact, just to spite you I think I'll move to Canada. They seem like good people to me.

What I really object to are hypocritical fundamentalist zealots that think their version of morality is what the entire world is supposed to live by. Whether the root of the fundamentalism is christianity, islam, or idolization of sea shepard, you all seem to share the same drive to impose your will on others. I have a lot more respect for the Ghandi types.

[One_Life_To_Give]

19. Rammed you say?

If ten feet of the bow was missing then we could call it a ram. But this is nothing of the kind, they barely scraped the paint. The first meeting doesn't give enough context to tell but the second clearly shows the CCG interposing themselves between the SSCS and the Sealers. A common tactic used by naval forces to prevent vessels from going/approaching places with a minimum of force.

[Shoelace]

26. they also rammed the Humane Society's boat in 2006

and that was an inflatable boat which the US Humane Society referred to as "ramming" as well. The statement from the Sr. vice president of the HSUS, in a statement then said:

March 26, 2006


Statement from Dr. John Grandy, senior vice president of wildlife and habitat protection for The Humane Society of the United States, on ramming of boat carrying HSUS employees and media documenting the Canadian seal hunt.

"Today, a Canadian sealing vessel rammed an inflatable boat carrying employees of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and a member of the media in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The HSUS team and its boat -- present not to disrupt the hunt or obstruct it, but only to document the injuring and killing of seals -- was pushed atop an ice floe. A second sealing boat backed off after seeing our larger boat approaching to assist.

This deliberate attack on our boat was reckless and irresponsible and it posed a tangible threat to the lives of our people and a member of the press. Rebecca Aldworth and other HSUS crew members would only be able to survive for a few minutes if they had been tossed from their boat into the icy waters. As required by law, our boat was staying the required distance from sealers actively engaged in the hunt. Footage from the attack will be turned over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and we expect authorities to prosecute those responsible for this calculated act of violence."


http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/hsus_statement_on_ramming_of.html


I believe the name of the real game should be that the Canadian officials are trying to hide what really goes on during these seal slaughters, by any means necessary, to keep observers at bay.

They do NOT want the public to see how totally inhumane it really is.
I've seen great numbers of videos by HSUS and others of seals being skinned whilst still alive, wriggling about in pain during the skinning process. It is the most vicious cruelty I've ever seen. Ramming or not, they are wrong to hunt these seals simply to provide fur coats, boots to the rich.

Fact is, they could make infinitely more money with eco-tourism than by this slaughter. I personally know many who would pay any amount to be able to hop a boat and actually see these seals and their pups in the once pristine environment of the Arctic.

These fishermen have lost their humanity - now savages all! One day (sooner than later I fear) there will be no more seals to hunt nor to show to eco-tourists.

They will then be up Shit creek without a paddle as my Grandfather used to say.

[One_Life_To_Give]

27. Sealers Not the Canadian Coast Guard

What independent Sealers/Fishermen do is one thing. But don't equate their actions with those of the Men and Women of the Canadian Coast Guard. I do not see any signs that they have employed excessive use of force in maintaining the 1/2nm zone around the sealers.

[Shoelace]

29. it's excessive force by any International standards and they"ve done it before

to Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, Humane Society, etc. The Canadian Coast Guard has had a very long history of ramming anybody, harassing the likes of the US and International Humane Society boats including the Sea Shepherd boats AND Greenpeace boats, going back to the start of this slaughter in the late '70s.

If you consider ramming a boat on international waters to be acceptable force then I guess our US govt should ram Iranian boats to prevent them from whatever.

I wonder what the repercussions would be then? What do you not get about the fact that this is an all out war against what is happening now for some 30+ years.

I am all for a boycott of tourism, travel in Canada. Whatever it takes to stop the kill.

Sign the petition here and read the comments. Bloody fucking time to stop this savage, inhumane hunt. My God, the Neocon Canadian govt. is beginning to remind me that I live in America, the land of lies, the war we can't win and the powers that be that control our media, propagandize us all into useless grazers on this planet.

Rise up and take back our planet for the sake of all creatures great and small. They all play a part in keeping the balance here.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/saveallseals

[One_Life_To_Give]

32. You didn't want the same tactic used at the DNC?

Also used during tha Hatian migration a routinely to turn back Cuban refugees, etc.

This is a widely used tactic to enforce an exclusion zone on the water. On land police use spike strips and PIT manuvers to get vehicals to stop. On water they use the vessel itself to force a change in course.

And don't forget that if the CCG wasn't there the Sealers would take the law into their own hands. Do you really think the Farley Mowat or any person on board would ever be heard from again?

The kids on that cutter have a job to do and no say in what the public policy is. Thats decided by people back in Ottawa. There job is to keep the two sides from killing each other. And I suspect the Sealers are a little better at this than the Humane Society folks.