PETA'S latst attack in Canada was a few days ago. An American woman creme pied our Minister of Fisheries as a protest against the Seal Hunt. She has been charged with assualt. If convicted in the courts, she could end up with a criminal record which could stop her from legally crossing into Canada again. Some have suggested PETA should be labeled as a "Terrorist" organization to prevent them from operating here. Perhaps that would be going too far. But I certainly understand the sentiment!!! I wish PETA would just be honest and quit lying about our Seal Hunt to trick people into contributing money. PETA keeps repeating the same lies over and over. The seals are in no danger of extinction from the seal harvest. The seal population has now grown to the point where they are becomming pests from the point of view of Commercial Fishermen. Seals are doing a lot of dammage to fishing gear when trying to steal fish from it. The population of seals on the East coast of Canada numbers in the many millions--- in absolutely no danger of extinction from the hunt!!!!!

I lived in Newfoundland for most of my formative years. Until very recently it was an extremely difficult place to make a living. My grandfather walked over 100 miles on snowshoes in the winter to apply for a position as a sealer. He survived the terrible Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of the early 20th.century. A large numer of men died after gettimg trapped on the ice floes while sealing in the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence and got caught in a 3 day raging blizzard, most freezing to death or falling into Davy Jone's locker and drowning. My grandfather was there and survived it. He froze off all his toes from one foot and most off the other. He was about 26 years old. He was one of the lucky ones and as tuff as nails!!! A lot more survivors were more badly injured then he was!!! Anyone who has been to Nfld. or knows someone from there will likely tell you that we are the type of people who will really give you the shirt off our backs even though it may be the only shirt we own. Newfoundland is semi- artic and has very little good agricultural land. It is cold , has short cool summers and long cold winters often with tremendous amounts of snow. To survive in such a place one has to take any advantage that nature may provide often at great personal risk. Hunting, fishing, trapping ,picking berries and harvesting sea mammals to survive is the history of the people who live there. It may be difficult for those who don't have such a history to understand. For Greenpiece and Peta and others to label us as cruel and mislead the world for political correctness, to make money claiming the seals are on the edge of extinction is an outright lie. There are many millions of seals and they are being seen in places where they have been absent in for over 100 years. The baby Whitecoats covered in blood on the ice make graphic pictures but this was outlawed many years ago and is illegal. Seals are shot with high powered rifles and the hunt is one of the most monitored and legislated on the planet. Still lies are submitted by those with the most to gain and the most to lose. If the truth was out there most people would not be sending donations to stop something that has not occurred for many years. A hackapic is a pick handle with a stout metal spike on the head at a 90 degree angle. One swing drove the spike through the head of the seal puncturing and crushing the skull--not pretty but extremely effective and virtually 100 percent fatal. Seal meat is consumed as a special treat by many in Nfld and has proven health bennifits. Many Americans remember when 911 occurred and your planes were forced to land where ever they could how the people of Gander Nfld.came to their rescue. So many Americans were taken in ,fed, clothed etc. by the residents, that to this very day friendships exist and are maintained that were created during that horiffic time. That is the type of people we are. We do not appreciate the imasges some in the Animal Rights Movements paint of us! These same organizations dare not go after Aboriginal Hunters whohunt seals as this would not be acceptable yet they persist to come after us and something we have traditionally and historically done for over 500 years.

I had a large bobcat check me out this past fall while I was deer hunting. I saw it sniffing the ground about 150 yards in front of me. It appeared to be as large as my male springer spaniel-- he weighs about 50 pounds. It saw me creeping towards it and ran into the woods only to reappear a few minutes later about 50 feet away and behind me. I never thought I was in any danger as I had my trusty 30:06 with 165 grain winchesters in the mag. However I'll be extra wary if I come into contact with another one after this gentleman's hairy experience. After all a bobcat can and will kill deer!!! He's one tuff son of a gun and lucky to be telling his story!

Too bad they didn't think this through-- once they fought the Marlin for so long the "VERY EXPERIENCED" captain should have known that the likely outcome wouldn't be good for the Marlin -- sharks or not!! They exhausted it after fighting it for hours-- a few dozen pictures and their memories of the experience should have been sufficient!! But I guess so much adrenalyn was flowing that their common sense went out the window. WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKE!!! I hope the next time someone hooks such a rare and special fish they make the effort to consider that they have been sent a fantastic gift and let the fish go prior to the point where it might not recuperate!!!