http://seashepherd.org/
http://seashepherd.org/news/media_080330_1.html
 Captain
Paul Watson
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| Date: |
Mar 30, 2008 11:53 AM |
| Subject: |
Sea Shepherd Crew Defy Ban on Documenting
the Slaughter |
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Sea Shepherd Crew Defy
Canada’s Ban on Documenting the Slaughter
The Sea Shepherd crew onboard the Farley Mowat documented scenes of
excessive brutality this morning as they moved through the ice some 35
miles north of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
Sea Shepherd crew observed seals being shot and wounded and thrashing
about in agony on the surface of the ocean.
The priorities of the Canadian Coast Guard seem to be in harassing the
crew of the Farley Mowat and trying to prevent documentation of the
inhumane slaughter of seals.
Two coast guard vessels shadowed the Farley Mowat all morning. The
Coast Guard vessel CCGS Des Groseilliers ordered the Farley Mowat to
leave Canadian waters and to not approach any sealing operation stating
that a permit is required from the Canadian government to observe the
seals being slaughtered.
The Farley Mowat responded by saying; “permits. We don’t need no
stinkin’ permits.
”
The Canadian government has no authority over a foreign registered ship
traveling outside the Canadian twelve mile limit. The Farley Mowat is a
Dutch ship with a Dutch Captain and a crew from the Netherlands, Great
Britain, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada and
South Africa.
The crew of
the Farley Mowat believe the Canadian Coast Guard should be
concentrating on search and rescue operations instead of censoring
observation of the slaughter of seals.
Canadian Coast Guard incompetence has already led to the death of four
sealers.
Yesterday
four men from the Magdalene Islands died when their 12 meter aluminum
hulled boat the L’Acadien II capsized while being towed through heavy
ice by the Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander.
Bruno-Pierre
Bourque one of the two survivors of the L'Acadien II, blamed the
tragedy on excessive speed and lack of attention by the Coast Guard.
Canadian
Coast Guard spokesperson Mike Voigt defended the Coast Guard saying
there are no regulations for towing in the ice and the Coast Guard has
little experience in towing vessels through the ice.
“This
is incredible,” said Captain Paul Watson, himself a former member of
the Canadian Coast Guard. “The government of Canada allows hundreds of
small non-ice class vessels to navigate in the most hostile waters on
earth in heavy ice and they then say they have no contingency plans to
deal with rescuing these same vessels. Perhaps if they spent less time
making plans to prevent the documentation of the seal slaughter and
more time being concerned about protecting human lives, these men would
not have died.
”
The
following are eye-witness accounts from crewmembers onboard the Farley
Mowat. The very witnessing of these events is considered illegal by the
Canadian government.
We
encountered the sealing vessel the Cathy Erlene, registered to Sydney
NS. Upon approach we saw two small aluminum boats carrying two men each
darting from ice floe to ice floe searching for baby seals. It seemed
they had a system. The barbarians on the Cathy Erlene were cruising
through the ice searching for the few seal pups there were. They
carried on their disgusting massacre carelessly firing upon the
unsuspecting babies, their only goal to find an maim the infants. We
witnessed two helpless victims, meters from the ship writhing in agony,
hot blood spilling onto the ice and heard their cries as they continued
to suffer for a good long time awaiting the small boats to arrive and
fulfill their doom. Stepping onto the ice the babies, still alive turn
their heads to the approaching man with a club. There is nothing humane
about this massacre. What I saw today I will never forget, their cries
will fill my thoughts and torturer my soul. I can say I am truly
embarrassed to be of the same race as these cowards and ashamed to be a
Canadian today.
-Shannon Mann, Canada
Nothing
prepared me for this, no video or previous encounter with the sealers
on the ice. I watched in horror and disgust as two murderers clammered
from their small boat, club in hand, and smashed in the skull of a baby
harp seal. For an hour or so my memories are fuzzy with blood, abuse
and worst of all the cries of seals as they are brutally killed. We
will do whatever we can to expose this unnecessary, disgusting
slaughter of life. Canada can not continue to censor it's dirty secret
any longer.
- Laura Dakin UK
First
sight of human life on the ice I see two men lifting a seal impaled
through the neck onto a sealing boat... the seal was still moving.
There was lots of ice covered with blood everywhere. There was a larger
boat that the smaller boats were dropping off teh seals to be skinned,
one of teh crew of the boat got up to wave smuggly at us. They were
skinning them and throwing the seal carcases back overboard. They call
it a seal hunt but I don't think walking up to a stationary seal and
smashing it's head in is hunting, it is an act of pure cruelty. No
wonder they don't want the rest of the world to see what is happening.
-Daniel Bishop, England
It is untrue to say that killing these seals is being done humanely.
Today
we have seen sealers shooting the baby seals to wound them so they can't
flee, beating them with wooden clubs then killing them by cutting the
arteries under their flippers. The seals die slowly and in pain.
It is a
horrible thing to see.
- Dr Merryn Redenbach, Melbourne Australia
When I woke this morning I looked through the port hole and saw red
patches
of blood on the ice and I knew the seal hunt had begun.
On the deck I
immediately saw a small boat and two men who stopped on a little piece
of
ice in order to slaughter an innocent baby harp seal.
Actually there were
two small boats and one sealing ship.
The hunters carried a hakapik and
bashed the seal's head.
Some of the seals were still alive when they were
delivered back to the sealing ship where they were finally skinned.
- Anne Fourier, France
The Farley Mowat will continue to document the atrocities of the
sealers and the incompetence of the Canadian Coast Guard. |
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