[NatureNS] A New Low in Barbarism

Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 10:26:34 -0300 (ADT)
From: Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Importance: Medium
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Return-Path: <naturens-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
Original-Recipient: rfc822;"| (cd /csuite/info/Environment/FNSN/MList; /csuite/lib/arch2html)"

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   Hans,
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   &#160;&#160; I feel your pain and disgust at the slaughter of seals, but I am&#160; afraid that buying Sambro Island and keeping people&#160;away from it will not resolve the issue. Seals can be&#160;easily shot from a boat, and you cannot simply ban boating around&#160;the island. Besides, who might enforce such a ban? Ultimately the solution lies in public education. I know of several seal colonies in the province that are a bit of a local tourist attraction, visited by tourist boats.
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   &#160;&#160; Dusan Soudek
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   &#160;
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   <br/>&#62; On May 11, 2015 at 9:04 AM Hans &#60;htoom@hfx.eastlink.ca&#62; wrote: 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; Several years ago I found a harbour seal with gun shot wounds dying on a 
   <br/>&#62; beach in Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park. I assumed at the time 
   <br/>&#62; that this was an isolated incident. Not so it seems. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; Shotgun blasts have come from the direction of Sambro Island for years 
   <br/>&#62; but I only recently found out what is happening there. Apparently, and 
   <br/>&#62; this uncorroborated, fishermen possibly with permits are killing seals 
   <br/>&#62; and their pups. The really disturbing part is that shotguns will not 
   <br/>&#62; kill grey seals or even harbour seals but will cause them such pain and 
   <br/>&#62; agony that they eventually drown after suffering horribly. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; Since this happens with a secret handshake between the Department of 
   <br/>&#62; Fisheries and Oceans(also uncorroborated) and local fisherman it begs 
   <br/>&#62; the question on how many more secret handshakes are occurring and how 
   <br/>&#62; many other seal colonies are being butchered in this manner. The coast 
   <br/>&#62; guard base at Sambro Harbour certainly knows about this activity since 
   <br/>&#62; the gun shots can be heard all around the area. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; The answer to this depravity is simple. Buy the island from the Coast 
   <br/>&#62; Guard and close it to all human traffic. Only a small portion of land is 
   <br/>&#62; needed to host the lighthouse itself. Which brings up another act of 
   <br/>&#62; stupidity and barbarism. This time by the Coast Guard. They hover their 
   <br/>&#62; helicopters over the lighthouse regularly for extended periods for what 
   <br/>&#62; purpose I do not know but this could only be disruptive if not 
   <br/>&#62; destructive to the Arctic Tern colony. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; I recognize that the folks on this list can do nothing but perhaps, just 
   <br/>&#62; perhaps, this story can be followed up by a journalist if the 
   <br/>&#62; dissemination of this information is wide enough. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; To quote a famous Newfoundlander John Crosbie, &#34;I didn&#39;t take the fish 
   <br/>&#62; out of the (expletives deleted) water&#34;. When John Cabot first came to 
   <br/>&#62; these shores he had to plow through the cod so the fallacious argument 
   <br/>&#62; that the seals ate all the fish does not hold water(sorry). The 
   <br/>&#62; fisherman took the fish out of the water. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; Laura and I will make a contribution to the Nova Scotia Nature Trust to 
   <br/>&#62; help them buy this island if hopefully they will take on this project 
   <br/>&#62; and then take this island away from our government(s) and close it to 
   <br/>&#62; humans except under supervision. 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; Hans 
   <br/>&#62; 
   <br/>&#62; -- 
   <br/>&#62; Hans Toom 
   <br/>&#62; http://www.hanstoom.com 
   <br/>&#62; http://www.hanstoom.com/blog 
   <br/>&#62;
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