Look Again, Baby Seal - Dancing the dream

Look Again, Baby Seal

One of the most touching nature photographs is of a baby fur seal lying on the ice alone. I'm sure you have seen it - the picture seems to be all eyes, the trusting dark eyes of a small animal gazing up at the camera and into your heart. When I first looked at them, the eyes asked, "Are you going to hurt me?" I knew the answer was yes, because thousands of baby seals were being killed every year.

Many people were touched by one baby seal's helplessness. They gave money to save the seals, and public awareness started to shift. As I returned to the picture, those two wide eyes began to say something different. Now they asked, "Do you know me?" This time I didn't feel so much heartache as when I felt the violence man inflicts upon animals. But I realized that there was still a big gap. How much did I really know about life on earth? What responsibility did I feel for creatures outside my little space? How could I lead my life so that every cell of living matter was also benefited?

Everyone who began to wonder about these things found, I think, that their feelings were shifting away from fear toward more closeness with life as a whole. The beauty and wonder of life began to seem very personal; the possibility of making the planet a garden for all of us to grow in began to dawn. I looked into the eyes of the baby seal, and for the first time they smiled. "Thank you," they said. "You have given me hope."

Is that enough? Hope is such a beautiful word, but it often seems very fragile. Life is still being needlessly hurt and destroyed. The image of one baby seal alone on the ice or one baby girl orphaned in war is still frightening in its helplessness. I realized that nothing would finally save life on earth but trust in life itself, in its power to heal, in its ability to survive our mistakes and welcome us back when we learn to correct those mistakes.

With these thoughts in my heart, I looked at the picture again. The seal's eyes seemed much deeper now, and I saw something in them that I had missed before: unconquerable strength. "You have not hurt me," they said. "I am not one baby alone. I am life, and life can never be killed. It is the power that brought me forth from the emptiness of space; it cared for me and nourished my existence against all dangers. I am safe because I am that power. And so are you. Be with me, and let us feel the power of life together, as one creature here on earth."

Baby seal, forgive us. Look at us again and again to see how we are doing. Those men who raise their clubs over you are also fathers and brothers and sons. They have loved and cared for others. One day they will extend that love to you. Be sure of it and trust.

Michael Jackson

**************

Good timing. The Canadian seal hunt is happening right now, and I think that's where Michael found the inspiration to write this. So sad

I hate when they have to kill these poor adorable creatures like those baby seals.

Rhilo;3615670 said:

Good timing. The Canadian seal hunt is happening right now, and I think that's where Michael found the inspiration to write this. So sad

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I got mail from IFAW and Human Society international about it.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AQOD3GJTyTg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The video is from 2010 and it´s a google translation from italian
A few days ago, the TV has announced the reopening, in Canada, against the slaughter seals, transmitted scenes were worse than a horror film, are outraged that a man worthy of the name, could commit such atrocities. Each of us can do something, we sign the online petition against what I call a real "infanticide." All of this could not bring back to mind the poetry that Michael had written long ago about the killings of baby seals, evidence of his deep sensitivity and love for animals.

I wanna sign up, but I find there a so many petitions to end this slaughtering, yeah I know I'm from Canada, but still I hate to see these baby seals being killed this way.

PoP;3616381 said:

I wanna sign up, but I find there a so many petitions to end this slaughtering, yeah I know I'm from Canada, but still I hate to see these baby seals being killed this way.

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You can read in the link it´s only a few canadians who kill the baby seals.
I don´t know how many people there are who wear the fur.
http://www.hsi.org/issues/protect_seals/facts/infographic.html
You can see for once EU have done something good and banned the trade of seal products.
I´m not sure if they kill babyseals in Norway and Iceland nowadays.

Wow, I can't believe so many countries banned baby seal hunting recently and I agree that Canada should be next.

God bless planet earth! Michael's genuine love for our planet and its inhabitants is so evident in the way he lived his extraordinary life-with amazing comapssion, generosity, courage, ideals and integrity!

The last paragraph is especially poignant-so deeply philosophical, moving and true!

Michael Jackson truly is a poet prophet of our time whose presence alone in this world has a healing effect. He lives on with his global influence continuing to inspire millions of people to not only be creative, but also to heal the world!

God bless you, Michael, We are so grateful to you...Thank you , forever...

MIST said:

Look Again, Baby Seal

One of the most touching nature photographs is of a baby fur seal lying on the ice alone. I'm sure you have seen it - the picture seems to be all eyes, the trusting dark eyes of a small animal gazing up at the camera and into your heart. When I first looked at them, the eyes asked, "Are you going to hurt me?" I knew the answer was yes, because thousands of baby seals were being killed every year.

Many people were touched by one baby seal's helplessness. They gave money to save the seals, and public awareness started to shift. As I returned to the picture, those two wide eyes began to say something different. Now they asked, "Do you know me?" This time I didn't feel so much heartache as when I felt the violence man inflicts upon animals. But I realized that there was still a big gap. How much did I really know about life on earth? What responsibility did I feel for creatures outside my little space? How could I lead my life so that every cell of living matter was also benefited?

Everyone who began to wonder about these things found, I think, that their feelings were shifting away from fear toward more closeness with life as a whole. The beauty and wonder of life began to seem very personal; the possibility of making the planet a garden for all of us to grow in began to dawn. I looked into the eyes of the baby seal, and for the first time they smiled. "Thank you," they said. "You have given me hope."

Is that enough? Hope is such a beautiful word, but it often seems very fragile. Life is still being needlessly hurt and destroyed. The image of one baby seal alone on the ice or one baby girl orphaned in war is still frightening in its helplessness. I realized that nothing would finally save life on earth but trust in life itself, in its power to heal, in its ability to survive our mistakes and welcome us back when we learn to correct those mistakes.

With these thoughts in my heart, I looked at the picture again. The seal's eyes seemed much deeper now, and I saw something in them that I had missed before: unconquerable strength. "You have not hurt me," they said. "I am not one baby alone. I am life, and life can never be killed. It is the power that brought me forth from the emptiness of space; it cared for me and nourished my existence against all dangers. I am safe because I am that power. And so are you. Be with me, and let us feel the power of life together, as one creature here on earth."

Baby seal, forgive us. Look at us again and again to see how we are doing. Those men who raise their clubs over you are also fathers and brothers and sons. They have loved and cared for others. One day they will extend that love to you. Be sure of it and trust.

Michael Jackson

**************

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I wonder if Michael had someone to talk to about his thoughts about animals and other things we can read about in his book.

Some people joke about clubbing baby seals. But it's no laughing matter. It happens every day in Namibia. Help put a stop to the horrific slaughter of baby seals today.

As I write this, seal pups are being rounded up, separated from their mothers, and brutally beaten to death. There are an estimated one million Cape Fur Seals left in the wild. In the space of five months, eighty five thousand of these seals will be slaughtered in Namibia, the only country in the world that allows the killing of nursing pups.

If we don't act now to stop this slaughter, Cape Fur Seals will be extinct by 2019.

Every morning from 6am to 9am, death squads swarm the beach murdering seals in cold blood. Journalists are barred from the scene. By 9am, the death squads clean up the carnage for when tourists arrive, ignorant of the slaughter that happened just hours before. Speak out to make sure these crimes are no longer ignored.

We can't stand by as thousands of baby seals are bludgeoned to death every day. We cannot let this mass extermination continue. Tell Namibia to end this horrific, cruel massacre of innocent seals.

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I didn´t know they are killing seals in Namibia too
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/892/...f-nursing-seal-pups-in-namibia/?z00m=20613576

Michael, everyday I find or see more things that make me love him deeper than I did the day before... I too, hate this baby seal slaughter and wish it would be banned forever, everywhere in the world

Canada’s seal hunt can’t find cover in WTO trade laws

The World Trade Organization panel decision on the European Union seal products ban, released Monday, is a landmark vindication of the right to protect animal welfare under international trade law. The panel found flaws in the way the exceptions to the EU ban are administered or defined, but confirmed that the overall ban on seal products can be justified as a reflection of European ethical and moral concerns. No wonder the Canadian government (while declaring the panel’s ruling to be a victory for Canadian seal hunters) immediately announced its intention to appeal the decision. Canada has, in fact, suffered a resounding defeat.

In 2009, the EU banned the sale of products derived from seals, with exceptions for seal products that are the result of indigenous subsistence hunting, marine management culls, and products purchased by travellers abroad. The EU legislation responded to serious public concerns about the “pain, distress, fear and other forms of suffering” that hunting and skinning cause to seals.

The EU has a long history of protecting animal welfare. It has passed extensive legislation regulating animal farming, animal experiments, and animal transportation. It has specified that the EU and its member states must pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals when passing laws, “since animals are sentient beings.” These measures, as well as the EU’s ban on seal products, have been overwhelmingly supported by the European public.

In its claim to the WTO, Canada argued that the hunt is humane and that the EU was not sincere in its desire to protect animal welfare.

Typically countries bring disputes to the WTO for commercial reasons – because their products are unfairly shut out of a particular market. But Canada’s suit was not rooted in commercial considerations; it knew full well that any commercial concessions won would do little to shore up the hunt, as the market for these products has been dwindling for more than a generation. The sale of seal products has been banned by the United States since 1972, and more than 30 other countries have since following suit (including Russia, the largest market for seal pelts, which banned seal products in 2011).

Canada’s real hope was that by getting an independent international body to endorse its view that the hunt was humane, it could win hearts and minds. Or at least it could show that “humane” hunting standards and a labelling scheme were a suitable alternative to ending the hunt.

But the WTO panel rejected these arguments. Canada couldn’t demonstrate that there are real-world alternatives that could verifiably make the commercial seal hunt humane. Thus, Canada’s central claims against the anti-hunt movement have been rejected by an international adjudicative body. This is not threatened by Canada’s appeal, because these are findings of fact by the panel, which the WTO’s Appellate Body does not have power to reverse (unlike legal findings).

Crucially, the decision defends the rights of WTO members to take action against animal cruelty on moral grounds. The panel joined a broader movement in international law to recognize action against cruelty to animals as a global value, describing animal welfare as “a matter of ethical responsibility for human beings in general.” And the panel preserved “policy space” for WTO members to set and pursue their own domestic regulatory agendas, while complying with international trade law. This is critical for the ongoing legitimacy of the WTO, as two of us argued in an article in the Yale Journal of International Law.

By contrast, the panel’s findings that the ban’s exceptions are improperly administered and that some definitions are discriminatory are not always easy to follow, nor is it clear what commercial harm these aspects of the ban caused to Canada. This is where the WTO’s Appellate Body may offer some clarification.

Yet Canada’s decision to appeal the panel’s ruling continues an unfortunate trend in the government’s foreign policy. Like Canada’s 2013 campaign to ensure that polar bears were not added to the global endangered species list, the government continues to fight certain international efforts to protect animal welfare. This trend puts Canada at odds with progressive currents in international law, and leaves the country increasingly isolated.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...find-cover-in-wto-trade-laws/article15604501/

It sounds good

The EU has a long history of protecting animal welfare. It has passed extensive legislation regulating animal farming, animal experiments, and animal transportation. It has specified that the EU and its member states must pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals when passing laws, “since animals are sentient beings.” These measures, as well as the EU’s ban on seal products, have been overwhelmingly supported by the European public.

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but animals are suffering i EU too.
But at least EU got some things right

I got a mail from Paul McCartney....and HSI

Dear M
Right now, baby seals are being brutally clubbed and shot for their fur off Canada’s East Coast.

What happens to these defenseless pups is horrible. Many are wounded and left to suffer in agony, impaled on metal hooks and dragged across the ice. Still more are clubbed or shot and allowed to escape into the ocean, where they die slowly.

My friends at Humane Society International are now the only organization on location to film this atrocity – to expose this horror to the world – and they need your help to keep their cameras rolling.

The footage they gather will be critical. The European Union ban on seal product trade has saved more than one million seals from a horrible fate in recent years. But the EU is revising the regulation and special interest groups are pushing hard to weaken it.

We must show decision makers that the cruelty continues and a strong ban remains crucial. Just as importantly, we need to convince countries in Asia to prohibit their trade in seal products.

Ever since I personally visited the harp seal nursery with HSI, I have been in awe of this amazing and unique wildlife spectacle.

We simply cannot allow it to be turned into an open air slaughterhouse each year.

Sincerely,


Paul McCartney

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I wish the seal hunt will stop at once.
When I see or read artists,actors speak up for animals ,nature, children that´s the time when I miss Michael most.

September 3, 2015
European Court of Justice Dismisses Final Sealing Industry Appeal in Case Seeking to Annul the EU Ban on Trade in Seal Products
Humane Society International applauds ruling

he European Court of Justice has rejected an appeal brought by commercial sealing interests and some Inuit representatives with regard to the EU ban on trade in seal products. This appeal concerns a 2013 decision by the European General Court, which rejected the appellants’ request to find the legal basis and implementing measures for the EU ban on commercial seal product trade unlawful.

Joanna Swabe, executive director of Humane Society International/Europe, applauded the Court’s ruling, noting:

”We are overjoyed with, though not surprised, by this ruling. This was the final appeal in a series of spurious cases brought by the commercial sealing industry and some Inuit representatives in an attempt to annul the EU Regulation on trade in seal products. Time and again, the courts have ruled that the European Union’s decision in 2009 to ban the cruel products of commercial seal slaughters was entirely justified and had a solid legal basis. It is time for the sealing industry to finally realise that this landmark legislation, which enjoys the support of millions of EU citizens, is here to stay.”

Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of HSI/Canada, added: "For five years, the commercial sealing industry has wasted time and tax dollars with pointless legal challenges of the European Union ban on seal product trade. With the last of these cases dismissed, it is time the Canadian government acts in the interests of sealers and their communities--and all Canadians-- and supports a sealing industry buyout.

The news of the European Court of Justice ruling comes just a week before the European Parliament is due to vote at Plenary on the amendment of the EU ban on trade in seal products. This minor legislative revision is the result of another legal challenge brought by Canada and Norway at the World Trade Organisation.

In 2013, the World Trade Organisation upheld the right of the EU to ban the trade in commercial seal products on the grounds of public morality. In 2014, the WTO considered an appeal to that ruling. Although the WTO Appellate Body, once again, ruled largely in favour of the EU, the EU agreed to make minor amendments to the ban to achieve full compliance to WTO rules before 18th October 2015.

At its September Plenary session, the European Parliament will vote on a first reading agreement compromise text, which was approved by the Committee of Permanent Representatives by a qualified majority of EU Member States in July 2015.

Facts:

More than seven in 10 adults (72 percent) across 11 EU Member States support the ban on the sale of seal products in the EU (Ipsos MORI, 2011). More than 6,000 people were surveyed for the poll.
In 2009, the European Parliament voted 550 to 49 in favour of a strong ban on trade in products of commercial seal hunts. In 2010, the EU ban came into force.
Applicants representing commercial and Inuit sealing interests immediately filed a request with the European General Court to annul the ban. However, it was found that they did not have standing to institute proceedings.
The applicants then challenged the European Commission implementing regulation and made an indirect challenge alleging that the basic regulation is unlawful.
Once again the claim put forward by the applicants was unsuccessful. In 2013, the General Court dismissed their request for annulment as unfounded.
The applicants appealed the 2013 decision, and this is the case upon which the ruling was issued. In March 2015, Advocate General Kokott had already issued strong legal opinion in this case urging the European Court of Justice to dismiss the case.
In addition to the EU, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States have prohibited some or all commercial trade in seal products.
http://www.hsi.org/world/europe/new...-appeal-090315.html?utm_source=hsinews&utm_me