BLOOD ON THE INNOCENT SNOW

I do not intend to save you anything in that posting. If you have a weak heart, do not read it; if you do wish to believe that people are good creatures, do not read it; if you do not care for anything else but your convenient existence, do not read it! No matter if you read it or not, it happens. The same time every year, absolutely sure as the day and night change, without any change for decades.

Every one of us have seen the picture of sweet furry baby seal with its huge attractive eyes...

... and no one presumes what did these deep black eyes see. No one of us has any idea how much horror is hidden insight springtime.

Every year during the spring, for 6 to 8 weeks, the ice of St.Lorence bay and along the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador float red.


It is the most massive annual marine mammal slaughter ever and the only trades hunt, which target is species youngsters.

Every year, during these bloody weeks of the spring, 300 000 baby harp seals, aged 2 to 12 weeks, are beaten to death. Hunters smash their skulls using special tool, called hakapik. Carcasses are being dragged to the boats by hooks and skinned there on the ice. Only the skins are taken, the rest is left on the snow or thrown away in the water.


Thousands wounded youngsters (15 000 to 150 000 a year), manage to escape the hunters and die later of the wounds or get drown, because they still have no ability to swim under the age of 5 weeks.




They are killed mainly for the skin, exported to Finland, Norway, Hong Kong, Turkey, Russia and other countries, where it is used for expensive designers’ coats sewing and accessories. Gucci, Prada and Versace are amongst the biggest consumers of such products.

It is a huge business for the government only. The country is earning billions from export of skins. According to Canadian State Agency, which is responsible for the seal hunt, the monthly profit is “more than 20 million Canadian dollars”.

"Canadian government insists that seal hunt is an animal products industry like any other. They say that, even it is not nice, the only difference with the other slaughter houses is the fact that animals are being killed on the ice. But we discovered obvious levels of suffering, which will not be tolerated in any other industry in the world", said Jan Robinson, British veterinarian.

Two separate veterinary reports, studying the seal hunt in 2001, one of them ordered by Canadian government, show numerous examples of animals being hit by hakapik or shot, but still conscious after that.

Both studies gathered documentary evidences of animals being hooked and dragged on the ice still conscious, and many of them are still alive when dragged to the boat this way, finally.

Here it is what an international team of five veterinarians found:

* 79% of fishermen do not check if the animal is already dead before they skin it.
* In 40% of the kills it is necessary for the fishermen to hit the animal second time, because it is still conscious after the first hit or shot in the head.
* The autopsy shown that 42% of killed seals had no or had minimal fractures, which shows that there is a huge possibility to have been skinned alive.


Brussels, 23 July 2008

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES TRADE BAN IN PRODUCTS FROM SEALS TO IMPROVE ANIMAL WELFARE

European Commission adopted today a proposal for a regulation banning the trading of seal products within, into, and from the European Union to ensure that products derived from seals killed and skinned in ways that cause pain, distress and suffering are not found on the European market. Trade in seal products would only be allowed where guarantees can be provided that hunting techniques consistent with high animal-welfare standards were used and that the animals did not suffer unnecessarily.
Addressing the welfare of seals during hunting
The aim of the proposed regulation is to address the animal welfare aspects of the killing and skinning of seals during a hunt by ensuring that products derived from seals killed and skinned in ways that cause pain, distress and suffering do not find their way to the European market.
Seals are sentient mammals which can experience pain. The Commission proposal seeks to address the concerns expressed by the European Parliament and the general public that seals are being killed and skinned using practices that unnecessarily inflict pain and suffering. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific opinion indicates that seals can be killed rapidly and effectively by a number of methods without causing avoidable pain, distress and suffering, but evidence shows that effective killing does not always happen in practice.
Trade in seal products would be allowed only where guarantees can be provided that hunting techniques consistent with high animal-welfare-standards were used and that the animals did not suffer unnecessarily. In countries where seal hunting continues a certification scheme would be established, coupled, if necessary, with a distinctive label or marking, which will ensure that seal products traded are clearly certified as coming from a country meeting strict conditions.
The aim of the Commission's proposal is to uphold high standards of animal welfare.
The proposal will now be submitted to the European Parliament and to Council for their approval.


Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: " We propose a ban on the placing on the market and importing into EU, transiting through, and exporting from the European Union on seal products. Seal products coming from countries which practice cruel hunting methods must not be allowed to enter the EU. The EU is committed to upholding high standards of animal welfare."


"Commissioner’s Dimas statement is an answer to the massive public reaction and the growing political opposition in the European Union against the industrial seal hunt. Despite the results of number of competent studies showing that the most of Canadians are against the industrial seal hunt too, Canadian government continues to act in full contrast with public opinion, serving local politicians and the fur industry, was the comment of IFAW Canada.

As you read this you may say “Its happening far away from here. Is there something to do with me?!" No, its not happening so far. Its happening in our world, its happening because of people like us, it had being tolerated by people like us!


Now turn your sight off what’s written here and tell yourself that the world is the same as before, after you’ve read it. Can you really insist on it for sure? Can you really forget the blood on the snow, small furry seals, which are not even showing resistance to slaughter? Can you really stop over here, without anything to do for change?

Do not buy fur coat. IT IS DEAD!

Boycott sea food and products, produced in Canada!

Write to the Premier Minister of Canada to show your indignation at the Canadian policy for brutal killing of seals:

His Excellency Stephen Harper
Pime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington St.
Ottawa K1A OA2
Canada
613-941-69oo (fax)
pm@pm.gc.ca

THE PUPPET Gabriel García Márquez

If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll and give me a scrap of life, possibly I would not say everything that I think, but I would definitely think everything that I say.

I would value things not for how much they are worth but rather for what they mean.

I would sleep little, dream more. I know that for each minute that we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.

I would walk when the others loiter; I would awaken when the others sleep.

I would listen when the others speak, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream.

If God would bestow on me a scrap of life, I would dress simply, I would throw myself flat under the sun, exposing not only my body but also my soul.

My God, if I had a heart, I would write my hatred on ice and wait for the sun to come out. With a dream of Van Gogh I would paint on the stars a poem by Benedetti, and a song by Serrat would be my serenade to the moon.

With my tears I would water the roses, to feel the pain of their thorns and the incarnated kiss of their petals...My God, if I only had a scrap of life...

I wouldn't let a single day go by without saying to people I love, that I love them.

I would convince each woman or man that they are my favourites and I would live in love with love.

I would prove to the men how mistaken they are in thinking that they no longer fall in love when they grow old--not knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love. To a child I would give wings, but I would let him learn how to fly by himself. To the old I would teach that death comes not with old age but with forgetting. I have learned so much from you men....

I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain without realizing that true happiness lies in the way we climb the slope.

I have learned that when a newborn first squeezes his father's finger in his tiny fist, he has caught him forever.

I have learned that a man only has the right to look down on another man when it is to help him to stand up. I have learned so many things from you, but in the end most of it will be no use because when they put me inside that suitcase, unfortunately I will be dying.

translated by Matthew Taylor and Rosa Arelis Taylor