Photos from Russian Seal Death Camp

Sounds a lot like a CAFO. ..and for some reason a LOT of Americans don't seem to have a problem with those.

We have another country / group from the dark ages who haven’t opened their eyes and minds.

Those images make me want to cry.

those poor animals don't deserve to be treated like that.

Wrong, just wrong, just look at those seals.

The last two pictures are just WRONG!!!!!!!!

=[

WTF? I don't get it. Why? This is madness....w

I don't mind when it's the alaskan tribes that do it because it's part of their culture but those pictures are ridiculous and should have no part in anyone's culture

*IF* the tools are as human as the first claim, and there is reform in the industry to teach and enforce proper technique so that the tool and it's use STAY that humane, then I really see no problem with this. It's really no different than raising cattle, sheep, goats, etc for food. The seals aren't just used for their coats, they are used for food as well.

Again, it's a big "IF".

Also, to the person who said he doesn't have a problem with it when it's the alaskan tribes and their culture. Remember slavery? That was part of american culture too. Can I own a black person just because it's part of our culture?

Eh.

The killing of these seals is terrible. Not just for the mere fact that they are being killed, but they are being tortured - skinned alive! These animals that have no means of defending themselves are being brutally tortured. For what!?

These images make me very upset and angry. It is important that as many people see them as possible. I have found more information and a way to help here: http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html

oh my god...that is so awful...those photos made me cry...but why not include in this article information about what products are made out of seal skin? i mean...i know i'm pretty ignorant on alot of things, but isn't lipstick made out of blubber? i mean, other than seal skin wearables, is there anything made out of seal skin? i really want to know so i can stop using it...seriously..someone tell me

Raise your hand if you eat fast food or any meat from the supermarket...

Well, that's where your meat comes from. Just replace the seals with cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, fish, you name it.

This "save the poor seals" thing is actually very funny.

YES, I AGREE THAT THE KILLING OF ANIMALS SHOULD BE DONE IN THE MOST HUMANE WAY POSSIBLE.

That being said, the world ain't gonna stop eating meat any time soon and, let's be honest about this..., would there be any protests AT ALL if these animals weren't SO CUTE.

I saw a documentary that showed killing of farm animals and it showed that, on average, it took longer for a pig in a slaughter house to die, than a seal.

Why no "save the pig" campaign?? save the poor cow campaign??

I'd support any campaign to make the killing of animals as humane as possible, but not a campaign to save ONLY THE REALLY CUTE ONES !!

Marc P.

Marc P., but there are campaigns about pigs, and other farmed animals. This one is about seal, so just because they don't do everything doesn't take away from it.

Similar to this a group called the Ocean Preservation Society is working on a film in which they find the same thing happening with dolphins in Japan. http://www.opsociety.org/the-movie/ I actually meet the Executive Producer one afternoon, very negligible person.

meh

This is obscene and inhuman. Frankly we, as so-called civilised nations, should be bringing in a trade embargo to try to prevent this. It is quite unbelievable!
As mentioned above, when alaskan tribes kill simply to feed their own people there is no problem (as with hunting of this nature globally.) But there is no way this commercial slaughter can be condoned.
If you can let us know which companies use products from seals then we can organise global boycotts of their produce, but who on earth DOES use products made from seal!!!?

Anonymous, I don't doubt what you say, but why have we not heard more about it? Why hasn't Paul McCartney gone into to a pig slaughter house with his latest girlfriend and denouced it? Why is he not out in England's farm fields denouncing in his own country treat farm animals ?? Photo ops look better with a baby seal beside him than a british cow !

He probably goes after the seal hunt because it's a lot easier to criticize something that's far away and doesn't affect people close to you, than it is to see * and change * what's going on in your own back yard. If the seal hunt was a major AMERICAN industry, I think a lot of people would put more water into their wine.

To everyone who's screaming at the top of their lungs to "end the seal hunt", would you still be yelling if your neighbor, brother, son or daughter made an honest living from this industry? If your own job depended on it? Why not stop fishing for God's sake !

I have a lot of respect for those fighting for a more humane way of killing animals but it's not always clear if people are against the fact of killing animals (period!) or the fact of killing them inhumanely. If it's the former, then I hope they're all strictly vegan. If there not, it seems a little hypocritical to me.

That's all.

Marc P.

Read:
Why is he not out in England's farm fields denouncing in his own country treat farm animals ??

Should have read:
Why is he not out in England's farm fields denouncing in his own country how farmers and the food industry treat farm animals ??

Marc P.

that's wrong, sure. but just think of the terror you've brought to Iraq's civilians.

hearth breaking. we must stop this!

hearth breaking. we must stop this!

I wonder what the fishing is like over there in Russia? If its great, maybe we should start doing that here. Heck, lets start a controlled hunting season on them critters instead. Maybe we can save our salmon population from being decimated by seals.

I'm all for saving the animals but hey I still eat meat and I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon but seeing them covered in the blood of their family and other seals just isn't right I agree with alot of the comments on here I'm white so can I go back to having a sorry (nigger) as my slave no I can't if I'm even caught making a racist remark I'm scolded for it so don't give me that crap about it being part of their history we had to change so damn maybe they should wake up to what is the 21 century and join the rest of us who have had to change and learn to be nice as we call it..

Are any of you part of the "Make the bears and wolves vegetarian foundation". I find it really cruel how a wolf can tear an animal a part and eat it while it is still alive.

"I find it really cruel how a wolf can tear an animal a part and eat it while it is still alive. "

The difference is, animals don't have a choice. We do.

Why can't we all just get along

I have a dream
That seals and man can be friends
Maybe some day

OMG! That is so bad, I would just like to say that the russians are monsterous people to have hurt such poor little animals!!!! STOP KILLING THOSE SEALS!

Yeah. It's horrible. It just leaves you aghast.

Trouble is, many who see these photos won't equate the inestimable suffering these little guys go through with the inestimable suffering of a leather cow...or a dairy cow...or a battery (egg) chicken...or a wool sheep. If you google "factory farm animal cruelty", you'll see what I mean. For every animal product we eat or own (even those labeled 'organic', 'free range', and 'natural'), we are killing our fellow earthdwellers. And we're doing it horrifically.

We don't NEED these things to survive. We DO have the power of choice. We should use that power for good.

You want to make a difference? Take the sense of outrage you feel when you look at those heartrending faces and see its reflection in your own fridge, pantry, and medicine cabinet. You don't have to call it 'vegan' if you don't want to. Just say that you were given the choice, and you chose compassion.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
- Mahatma Gandhi

The contrast of the white (baby animal) fur covered in blood is sick & unacceptable. These animals are just babies, totally innocent babies. We have no right to enslave animals of any kind.
I truly hope that these acts are punished by any law of karma.

I have to ask, is a coat that important? Any one human who thinks so should be skinned and asked again!

PROTEST.

It is a discredit to Treehugger to post an article with pictures like this. If it was rats no one would care. If it was chickens a lot fewer persons would care.
I live in Canada and eat seal flippers every year around harvest time [local, wild harvested, and according to the WWF (whom I support with monthly donations) a sustainable harvest]. It is a shame when real issues are side traced for this sort of "seals are cute we need to protect them" talk. The hunt is sustainable in Canada and the killing method humane.

In the spirit of constructive criticism here's a suggestion;

7.62mm round to the brain = instant death.

Quick, almost painless and very economical. that and it only leaves a 7.62mm hole on a part of the fur that's rarely used anyway.

And before anyone gets too riled up about what i'm suggesting, I'm vegetarian. I don't believe people should eat meat unless they've killed it themselves and are keenly aware of the suffering they put their food through. But i suppose not everyone can be made to live that way, hence the proposed alternative to whacking the poor things on the head.

Oh my goodness!!! This is the SADDEST thing ever =[ I've never been so disgusted and upset by seeing images like this before. People are so cruel!! How can someone do this to animals? =[

I think people are the animals here and should get the crap beatin out of them by one of those hammer things.

I love seals and russians which side do i choose
Can somebody help me

Ohhh My!
How do I help the poor seals?
They do not deserve to get treated like that!
Please tell me how to help... ?

looks like a lot of fun !!! i want to try!

That is just wrong those poor seals didnt do anything to deserve that :(

This story is so disconnected from what I always thought this site's goals are. Sure there are a plethora of social and political issues that need to be immediately addressed by activist sites such as this one, but each site needs to choose a singular focus and publish relevant stories with regards to that focus. I do not understand how the mistreatment of seals can fall under the auspices of a movement whose goal is to promote environmental awareness.

"I do not understand how the mistreatment of seals can fall under the auspices of a movement whose goal is to promote environmental awareness."

That environment you speak of, it includes animals, not just plants and inanimate matter.

Those people aren't human. I'm not used to this slaughtering thing cuz i'm from malaysia. We don't have seals. This article has just opened my eyes. I'm so shocked and speachless and cried when i saw the last 2 pictures.

It's disgusting that all these seals are treated so horribly just for their fur.

It's not about being cute it's a about having a fur coat that people can exploit!

Janet H., you should get some help.

"That environment you speak of, it includes animals, not just plants and inanimate matter."

The mistreatment of animals by the fur-industry has virtually no effect on the stability of our environment. To me this represents an upsetting lack of restraint with regards to prioritizing and focusing the movement as it is conveyed by this site.

That is soooo sad!!! I cannot belive that these people can skin an alive animal without feeling...they are very cold-hearted! What do they make out of the seal skins? If it's not a necessity, why must we kill these poor innocent creatures?

"It's not about being cute it's a about having a fur coat that people can exploit!"

Actually, I don't know too many details about the Russians, but I know here in Canada, it's NOT just about the fur. The Inuit use just about everything in the animal and I know even commercial hunting uses much more than just the fur.

This is just going to be an endless debate. I really like the vegetarian's comment, suggesting one quick shot to the head, instant, relatively painless death. Now that's a step toward humane killing of these animals.

I don't know how anyone who is not a strict vegetarian can in all consciousness say seals should not be hunted... and then go and have their BBQ-ed ribs.

By the way, there is an over population of seals here, in Canada... severely impacting the fisheries.

Think about that, next time you have your north Atlantic poached salmon.

Marc P.

THIS IS DISGUSTING !! LOOK AT THE TWO BABIES IN THE LAST TWO PICTURES !!! IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY ! THIS HAS TO STOP !! DON'T EVER ASK ME WHY IT HAS TO STOP....IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT FOR YOURSELF THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING TOTALLY WRONG IN YOUR HEAD !!!
I AM FURIOUS !!!!!

"The mistreatment of animals by the fur-industry has virtually no effect on the stability of our environment. To me this represents an upsetting lack of restraint with regards to prioritizing and focusing the movement as it is conveyed by this site."

I don't think you read what that other poster said. Animals are PART of the environment. Killing them certainly has to do with the environment.

If you don't care about it, don't mention it on *your* site. TH can do whatever it wants.

I suppose i should take the opportunity to urge others to try becoming vegetarian. Alternatively you can live by this; eat only what you kill.

Lets not forget the hundereds of thousands of cows that're killed in much the same way as these seals but don't have the benefit of being unspeakably cute.

How about those who oppose the slaughter of all animals, raise their hand.

Some of the pro-meat arguments are ridiculous (as always).

does anyone want to go to russia and set them free with me?

OMG! That is so bad, I would just like to say that the russians are monsterous people to have hurt such poor little animals!!!! STOP KILLING THOSE SEALS!
....

and yet we (the United States) brought hamburgers in the for of McD's to China...

we ALL need to stop destroying the earth and every part of it just because we have turned into the "Microwave Generation" that wants everything NOW.

You can't point fingers at others- it's everyones' responsibility - stop consuming things you don't need, change your ideologies of living.... It's not about what you have, it's about WHO you are.

oh dear

Poor Mark P. Doesn't get it. There ARE groups that fight for humane farming procedures.
Ignorance and lack of education - or denial- is what drives people like poor Mark P. to shrug this off and call it "funny."
I still feel sorrier for the seals. They have no choice. Mark P. CHOOSES his denial and to keep his eyes closed. I wonder what rock he has been living under to NOT know that there are PLENTY of groups out there that advocate humane farming practices for ALL animals. The seals deserve my energy- Mark P. does not. So I am done with this comment.

The seal population is in no danger of extinction, quite the opposite situation is the problem, it is blooming out of control just like the human population.

We have a choice here in handling the problem, because it is one we are mostly responsible for. It is our fault that the arctic sea ice area is greatly reduced and Polar bears are restricted from catching adult seals. It is our fault that overfishing has reduced cod stocks depleting the seals available foods.

Now we can either catch the overpopulation each year, or let it bloom and then starve. Obviously catching the overpopulation becomes a renewable resource that can and should be dealt with as humanly as possible.

Greenpeace fails to see the larger picture, and only shows a cute face being killed, an image calculated to funnel money into a non-problem when there are real serious issues to be dealt with. A far greater threat to seals is the USA Republican plan to open the Arctic wildlife refuge to oil companies, a move that would cause many species extinctions while only providing the world with an extra week of oil supply.

Cute furry seals with sad eyes are an easier target than lonely cold oil rigs. It isn't that Greenpeace doesn't know the issues involved, they do. Protesting seal hunting is continuing proof that our most important nature protection agency cares more for picking easy money than going after the real problems. That is what makes me cry.

These images do me in the soul hurt and I wonder after the WHY. I am speechless that people indeed such a capability. speechless, sad, stunned and saddened. The man is a threat ... The man can gefühlskalt and merciless, that my blood in the veins freezes. What ... for what this Blutgemetzel ... what have they done the human beings that they are suffering? If the same with the same reward would be about ten times the man whether he commit such a murder.

It's 2008 and yet humans are still living in the Dark Ages when it involves animals.

There is no excuse for wearing fur, which is just for vanity puposes. It isn't just seals that are suffering but other fur-bearing creatures.

The human race hasn't evolved spiritually. So long as money can be made from the suffering of ANY creature for human consumption or vanity then the human race is morally bankrupt.

Oh yeah, by the way 10,000 people are dead in Myanmar. Something about that is a TAD more devastating that the deaths of seals.

"Oh yeah, by the way 10,000 people are dead in Myanmar. Something about that is a TAD more devastating that the deaths of seals."

This isn't a site about that, though. Nobody said that because one bad thing happened, another bad thing wasn't important.

@ xie:

I think this article was posted BEFORE the cyclone.
I guess you missed that when you hit the "Post an intelligent and civil comment" button.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/burma-update.php

that is just mean killing seals that is sad the last two why put bleediing seals on a pictuers i will find you cruel people and hope you go to jail

i think this is WRONG STUPID that they are killing POOR seals that can fight 4 them selfs IF YOU DO KILL THEM UR LOOSERS

This is dumb, stupid, childish, wrong, cruel, and just plain out mean!!!!!!!!!!! The russians that do this need to burn in hell for what they have done. Those seals are the cutest things I have ever seen and espeacially the last two pictures.............. are mean and wrong!! espesicaly a baby seal??? If you have the guts to kill a baby seal then you mine as well kill a human baby!!!!! you have no heart and YOU NEED TO DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you stupid ungratefull dicks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recently I came ot the realisation that all life has a symbiotic relationship with the creator of all. Its all universal conciousness made manifest. How many of us are prepared to kill, skin and gut a cow before using the meat and leather.

We are all too detatched from death and wouldn't see things in the same light if we had to do these things ourselves.

I eat meat but I have also hunted in my time and I cant really justify eating animals that I have not killed. There is a certain amount of emotional fallout tha occurs when you take life and if you don't experience it then you have got some serious spiritual, emotional problems.......

i hear lots of people talking about how you cant make a campaign to save only the really cute animals, but thats not whats happening here. first of all there are many save the cow and pig campaigns, just because there not on the news every day doesnt mean they dont exist. second, those pigs and cows were raised to be eaten, these seals werent, theyre takin from their natural habitat and murdered to serve a selfish human beings needs. We CAN live without eating meat, anything in meat we can get from somewhere else, iv lived without meat for 6 years.

what the f*** this is the worst thing i have ever seen!!!!!! This is definetly subject i wanna talk about for my pageant!!!!!!!! I'm crying my eyes out seriously!!!!!!!!

I hope these guys of dead will die in fire!

I hope these guys of dead will die in fire!

Its not fare that seals have to go though this everyday, seals are like other animals that we love, like dogs or cats. Put your self in that example and think about what if they were doing this to dogs or cats. animals are just animals. Thats not cool at all

hose people aren't human. I'm not used to this slaughtering thing cuz i'm from malaysia. We don't have seals. This article has just opened my eyes. I'm so shocked and speachless and cried when i saw the last 2 pictures.

xie :
theyre not going to write about the death of 10,000 people in Myanmar on every single website,
there are other tragedies that happen.
if you dont want to read this article,
go to a different website.

things like this make me ashamed of being apart of this world!!!!!!!!!!!!

wtf is wrong with the world these days, ??
this is so cruel ! what did these animals ever do to desirve this?? hmmm! i swear i hate people like this with a passion, they have no right to do this! at all.

These animals are getting hurt and killed so much! I think we should get a taste of our own medicine. What if the poor seals were us and we were the seals?! We would do alot more to help! If that would happen to us! SAVE THE SEALS!!!!!!!!!

I don't know.

Killing animals is natural. Raising them in order to kill em is questionalbe. Now, wath is shown in these pictures is downringt disgusting.

Problem is, the peoples in the artic have little else to do but hunt. They dont have the luxury to even care about the animals'suffering. This might be the only source of income they can have.

So you might close this camp.But how are you going to stop peoples from killing animals for money? That is the real problem.

please help this is bad i am going to save the seals and hope that killing seal will make you go to jail

This is absolutely not reason today to kill seals for their fur. We are no longer in the dark ages when man needed the fur of animals to cloth himself.

Advance in technology can produce clothing far warmer that animal skins. If nobody buys animal skins ... the greedy fur market will disappear.

Bravo to the USA and Europe to ban all seal products. Let's put a stop to this inhumane & unnecessary slaughter of sentient animals.

Sorry but, the man has became in a stupid living being, and that's the reason of this. We have to start to think in a different way to live our lives. You have to wonder yourself, what right we get of damage to another living things. The world is going to the shit. That's the truth. This is so stupid when you think about it, because they do this cause is a tradition for them. What the hell is that?
Again, I'm sorry by my language, but am really mad because of this.

Like all commercial ventures its not about providing for the communinity, its about maxamising profits and selling off natures resources as fast as possible to make some individual rich as soon as possible.

"Behind every great fortune there is a crime." - Honore de Balzac