Atlantic Canadian Musings

Coyote pups - more victims of the NDP govt's stupidity

The latest coyote-human encounter in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park has resparked the debate surrounding the Nova Scotia government’s coyote cull, planned to begin on October 15th under the guise of a “pelt incentive.”

As frightening as the experience must have been for the teenager involved, it was hardly the “vicious coyote attack”  the Chronicle Herald melodramatically termed it.  A 16-year old who was sleeping on the ground outside her parents’ tent, awoke to see a coyote standing over her.  The coyote ran away when she screamed and swatted it.   The coyote had bitten her scalp twice and stitches were required.

To me, it didn’t read as a “vicious attack.”  It read more like a case of a coyote, accustomed to finding scraps of food on the ground of a campsite, mistaking this girl’s head sticking out of the sleeping bag for food and giving a couple of experimental bites.  That’s not to diminish in any way the fear and pain she must have felt.  But vicious attack?  No. 

Of course the usual panicked cries of “they’ve got to be stopped before they eat my child!” could be heard immediately, and all coyotes are being branded vicious killers.  The truth is, if the finger of blame is to be pointed at anyone, it should not be pointed at the coyotes – it should be pointed squarely at the provincial government.

Rednecks with traps will be paid $20 by NS taxpayers to kill coyotes

When Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell announced the coyote bounty in April, an “enhanced community public education program” was promised.  I called DNR this morning and spoke with the Executive Director of DNR.  She advised me the “enhanced community education program” had already been implemented and it consisted, for the most part, of a one-page large-print PDF document entitled Living with Coyotes in Nova Scotia uploaded to the DNR website and distributed to a few schools and other institutions.  The Executive Director said experts had also visited schools and would provide me with more information.

So to assuage the fears of the Great Unwashed Masses, the government offers a single page with a few general tips on living with coyotes in Nova Scotia.  “Enhanced community education program” to me would involve public service announcements on radio and television, billboards, public seminars, etc.  Not a one-page document put up on a website in the hopes someone will find it.  Of course, the government knows it needn’t put much energy into educating people how to live in harmony with coyotes because its top priority is to kill all the coyotes.

Public education is key if humans are to understand their behaviour shapes the behaviour of coyotes and learn to live in harmony with them.  This was glaringly apparent this morning during Rick Howe’s call-in radio show.  One caller told listeners coyotes showed up while he and his friends sat around a bonfire, and when one of his friends panicked and ran to the house, they were shocked that the coyote chased her.  Experts warn people that running from a coyote will trigger a predator response.  Another caller complained that neighbourhood cats were disappearing.  Experts warn people not to leave small pets unattended as they are viewed as an easy meal by coyotes in the absence of other prey.  Had the NS Department of Natural Resources made a serious effort to educate the public about living with coyotes, it is unlikely the Nova Scotian parents of the 16-year old would have allowed their daughter to sleep in the open on the ground in a park known to have coyotes roaming.  It is unlikely the campers on the lot before them would have left food lying around to attract coyotes.  If John MacDonell had done his job properly, this incident need not have occurred.  To anyone who might think it’s harsh to blame the Minister, reflect on this — how harsh is it, then, to condemn to death thousands of coyotes for the actions of a few?  That’s harsh.  Even harsher when one considers it is human habituation of wildlife that has led to this, and MacDonell and his staff know it.

Nigel Douglas, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association says mass killings are bound to happen when bounties are offered. "It's easy to point the fingers at wolves or coyotes or whatever for all of your problems, but when it comes down to it, it seems some people just like killing." Credit: CBC

Minister MacDonell said in April he didn’t care how many coyotes trappers killed.  He also said he wouldn’t mind if trappers eliminated half of the province’s estimated 8,000 coyotes by next spring.  Clearly he doesn’t understand the concept of compensatory reproduction.

And therein lies the rub.  Science indicates coyote culls don’t work because coyotes will reproduce at a faster rate to compensate for reduced numbers.  MacDonell knows culls don’t work.  That why, shortly before the government’s announcement, any documentation stating culls aren’t effective was removed from the DNR website.  And that’s why the government is not calling it a cull (or bounty, for that matter), but rather giving it the fancy name ‘pelt incentive for professional trappers’.  MacDonell claimed the “pelt incentive” “is a way to change coyote behaviour and reduces a problem wildlife population.“  Indiscrimate trapping for $20 a pelt is going to reduce the problem coyotes?  Doubtful.  Coyotes innocent of any offence will be trapped and killed.  Adult females will be killed, leaving pups behind to starve to death.  And what’s that about reducing a problem wildlife population?  That, my friend, is a cull.  You can dress it up as fancy as you like, but it is still a CULL.

Parks Canada has indicated it will not implement a cull in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.  Derek Quann, the park’s resource conservation manager, says a cull would not be appropriate or effective, saying park staff has effectively used loud air horns and pepper spray to deter coyotes from getting too familiar with visitors in the park.

I asked the Executive Director of DNR if the provincial Natural Resources Department had a response for Parks Canada statement and whether it would make them rethink the planned cull.  I was told I had to understand it wasn’t a cull.  It was an “incentive program for professional trappers.”  I told her politely that I appreciate it’s the official party policy that it’s an “incentive” and I understand that as a provincial government employee she was required to refer to it as an “incentive” but everybody knows it’s a cull.  And everybody knows culls don’t work.  Except for the Minister of Natural Resources.   But then, he also believes the distressed calls of a trapped coyote will send a warning message to other coyotes to stay out of that area.  Interesting, considering hunters use the sound of distressed coyotes to attact other coyotes.

John MacDonell, NS Minister of Wildlife Extermination (Photo: ERIC WYNNE / CH)

Ignoring science and commonsense the government of Nova Scotia stubbornly insists the cull bounty incentive will go ahead as planned.  On October 15th trappers will be paid $20 per kill and will be free to sell the pelt to any buyers.  And guess where the money is coming from to pay the trappers?  You guessed it – taxpayers.  In the spring our tax dollars are being used to subsidize the brutal slaughter of baby seals by commercial sealers in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and in the autumn our tax dollars will subsidize the brutal slaughter of coyotes by commercial trappers.  Once again Darrell Dexter’s NDP government has sold our wildlife to the highest bidder.

Why?  Some believe MacDonell is a good guy simply wanting to reassure the panicked masses and to appear decisive and strong, while others suggest he is pandering to the Trappers’ Association of Nova Scotia while wearing his Minister of Natural Resources hat.  Still others accuse him of colluding with influential livestock farmers while wearing his Minister of Agriculture hat.  His theories of how/why this cull bounty incentive are full of conflicts and contradictions which makes it apparent there is more involved here than a sincere desire to keep the Great Unwashed Masses safe.

The truth of the matter remains that WE have caused this problem; not the coyotes.  Through our own actions and habits, we are inviting coyotes into our neighbourhoods, yet panicking when they accept our invitation.  We need to understand how our behaviour affects and attracts coyotes and we need to alter our behaviour to re-establish a mutual respect between humans and wildlife.  This is the ONLY solution that will work long-term.  But it’s not the solution that’s going to put taxpayers’ money into the pockets of members of the Trappers’ Association of Nova Scotia, is it?

Yesterday Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced the commercial seal slaughter in Newfoundland and Labrador would be extended to May 31st.  According to the press release issued by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, ”while the Marine Mammal Regulations set the closing time for the seal harvest at May 15 for commercial harvesters, the closing date can be modified through a variation order to adapt to changing circumstances.”

Gail Shea - ignorance is bliss

I think the good folks at DFO need to acquaint themselves with the Marine Mammal Regulations – they got it wrong.  The closing date for commercial sealers is not May 15th – it is June 15th.  I’ve been advised the closing date was changed in 2008.  But I guess that was before Gail’s time and she just hasn’t had a chance to read the Regulations which she claims sealers follow and DFO enforces.  If DFO doesn’t know the Regulations, how can it claim to enforce them?

This press release is simply one more of a long line of PR stunts designed to placate sealers and make it appear it’s business as usual for those who make a few bucks from bludgeoning baby seals to death.  Shea claims the closing date has been extended to ”allow sealers more time to make use of their 2010 allocations and provide them with an extended period of time to take advantage of potential market opportunities“  Oh yes, those allocations — the quota that was raised despite a marked absence of markets, a move that was condemned by sealers as “stupid.”  I’m sure sealers will agree yesterday’s decision is just as stupid.  If there are no markets, why tell sealers they can kill seals for an extra two weeks?  But actions speak louder than words.  According to Sheryl Fink, Senior Research and Projects Specialist for IFAW, a DFO representative confirmed to her that only ONE boat is currently sealing.  Looks like everyone else has gone home.  And why not?  There are no markets, “potential” or otherwise.  And now that Shea has inadvertently shut down the slaughter early, that’s where they’ll stay.

Photo: HSUS/Gray Mitchell

What a difference a couple of weeks and a [suspected] government subsidy makes.  At first it was doom and gloom for the commercial sealing industry as reality finally set in.  Due to unprecedented low ice and alarmingly high pup mortality, there were very few seal pups for sealers to butcher.  Newfoundland sealers were criticising Fisheries Minister Gail “Chucky” Shea’s increase in quota to 388,200, calling it “stupid” since there were no markets for seal products.  The largest buyer of seal skins – Carino – wasn’t writing any cheques because that company had stockpiled pelts from previous years it hasn’t been able to sell.  The other buyer – NuTan Furs Inc., previously known as Atlantic Marine Products Limited, a subsidiary of Newfoundland fisheries mogul Barry Group - had commissioned to purchase only up to 15,000 skins from a “dedicated group of sealers.”  Magdalen Island sealers killing pups on the opening days of the commercial seal slaughter admitted they were throwing pelts overboard because they could not locate a buyer.  Newfoundland sealers were staying ashore and crying on reporters’ shoulders because they’d have to miss out on bashing in the brains of defenceless baby seals to pay for their fags and booze.

Fast-forward two weeks and all seems suspiciously suddenly rosy in the Land of the Seal Killers.  Suddenly we are getting news reports that Newfoundland sealers are rubbing their hands together in glee because large concentrations of pups are hauled out on small icepans, meaning sealers are able to butcher large numbers without having to exert too much energy.  Says Frank Pinheadhorn of the Canadian Sealers Association, “This is perfect conditions for sealing because the ice is not packed together,” he said. “Whatever ice is there is just filled with seals.”

Here’s where it gets really strange.  NuTan is reportedly paying sealers $25 per seal skin – double what they received last year.  Pinheadhorn estimates 60,000 pups have been butchered so far, and sealers expect to slaughter another 12,000 before they’re finished at the end of May. 

Photo: HSUS/Gray Mitchell

Okay, let’s review — no markets for seal products; largest buyer isn’t buying anything because it can’t sell skins from previous years; the sole buyer commissioning only 15,000 skins; no markets for seal products…yet sealers are planning to slaughter 72,000 seal pups and get $24 per skin from NuTan.  Sound suspect to you?  It certainly does to me.

Let’s face it.  Dion Dakins, director of NuTan Furs Inc. (also, coincidentally, a director of the Fur Institute of Canada – more on them later), is a businessman.  He’s not stupid.  He may be a callous sociopath eager to profit from severe animal cruelty, but he’s not stupid.  So why is he paying Top-Dollar to Newfoundland sealers for seal skins he knows he’ll never be able to sell?  Perhaps because it’s not his dollars being used to “buy” the skins?  Is this is a subsidy?  If so, who is paying?  The federal government or the Newfoundland government?  Or perhaps both in a joint venture?  ACOA?  DFO?  72,000 skins at $24 a pop is alot of money – somebody has to be coughing up that money as a subsidy, cos those skins will never sell.

You may remember NuTan Furs is also the buyer who stepped forward in 2009 when no buyers could be found for the seal skins sealers hoped to rip from the carcasses of baby grey seals in Protected Wilderness Area Hay Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  The provincial government-sanctioned slaughter of up to 2,220 grey seal pups on that island was nearly cancelled when no buyer could be found.  Suddenly the Fur Institute of Canada stepped in with a Bailout for the Boys and arranged for NuTan Furs (Dion Dakins, the sole director of NuTan Furs is on the board of directors of the Fur Institute of Canada) to purchase 200 skins to use as fabric samples for potential buyers [NOTE:  The so-called "potential buyers" didn't materialize, since the 2010 planned slaughter was also cancelled since again no buyers could be found and the provincial government decided against subsidizing the processing of seal carcasses "to meet the requirements of a buyer.")  That slaughter of 200 seals for their skin smacked of government subsidy.  As does this slaughter of 72,000 harp seal pups.

Photo: HSUS/Gray Mitchell

Anti-sealing organizations are asking some hard questions.  Sheryl Fink, a senior researcher with IFAW is spot-on when she says, ”Something smells fishy here.  Why is it that Quebec sealers are throwing pelts back into the water while Newfoundland sealers now have a buyer for 72,000 skins? It seems strange if NuTan is able to purchase sealskins at almost double last year’s price when other Newfoundland processors are unable to get rid of their stockpiled pelts. It also seems remarkable that the demand for seal pelts would skyrocket in less than a week.”

It’s a shame Canadian media is such a shower of cowards when it comes to this issue, steadfastly refusing to investigate clear indications of corruption in the commercial seal hunt issue and questionable practices by the Canadian government using taxpayers’ dollars to subsidize the slaughter and perhaps even buy the unwanted skins.  Canadian media would be able to ferret out that information sharpish.  But they’d have to grow some first.

Photo HSI Canada/Rebecca Aldworth

We left Newfoundland today to journey back home.  It hurts to leave while the slaughter of baby seals continues, but the majority of the boats are operating out of reach of our zodiac and helicopter.  The boats we had been filming have wiped out all seal pups in those areas and the once pristine pans of ice are now blood-soaked and completely bereft of life.

Our work here is done.  The HSUS and IFAW teams have documented multiple days of the slaughter and have captured compelling evidence this slaughter is completely inhumane and unmonitored, contrary to the Canadian government’s bogus claims.

The Canadian government can kiss goodbye any chance it feels it might have to win a WTO challenge to overturn the EU seal product ban.  As we leave Newfoundland, we take with us enough evidence to shut down this outdated and cruel industry forever.

Humane Society International/Canada announced today the results of a recent Ipsos Reid poll which shows there is a large amount of support within the Newfoundland sealing community for a license buyout program.

The poll consisted of telephone interviews conducted between December 7, 2009 and January 24, 2010 with 267 fishers, 181 of whom identified themselves as holders of a sealing license.

The HSI/Canada press release states:

“…half of Newfoundland sealers holding an opinion support a federal buyout of the commercial sealing industry, which would involve fishermen and vessel owners being compensated for their sealing licenses, and money being invested in economic alternatives for affected communities. Two-thirds of licensed Newfoundland sealers holding an opinion believe that the landed value of the seal hunt will remain the same as 2009 (less than $1 million CAD in Newfoundland) or decline further.”

The majority of sealers holding an opinion also expressed concern about the Canadian Seafood Boycott which was launched by Humane Society of the United States in 2005 as an incentive for the Canadian seafood industry and government to end commercial sealing permanently.

Interestingly, the Canadian Sealers Association, which claims to speak on behalf of sealers primarily in Newfoundland, the Quebec North Shore and the Magdalen Islands, has dismissed the poll without consideration and has even raised questions about its validity.

Frank Pinheadhorn,  executive director of the Canadian Sealers Association in Newfoundland, told media “There’s 11,000 licensed sealers in Newfoundland and Labrador and I don’t know where they got the sealers.  I don’t think their base for doing this survey is representative in any meaningful percentage.”

Seriously, Frank?  Ipsos Reid is a highly respected survey market research company which has been retained to conduct polls and surveys for many clients, including the Canadian government.  In fairness, one could raise the same questions regarding all surveys, even those commissioned by the Canadian government.  But maybe Frank believes that only government-commissioned surveys are accurate and authentic.  Oh those sneaky anti-sealing campaigners, hiring actors to play sealers beating other actors dressed as whitecoat pups in 30-year old footage; now they’re hiring actors to pretend to be Ipsos Reid pollsters…Where will it end?!

And as for sealers’ expressed concerns regarding the Canadian Seafood Boycott?  Well, Frank has firmly turned his head away from reality on that issue.  Says he:  “The market is cold on shrimp and lobsters and everything people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador harvest for a living.”  It’s called a Seafood Boycott, Frank.  Take the hint.  Take the buyout.

In any event, I find it interesting that a large number of sealers are now expressing interest in a license buyout which anti-sealing campaigners have been requesting of the government for many years.  Faced with evidence that Newfoundland sealers want a license buyout, the Canadian Sealers Association, rather than taking the time to speak with sealers, immediately rushes a statement to the press expressly denying sealers want a buyout.  It seems Humane Society International/Canada is doing a better job of representing sealers’ best interests and wishes than the Canadian Sealing Association!

This is not the first time sealers’ hopes of a buyout were dashed by those intent on making decisions for them.  In 2006 businesswoman Cathy Kangas offered to buyout sealing licenses.  PEI sealers expressed serious interest in taking her up on her offer but the Canadian government stepped in and dismissed the offer without consideration.  Said Murray River, PEI sealer Kenneth MacLeod:  “I talked to quite a few of the license holders here in P.E.I. and everyone is willing to give this a try.  We’re like to explore the alternatives.  It’s the 21st century.“   But the Canadian government promptly forced PEI sealers back into the 12th century, smacking their hands for even considering a buyout.  Said DFO communications director Steve Outhouse:  “We’re not interested.  This is another example of someone with lots of money trying to tell people how to live their lives.”

So who’s really making the decisions?  The men who go out and do the dangerous, demoralizing work?  No, it appears to be Stuffed Shirts in Government and Sealing Association bullies.  Who’s really the one “with lots of money trying to tell people how to live their lives”?  Again, Governmental stuffed shirts and Sealing Association bullies.

 If the Canadian government really cared about sealers, it would immediately cease the cheap cringe-making PR stunts and empty gestures, and make meaningful gestures of support realistically reflecting the wishes and best interests of sealers.  In short, a license buyout. 

Speaking of polls…polling consistently shows the majority of Canadians oppose the commercial seal slaughter and object to their tax dollars being lavished on the cruel and crumbling industry.  They would much rather see their taxes spent on alternatives to sealing.  It would appear now that sealers want the same thing.  That’s what I call huge progress on this issue – when both sides can agree on the desired outcome.  It should be a no-brainer: abolish the slaughter and implement the alternatives.  A win-win for everyone.

The video banned from YouTube thanks to pro-sealing false-flaggers

I received an admonition from YouTube the other day, advising me that one of my videos had been disabled due to a complaint that it was “shocking and disturbing.”  That’s funny, I thought it was educational - you know, people might actually want to know the Nova Scotia government  under premier Darrell Dexter allows fishermen to bludgeon to death defenceless baby seals in nature reserves.

The video in question, created by me last year, is comprised of a collection of images set to music.  The photos were taken by Humane Society International in 2008 when Rebecca Aldworth of HSI and I documented the slaughter of 1,261 baby grey seals on Hay Island, part of the Scaterie Island Protected Wilderness Area.    On Hay Island, fishermen herded seals together into a large group – including nursing whitecoats and their frantic mothers – and bludgeoned to death the moulted pups with wooden bats and sliced them open with box cutters mere inches from each other.  It was a bloodbath in every sense of the word, with terrified whitecoats slithering through the blood of the butchered pups, and traumatized pups trying to cuddle into dead seals for comfort.  The fishermen were laughing and joking as they bludgeoned the screaming pups to death and discussed where they would go for their supper that night.  The video was meant to be educational in nature and served as a memorial to the baby seals who met a terrifying and excruciatingly painful death that day.

I wrote to YouTube pointing out the purpose of the video was to educate.  As for the “shocking” allegation, I pointed out at the beginning of the video there was an explanation of what the viewer was about to see.  That – together with the title of the video – made it obvious the images would be disturbing, so the viewer should not be surprised or shocked by what they saw.  As for the “disgusting” allegation – yes, grown men bludgeoning screaming baby seals to death with baseball bats is decidedly disgusting – it’s a disgusting practice we aim to stop and the video is one of the tools we are using to stop it.  It’s a no-brainer, as they say.

I mentioned this on my Facebook page and through a series of conversations found out this is not an uncommon occurrence.  Apparently there are sealing supporters who spend their time trawling YouTube, looking for effective anti-sealing videos.  They then “false-flag” them for YouTube to remove as “shocking” or “disgusting” or whatever reason they choose.  YouTube dutifully disables the offending video and its effects are neutralized as far as the pro-sealing camp is concerned.  Apparently this has been going on for over a year, with YouTube staff doing the pro-sealing movement’s dirty work for them.

My question is: who are these people who trawl YouTube, false-flagging videos containing anti-sealing messages?  Are they just lonely saddos who have no life, or are they paid by the government? That may sound like a wacky conspiracy theory but as we’ve seen, the government will resort to just about anything to silence critics of the commercial seal slaughter.

The offending video in question will make a re-appearance on YouTube, make no mistake.  The video is obviously considered a real threat, particularly at this time when fishermen are poised to bludgeon to death over 2,000 defenceless baby seals on Hay Island for the third year in a row.  And that’s why I plan to plaster it online wherever I can put it.