Americans – Give To Your Local Shelters Instead !

The HSUS do not represent your local shelter !

Activists don’t inform – They manipulate.

The EFSA report published in December 2007 is straight forward and needs no interpretations : http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178671319178.htm

The only reason some of the activists want to interpret it is to omit information from the report and imply statements that were not made in the report.

The General Conclusions and Recommendations found on pages 94 and 95 of the report discount many activist claims.

Are you an ignorant European ?

Then the HSUS want you !

Yes, the HSUS are trying their hand at the Canadian seafood boycott again, this time more extensively in Europe in the hopes to find Europeans that don’t know that very few fishermen in Canada are involved in the commercial seal hunt and that the commercials seal hunt is limited to a tiny geographical area off the East coast of Canada.

They are again trying to capitalize on ignorance, as they did have previously in the states since 2005, a country where importations of seal products was banned in 1972.

For years these opportunists have tooted their own horn, exaggerating the support and impact of the failed American boycott to solicit more funds. But in the end logic prevailed and the scam was exposed, as will this cash grab.

After all, didn’t the EU just ban importations of seal products ? What’s the point of this nonsense ? Are they simply hoping nobody will notice the inconsistencies this time ?

“We aren’t targeting the Inuit” ?

If they aren’t targeting the Inuit, then what was the Michaëlle Jean incident about ? I am not alone in noticing it :

IFAW’s Doubious Press Release

On December 17th, 2007 IFAW had a press release issued in reference to the European Union commissioned EFSA report that had been released that month on the seal hunt.

What is interesting about this press release is that it is entitled “EFSA Report to European Commission Finds Canada’s Commercial Seal Hunt Inhumane” and starts off with this statement :

“The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) today released its report on the Animal Welfare Aspects of Seal Hunting, finding there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support the Canadian government’s claims that its commercial seal hunt is ‘humane’.”

The IFAW press release also stated that the EFSA scientists found that “sealers often do not comply with the Canadian regulations in relation to manually checking the skull or administering a blinking reflex test”.

I find these claims interesting because of the following conclusions found in the EFSA document :

“Many seals can be, and are, killed rapidly and effectively without causing avoidable pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering, using a variety of methods that aim to destroy sensory brain functions.” (General Conclusion, Part 3, quoted in full)

“There is strong evidence that, in practice, effective killing does not always occur but the degree to which it does not happen has been difficult to assess, partly because of a lack of objective data and partly because of the genuine differences in interpretation of the
available data.” (General Conclusion, Part 4, quoted in full)

Even the summary of the opinion issued by the EFSA clearly states that the evidence against the seal hunt was insufficient, inconclusive and biased.

It is then logical to believe they did not conclude that the incidents of non-compliance to Canadian regulations by the sealers were so numerous as to use to word “often”. And in reality the report had stated that several independent groups had observed non-compliance “on many occasions” (Section 7.3, page 77), which was apparently not convenient for IFAW to use.

Then there’s the alleged condemnation of the Canadian hunt.

Well, if the report had concluded the Canadian hunt was inhumane, it would have been stipulated, specifically in the conclusions, and a ban would have been specifically recommended.

Not only are there no conclusions in regards to the inhumanity of the Canadian hunt, there are no recommendations for a ban. The report also does not include a conclusion that seal hunt are “inherently inhumane”.

Furthermore, Dorian Prince, the EU Ambassador to Canada, categorically denied that the proposed ban targeted Canada in a July 17th, 2008 televised interview on CTV and stated that he believed Canada and the EU could find a resolution if the legislation is passed.

So much for IFAW’s claims in regards to the EFSA Report.

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Maple Syrup Boycott

Apparently they haven’t learned from the tremendous failures of the seafood boycott and have again decided to focus on an industry that has little to no political influence on the seal hunt.

The Maple syrup producers have no standing at the Department of Fisheries nor do they have any lobbying abilities in the sealing industry.
But one has to wonder if this is actually a contrived effort or politically influenced move.

For example, the HSUS’ seafood boycott had found support in some members of the American seafood industry just as prices of seafood dropped, mostly because of China’s flooding of the market. The HSUS have also taken credit for reduced Canadian exports when the economical problems were limited to Canada

We’re in a recession and Canadian maple syrup exports have been hurt by it, as are the American export in their maple syrup industry. And as you can see by their press releases and web sites on the subject that they are promoting American maple syrup :

“Group Urges Consumers to Buy American Maple Syrup in Hopes of Stopping the Canadian Seal Massacre” – May 26th, 2009 press release

“Save Seals: Boycott Canadian Maple Syrup” – May 26th, 2009 PETA.org blog entry.

I guess we’ll know the answer if statements about the seal hunt and “cruelty free” labels show up on American Maple products. This would be a tactic to influence the purchasing habits of parents via their children.

The DFO & Freedom of Speech

In 2008 there were several amendments to section 32 and 33 of the Marine Mammal Regulations that have been misquoted by the activists and I thought I’d post some information about what was done and what was the result of those amendments.

Basically the amendments addressed the issues in regards to the observers licenses that are given to media outlets and groups like IFAW.

Several groups had ignored the conditions of the license to provoke situations they could film to vilify the sealers and generally disrupt the seal hunt.

The amendments caused groups that had disregarded these conditions to loose the ability to obtain an observer’s license from five years of a conviction in regards to a violation.

The amendment published in the February 14th, 2008 Canada Gazette clearly state that observers are only limited to a ten meter distance from the sealers and sealing activity so the activists are clearly exaggerating the issue.

But then these self important groups need to sell an illusion that they’re actually doing something, or trying to do it.

MTV Canada Report On Seal Hunt

The above is a pretty good report on the seal hunt in Canada by MTV Canada.

You’ll notice that I posted a comment that the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association article that was published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal in September 2002 was peer reviewed.

The Backyard Feeder Adventures

I’ve had to post something about this in my blog. It’s just that ridiculous.

I have three backyard feeders, one of which was for niger seed, another for safflower and the largest being for sunflower, peanuts and misc seed.

For some reason this combination never worked.

The niger seed feeder, which is popular at times with the goldfishes, is apparently too close to the wall and squirrels scare them.

The safflower seed feeder was raided by squirrels, who in this area apparently like to eat it – Even though the experts all think they don’t.

And the larger feeder is being constantly raided by grackles, who scare off the smaller birds and blue jays and empty is out just for the sunflower seeds and peanuts I had added to the mix for the blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches and cardinals.

ARGH !

Even the spicy squirrel proof seed I replaced the safflower with was apparently to the squirrels’ liking. Both the gray and black squirrels just thought it was Mexican Fiesta time !

Yes, they ate thought it more slowly but they still managed to empty it out.

DOUBLE ARGH !!

So now I will be using the more expensive safflower and niger seed in my feeders from April to October. There’s no way to avoid it without paying for yet another series of feeders.

Grackle don’t like either so I’ll be using it in the main feeder but I wont make the mistake of putting it in any feeder accessible to squirrels.

The problem though is that without the white millet I wont be attracting as many mourning doves and dark eyed juncos during the season. And I wont be seeing as many nuthatches and blue jays without the peanuts and sunflower seeds during the summer either.

I could buy a squirrel and grackle proof feeder but I don’t underestimate my local squirrels. I don’t think the feeders would stand a chance.

Knowing these squirrels they’d probably try to nibble it open, or hand upside down to get the seeds or try to make it fall and crack open. And at more than $60 per feeder, I don’t think I’d want to risk it. My largest feeder and the feeder’s pole & baffler cost less than $30.

I’m going to keep an eye out for other solutions though cause I already miss my chipmunks from my previous address and I would love to keep as many of the little critters around, including the gray squirrels and grackles.

BTW, here are some of my backyard videos, in case you haven’t seen them already :

• Some Mourning Doves Grooming
• An American Goldfinch At the Feeder
• A Blue Jay Eating Peanuts
• A Greedy Gray Squirrel
• The Cute Chipmunk From My Previous Address
• The Random Critters From Stony Swamp
• One Of My Deer Videos
• A Cute Baby Rabbit That Showed Up One Day