The photos on Yahoo of the harp seals being killed are disgusting

[librarycard]

How can anyone have such a job or be photographed killing these beautiful animals?

To me, it's tantamount to torturing/killing Iraqis.

I'm disgusted by it all.

[jpgray]

1. If seals were ugly, no one would give two shits

But I digress...

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Or liberals.

[librarycard]

3. A lot of people think Falwell is ugly

but they don't want to see him hacked to death.

[rkc3]

9. How sure of that are you?

I would guess if you posted a poll here, you would get some pretty interesting answers.

BTW, I am in no way, shape or form, advocating the bludgeoning of Jerry Falwell to death - no matter how much he deserves it.

[skypilot]

4. Whales aren't particularly cute...

...but people care what happens to them. Gorillas aren't cute either but people are concerned about their being killed off by poachers.

[jpgray]

6. Neither are cows

But most of the beef people eat comes from a much nastier process that occurs on a much wider scale. A primate is a totally different order of animal, and people love whales. That leads me to conclude it's the cuteness at work.

[librarycard]

7. Or red on white?

I don't eat beef. Clinton probably wishes he didn't.

[skypilot]

8. Cuteness at work.

Yes, I understand the cuteness factor, I just think that that doesn't necessarily explain why people are more concerned about some animals and not others. Ducks and rabbits are undeniably cute but people don't make much of a fuss about people eating them. Personally, I think cows ARE kinda cute.

[jpgray]

12. Well, to me that marketability seems to be what makes the difference

I don't think it's therefore wrong or ignorant that people care about the seals--better to care for that reason than not to care at all, right?

[rkc3]

10. Two words about your hamburger - bolt gun.

[Maru Kitteh]

15. Two words about bolt guns - don't work

Captive bolt guns have a very high rate of failure and many of the cattle are still alive when their throat is cut and workers begin pulling their skin off and cutting them apart. Compassion costs too much time when you are knee deep in the blood and filth of a modern slaughter factory running at the speed of 400 dead animals per hour.

If the process were the least bit humane the slaughter industries would allow or even encourage film crews in but the truth is it's brutal, inhumane and ugly no matter who is doing the filming. That's why all the slaughter factories have security tighter than Fort Knox. They have much to hide, and much to be ashamed of. I won't even start on the state of servitude they keep their illegal workforce in, that's a whole other post topic.

[rkc3]

18. My point exactly.

I get a lot of grief for archery hunting deer at my office. I take the sport very seriously and take a lot of time at the range before the season.

Some of my colleagues point out how inhumane the practice might appear - but a well-placed shot is more humane than what most livestock get at the end of their lives.

If most people knew what happened at a slaughterhouse, there'd be more vegans like yourself.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. You are right; a well placed shot is much more humane than the modern

slaughter factory. I have much more respect for a hunter who often times is more likely to respect the soul of the animal and the natural world than the cruel and disgusting shame of factory farming and factory slaughter.

This off course excludes backwards red-neck yahoo trophy hunters who just want a rack for the front of their truck, politicians on photo-op hunts and rich bastards who just want to kill something to fill an empty spot in their sport room.

I hope in you are very careful about prion disease, it's a very scary thing. Both horizontal and vertical transmission occur with startling efficiency. I'm not sure what the incubation period is in deer but like all other animals it doesn't have to be symptomatic to pass the disease to your family, who may incubate the disease for up to 20 years. Eventually this disease will spread throughout the country, and I have to wonder how many people will have to be struck down by spongiform encephalitic brain disease before we begin to pay more attention. I'm terribly afraid it will lead to a senseless and ignorant massacre of one of the few remaining wild animals we have left in any number in this country.

This is depressing, I'm going to go eat some veggies now.

[rkc3]

22. I've been thinking about half the US already has spongiform

encephalitic brain disease. It's about the only way to explain the bizarre behavior of most of the right.

[Maru Kitteh]

23. HA! Didn't think of that! You may

be onto something there. :toast: Cheers.

[achtung_circus]

24. Do you have first hand knowlege? nt

[Maru Kitteh]

26. I live in the middle of slaughter alley

There are 5 slaughter factories in my immediate vicinity among a population of well under 100,000. I've seen people break down and cry miserably, recounting their experiences. Yes, I do have first hand knowledge.

[Maple]

5. Visit the abbatoir

where your supper comes from

[Maru Kitteh]

11. The senseless distruction of these animals for no other reason than

the fact that they are there is heinous, and doesn't speak well for our species but then neither does the way we treat the 10 billion animals killed so we can dine on their flesh either.

http://www.factoryfarming.com/ Do you know what's in your sandwich? How about dioxin, feces and artificial growth hormones. Take a look. Ignorance is not bliss, it's dangerous.

[Speck Tater]

13. Now you know how fundies feel about gruesome abortion pix.

You have just been emotionally manipulated.

[jpgray]

14. In my view, those pics have nothing to do with the right to choose

Nobody argues abortion is a beautiful, pretty thing. But it is sometimes a necessary thing and therefore should be a legal and safe thing.

[Speck Tater]

16. I'm not debating abortion, ...

I'm pointing out how emotinally charged pictures are used to stir up people's reactions. Ever see a movie of how cows are killed in the slaughterhouse? It's very bloody and very gruesome. Does that make it wrong to eat steak?

My response was not about abortion. Not about killing seals, and not about eating steak. It was about letting yourself be propagandized by emotionally charged pictures.

[jpgray]

17. Just putting forth my view, not claiming you hold the opposite

I understand your point and agree. It's a delicate issue, so I'm sorry I didn't make that more clear--you have nothing to explain yourself for, I just found the materials for a soapbox somewhere in your post, I guess.

:hi:

[livinginphotographs]

19. The bloody and gruesome way a cow is slaughtered DOES make it wrong to eat

steak. That's the entire point.

And these videos are not for the "converted," these are for people who seem to think their fur hat grew on a tree or something.

It has nothing to do with abortion whatsoever.

[DS1]

21. If scumbags would quit wearing fur, this wouldn't be an issue

[LaPera]

25. What's more disgusting. are the people who buy and wear the pelts...

that continue to keep this slaughter going...I don't know a Democrat who would want to wear these pelts...but i know plenty of greedy, pig republicans who do and don't give a shit about no one but themselves...its all about me, me, me, as Reagan and the republican leaders taught them...