Seems to me food & drink is the place to put this!

Hats off to this woman and her support for one small part of the  Atlantic Canadian Economy

and I think it's pretty funny

http://jonathanturley.org/2009/05/27/royal-governor-eats-raw-seal-heart-in-protest-of-eu-ban/#comments

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Whack Fall The Day
Nick

She's gotten a lot of support for what she did, she's also gotten a lot of flack. I understand her helping with the gutting and skinning to show people that it's a livlihood. Don't really understand the eating of the raw heart though. She kind of had a look on her face that said "No one must see me looking disgusted". She looked to me like she couldn't quite manage a face of enjoyment when she did that. She is one brave lady though. That was the final crossing of the line to show the world Canada is not backing down.

 

 BTW, the Governor-General now only represents the British Government in Canada in a symbolic way. The comment in that article about what will the English say, is pointless. They have no say over what Canada does.

Here's another article, a positive one regardless of the title.  http://www.montrealgazette.com/News/seal+heart+meal+leaves+taste/1633663/story.html 

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

personally i think this is disgusting. Yes there is a small part of the seal hunt that is native and traditional however most of the hunt is just plain unneeded and its propped up by the government at a huge cost to the tax payer! The GG is a relic and a waste of money herself and this ridiculous photo opp is just another example of how out of touch she really is.

Now a word about the semantics of this all. This is NOT a hunt. My family is all from northern ontario and therefore many of them are hunters, real hunters, they go out stalk animals for hours or even days in an environment where the animal has a fighting chance. These people go out to an ice flow and shot animals that are too young to get in the water and swim away... who is the real animal in that scenario?

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I am the fountain of affection
I'm the instrument of joy
And to keep the good times rolling
I'm the boy, I'm the boy,

Bryck123:

personally i think this is disgusting. Yes there is a small part of the seal hunt that is native and traditional however most of the hunt is just plain unneeded and its propped up by the government at a huge cost to the tax payer! The GG is a relic and a waste of money herself and this ridiculous photo opp is just another example of how out of touch she really is.

 

I think that whatever their spending to prop up the seal hunt is a drop in the bucket compared to what their spending to prop up the auto industry (in places like Oshawa).

Although I don't know that much about the seal hunt, as far as I know people are not LEGALLY allowed to hunt seals as young as you described. The GG was also eating the seal heart because it is a local delicacy (part of the "native and traditional" you were referring to).

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

An A to Z of modern seal hunting:  http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/sealfactsheet/

How money can muddy the waters:  interview with Paul Watson

Love, Columbine 

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Thanks Col.  That first link didn't quite work but I eventually got to this page: http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/sealfactsheet/facts.htm .

The argument that the industry (which is separate from the aboriginals (or anyone else) hunting for their own tables in my mind) is a long-standing tradition and is important to the economy doesn't quite fly with me.  Slavery was a tradition and very important to the economy but that in itself didn't make it right.

However, I am a meat eater.  I eat cows and pigs and deer and boar and chickens and turkeys, salmon, lobster, crab,... Aside from the fact that the seals are not raised (or inbred, or genetically modified, or chemically enhanced) to be eaten, I'd like to know how the seal harvest is different from the abbatoirs my meat comes from.  I honestly think I know more about how seals are killed, than the meat that is in my freezer. (Seal isn't available here.) We (socially, not necessarily me in particular) eat all kinds of animals.  Why are seals so picked on? They're not endangered, according to the links provided, and if the stories of farmed animals are true, they're better for the environment...Deer herds are regularly "culled" (I love semantics!) for "population control" in many countries (including the UK and some of those residents are disgusted with the seal hunt).  Why not use the meat? 

I'm not really on one side or the other of this debate.  I'm just on a (tiresome) quest for complete information.  Maybe then I'll be able to decide for myself.

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Sing an unwritten song or repent for the deeds you left undone.- GBS
If curious means that you trade your routines for something free, the freedom you feel's the whole point of the deal so curious I'll be! - BNL
Priates over Ninjas!!

Since you mentioned culling deer to control the population, one of the reasons given for continuing the seal hunt is that if it's ceased completely, or if a European ban on products succeeds, the population of seals will be so great that it will begin to affect the food chain. Seal eat a lot of fish and the fish population may greatly decrease if seals are no longer hunted meaning less food for humans as well as other animals that eat fish. So, not only will human pocketbooks be affected but so will stomachs in a way that has nothing to do with eating seal hearts.

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

that's why I mentioned it, just didn't want my post to sound like an essay (too many points to make).  BTW, it's the "flock" Alan described in his FTR that was being culled when I learned the word, after having to answer for the seal clubbing to the UK family I was living with.

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Sing an unwritten song or repent for the deeds you left undone.- GBS
If curious means that you trade your routines for something free, the freedom you feel's the whole point of the deal so curious I'll be! - BNL
Priates over Ninjas!!