Animal

Posez VOS questions à David Suzuki, écologiste de renommée internationale. Vous avez jusqu'à 11h, mardi, pour nous les soumettre à redaction@cyberpresse.ca, en prenant soin d'indiquer votre nom complet. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080225/CPENVIRONNEMENT/80220229/6730/CPACTUALITES

Anti-sealers threaten to sue N.S. (comments can be posted online below the article) Anti-sealers threaten to sue N.S. By AMY SMITH Provincial Reporter Mon. Feb 25 - 1:55 PM Animal rights groups have threatened to sue the Nova Scotia government to prevent another grey seal hunt such as the one that concluded last week off Cape Breton. (ANDRE MASLENNIKOV / Rex Features) The director of an animal rights groups says the seal hunt in one of Nova Scotia’s protected wilderness areas this month was “the most brutal” she’s ever witnessed. And now the Humane Society International Canada is considering taking the province to court over the recent hunt on Hay Island off Cape Breton. “The decision to turn this provincial park, this unique ecological site into an open-air slaughterhouse was a betrayal of every citizen of Nova Scotia,” Rebecca Aldworth, the group’s director of animal programs, said at a Halifax news conference Monday. She said they believe there are “likely violations” of the Wilderness Areas Protection Act. Ms. Aldworth hopes possible legal action and public pressure will ensure the hunt on Hay Island, about two kilometres off the coast of Main-a-Dieu in Cape Breton, never happens again. It is part of the Scatarie Island protected wilderness area. Earlier this month, Environment Minister Mark Parent said he allowed the hunt under a section of the act that says he can permit otherwise prohibited activities “for the responsible management, preservation or restoration of indigenous biodiversity of a wilderness area.” He said government lawyers told him he had the authority to permit the hunt without having to change the legislation. Capt. Robert Courtney, a sealer for more than two decades, said the hunt was humane and done by the book. He said the sealers were monitored by both the federal Department of Fisheries and provincial Department of Natural Resources. When asked how he felt about the humane society’s description of the hunt as cruel, Mr. Courtney said: “Welcome to the real world, as far as I’m concerned, because killing of anything is cruel. “I’m sure if they went to Iraq they’d probably see a lot crueller stuff than what they seen there with human beings.” He said there need to be more seal harvests in order to stop growing herds, which he said are expanding at a rate of 12 per cent a year. “There is a need for expansion because taking 1,200 animals ain’t going to bring it in check,” Mr. Courtney said. “By saving the seals, what are you doing? You are throwing the ecosystem out of balance.” He said what occurred on Hay Island was a limited, controlled harvest, not a cull, which he said is just killing for the sake of killing. Mr. Courtney said there is a market for the pelts, although it has dropped to about $20 each this year, from $105 two years ago. During the news conference, Ms. Aldworth and Bridget Curran with the Atlantic Canada Anti-Sealing Coalition showed footage of men banging wooden sticks to herd the seals together, hitting the animals over the head with sticks and then slicing them open with box cutters. One photo showed a white coat pup, too young to harvest, with blood on his underside. Another pup was huddled next to a dead seal. “They were being killed just inches away from the newborn seals and their mothers and the mothers were trying to defend the pups by putting themselves and the pups. It was heartbreaking to witness,” Ms. Aldworth said. “Grey seals actually have quite thick skulls so the use of wooden bats to stun them is absolutely unacceptable. I saw seals that were literally moving their tails and flippers as they were being sliced open with box cutters.” Ms. Aldworth said there is no evidence that culling grey seals will help fish stocks recover. “If it was actually meant to be a cull, you would be targeting adult females, not juvenile pups,” she said. “This was a hunt for fur and it was a hunt that fisherman wanted because they want to sell those skins.” http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9005672.html

Vancouver Sun - Education Blog by Janet Steffenhagen Sun, Feb 24/08 Dying for high school biology classes It was almost three years ago that Lesley Fox scored a huge victory for frogs and other creatures that are dissected as part of high school biology lessons. Fox, a passionate animal activist, convinced the Vancouver school board that students should have the right to say no to dissections and learn, instead, by way of plastic models, videos, books or CD ROMS. School trustees unanimously approved a new policy in April 2005 requiring schools to tell students in advance of dissections that they have the right to say no. Vancouver became the first large school district in Canada to take such a position. Fox's lobby for animal rights was so successful that she even persuaded the B.C. Education Ministry to include speciesism as a topic for the new Social Justice 12 course, being piloted this year in four schools. But this week, Fox told me she is still hearing from desperate students - in Vancouver and elsewhere - who feel they have no choice. (See her website Frogs Are Cool.) "To avoid conflict with teachers, some of the students are choosing to avoid science altogether. It is a horrible and unnecessary situation that needs to change," she said in an email. "With state of the art technology, comprehensive plastic models and virtual CD ROM’s widely available, why is there still such resistance to embrace them? Why do some teachers still consider animal dissection as some ‘right of passage’? Why avoid the alternatives to animal dissection, particularly when they are more cost-effective in the long-term because they can be used year after year? If a student feels coerced into watching or participating in animal dissection, will they really learn the intended lesson? Animal dissection is an outdated teaching tool that has no place in modern day society," she said, noting the B.C. Education Ministry does not require dissections but leaves the decision to teachers. "Vancouver has a policy protecting a student’s right to refuse animal dissection. Teachers and schools need to comply and let students know, in advance, they do have a choice. I recommend they post a copy of the student choice policy in every science lab. After all, a choice isn’t a choice unless you know you have one!" http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/reportcard/default.aspx

on peut effaçer ces mots

la WSPA

OK ça marche ! Merci C'est bien dommage qu'ils aient ajouté cette phrase à leur lettre: It is unacceptable to ship live animals over thousands of kilometers and hundreds of hours when chilled or frozen meat could be shipped instead.

bienvenue Linda ! Il est magnifique ! J'espère qu'il trouvera une bonne famille pôve ti chou

je n'arrive pas à ouvrir la page à chaque fois je reçois ce message: «An error occurred while processing your request:»

tu peux me les envoyer à mon adresse de courriel que tu connais Linda et j'essaierai de les poster sur le forum demain dans le courant de la journée... xx

il s'agit du Front de libération animale...

C'est justement ça le problème: Pendant qu'il y a des milliers de chats sans foyer, on continue de vendre des «bébés» dans les commerces, marchés aux puces, animaleries, etc. C'est un cercle vicieux ! Je me souviens avoir lu une annonce il y a quelques mois, ou une personne écrivait: «j'aimerais échanger mon chat contre un chaton» Oui saturne, on se croise les doigts pour la semaine prochaine

peut-être que l'arrivée prochaine du printemps aidera un peu à attendrir les coeurs ...

et dire que ce pays a réussi à interdire les produits du phoque canadien sur son territoire...

Elles savent se faire comprendre, y'a pas de doute là-dessus !

Celui qui a écrit ce commentaire est celui qui a posté cette nouvelle sur une liste... Ça ne fait pas partie de l'article Cé. Il dit qu'il trouve bizarre que ça ne soit pas mentionné dans l'article qu'il y avait une personne de la Coalition anti-chasse (cette coalition qui se trouve à Halifax) présente sur les lieux de cette chasse au phoque Gris... voir le site de cette coalition, dont nous faisons partie en tant que supporters hihihihih http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/ http://www.antisealingcoalition.ca/supporters.php

«J'ai une question pour monsieur Gravel. Est-ce que les animaux montrés dans le reportage étaient destinés à la consommation ou non ? Àprès avoir visionné le reportage j'avais l'impression que oui, mais à la lecture de certains commentaires j'en doute. Cette cruauté animale m'a un peu levée le coeur mais la nuance est importante.» .............................. «Je tiens premièrement à dire que ce que nous avons vue dans le reportage n'est excusable en rien, mais une mise au point s'impose. Ce n'est pas parce qu'une minorité de personne pose des gestes odieux que ça reflète le portrait de l'industrie. en somme, la grande majorité des animaux aperçu dans le reportage sont des animaux de réforme qui ne sont pas généralement destiné à la consommation humaine. Au québec, les porcs sont de haute qualité et les animaux en processus d'élevage ou en direction de l'abattoir sont traiter avec plus de précaution.car, par exemple, un bleu ou un écchimose peut déclasser la viande. lors de journée chaude, les porcs sont transportés durant la nuit ou très tôt le matin. lors du transport, les animaux ne sont pas abreuver avant l'abattage car cela augmenterai le volume de l'estomac et il y a plus de risque de creuver l'estomac lors de l'abattage se qui augmente le risque de contamination de la carcasse et la déclassification. à la suite du visionnement de l'émission, je recommanderai de faire un reportage sur l'entassement des gens dans le métro lors des heures de grandes affluences. Ceci est un cas de dérogation au bien être. Je tiens à répéter tout de même que la société devrai arrêter de forger leurs opinions sur l'industrie sur des actes pratiqués par une minorité.» ...........................

Interesting that they do not mentioned that a representative of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-sealing coalition - group based in Halifax - was at some point on the island during the massacre of the seals... http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9005649.html Controversial C.B. seal hunt over By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton Bureau Fri. Feb 22 - 6:53 PM Pat Briand surveys one seal while another is hauled out of the Little Kaitlynn after the first ever hunt on Hay Island, a protected wilderness area off Main-a-Dieu in Cape Breton. (TERA CAMUS / Cape Breton Bureau) MAIN-A-DIEU — The first ever seal hunt on Hay Island is over. Dingwall fisherman Pat Briand told The Chronicle Herald he and the 15-member crew of the Little Kaitlan won’t be returning to the provincially protected wilderness area this year even though the quota isn’t filled and the season doesn’t officially end until mid-March. Fishermen managed to harvest only about 1,200 of the 2,500 allowable catch in the experimental hunt and now seals are too old. “She’s all done,” he said as the harvest was offloaded in Main-a-Dieu. “The seals’ (fur) has molted.” The cull of six- to eight-week-old grey seals, each weighing about 45 kilograms, was approved earlier this year by the provincial government, and supervised by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the provincial Natural Resources Department and the RCMP. The tiny island is part of the Scatarie Island protected wilderness area and is about two kilometres off this Cape Breton County community. The provincial Fisheries and Aquaculture Department requested the cull as a way to protect the ecologically sensitive island’s fish stocks. “We looked carefully at all the available information, including local knowledge and industry experience,” Minister Ron Chisholm said in a release earlier this month when the cull opened. Three national and international anti-sealing groups — none of which were from Nova Scotia — documented the first and Thursday’s hunt for use in public campaigns to protest the Canadian seal hunt one described in a recent interview as “brutal.” Mr. Briand believes the reason no locals protest the hunt is that many have family and friends working in the fishing industry and know the damage young seals can do when eating ground fish and shellfish. The seals can eventually become the size of small cars, weighting a tonne apiece. “I think locals understand that if something isn’t done with this overpopulation of seals that fish plants will be closing everywhere and we’re not using that as an excuse,” Mr. Briand said. “We see it happening now.” Capt. Robert Courtney, who headed the crew, said government now estimates a 12 per cent growth rate annually in the seal population. “They know it’s expanding at an alarming rate,” he said while en route to Montreal for an industry meeting. “These international groups film ... to raise money for their organizations. Why don’t they take pictures of the 1,000-pound grey seals on that island and show the public how big they grow? They don’t. You’ll never see that.” Mr. Courtney, who said the hunt is no uglier than slaughterhouses for beef, pig and chickens, was headed to a day-long industry meeting to discuss the newly required three-step process to kill seals legally and humanely, something activists say isn’t possible. Rebecca Aldworth, spokeswoman for The Humane Society of the United States, said in a recent interview that clubbing and bullets to kill animals for fur isn’t humane. Often animals are only stunned when hit. “There is not a shred of credible evidence on the planet to suggest that grey seals are negatively impacting any fish stock,” Ms. Aldworth said. “Hay Island is a very important ecological site which the seals are part of.” No incidents were reported between the sealers and anti-sealers during the hunt. Activists were kept farther away on Thursday than they were on opening day when a loophole in an injunction allowed them closer access. That loophole was closed with an amendment in the regulation Thursday in Ottawa, according to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Mexico lifts ban on Canadian cattle imports Sat, Feb 23, 2008 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico in March will lift a ban on Canadian cattle imports that dates to a 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease in Canada. "Beginning in March, Mexico will be able to import dairy and beef cattle from Canada that are younger than 30 months," Mexico's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Mexico stopped importing beef and cattle from Canada following an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2003. (Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Bill Trott) http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080223/canada/canada_mexico_canada_cattle_col

http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/9005641.html DFO considers court action against anti-seal hunt groups By THE CANADIAN PRESS Fri. Feb 22 - 2:01 PM ST. ANTHONY, N.L. — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is considering taking animal rights groups to court for using false information in their campaigns against the seal hunt. Spokesman Phil Jenkins says they are looking into the competition act to see if they can reduce the amount of misinformation that is circulating. Jenkins says false information spread by animal welfare groups is hurting a legal industry and has even been used by a European Union commission in requesting a ban on the hunt. ... http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/9005641.html

oui c'est sûr qu'on est arriérés Caro, mais par contre je me dis que c'est bien beau d'avoir des lois, mais encore faudrait-il qu'elles soient appliquées... Les pauvres cochons qu'on a vus dans le reportage Enquête en train de se faire casser le museau à coup de batte s'en allaient vers un abattoir ontarien, et si j'ai bien compris, des cochons avec le museau ensanglanté et les dent arrachées, arrivent fréquemment dans les abattoirs dans cet état, mais jamais personne ne se pose de questions... Si Animals Angels n'avait pas filmé cette scène, qui saurait que ça se passe comme ça, que c'est une pratique courante, même si c'est soit-disant interdit par la loi ... Où sont les inspecteurs ? Les vétérinaires ? Où sont ceux qui sont sensés protéger les animaux de la cruauté ?

Bien des groupes ne s’affichent pas comme étant végéta*iens mais en font quand même la promotion : HSUS, PETA, Sea Shepherd, Farm Sanctuary, etc. ect. Des refuges ou associations qui sauvent des animaux de la rue et de la misère mais qui ne s’affichent pas comme étant végéta*iens ou abolitionnistes ne mériteraient donc pas d'être aidés ?

Allo Ranëwen, Je suis bien sûr d’accord avec Francione qu'il faut être abolitionniste et qu'être welfariste est hypocrite, mais je suis également d'accord avec hop lorsqu'elle dit entre autre, que «le véganisme passe le plus souvent par le végétarisme (ex. le véganisme de Paul Watson est très récent), que la sensibilisation au sort des animaux se fait aussi souvent par étapes, et que ce n'est pas en traitant de haut les gens qui commencent à se questionner, ni en leur intimant de faire le grand saut tout de suite qu'on les incitera à pousser leur reflexions plus avant.» Même si je ne suis pas d'accord avec certaines actions de certains groupes de défense animale (ex. actions sexistes de PETA) et que malheureusement tous ceux qui travaillent au sein de ces groupes ne sont pas abolitionnistes, plusieurs ne sont même pas végétariens, je crois tout-de-même que sans leurs campagnes et leurs actions (ex. vidéos en caméras cachées), les gens ne seraient pas autant informés qu'ils le sont aujourd'hui et que c'est en étant informés que l'on est en mesure de réfléchir et de faire des choix éclairés.