Seal skin sporrans?

[Scotcop]

Three more words: Big Brown Eyes

and three more words: Cute Seal Pups

and four more words: Not Our Incomes Involved.

EXACTLY!!!
No one cares if a mouse dies, it's gross and ugly, but the cute seals must be preserved..........I have a word for that type of thinking......


DUMB!!!

[Vegan Scot]

I see this thread potentially going off-topic very quickly and I don't want that to happen, but I will briefly chime in and add a couple points.

Indigenous harvesting of seal skin is one thing, Canuck. A multi-national corporation such as Carino LTD "harvesting" seal skin with no respect for the natural ecosystem or the the welfare of the animals they use is quite another.

Scotcop, you're correct and it's unfortunate that preference is given to one animal and not another by the general public whose opinions are manipulated by people with their own agendas. My word for that type of thinking is speciesism.

[n5rmj]

I live in Bethel, Alaska, which is smack dab in the middle of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (http://yukondelta.fws.gov/). The refuge covers about 19.16 million acres (77548 km²) in southwestern Alaska. The Yupik natives here are allowed by law to hunt seal for food and produce goods from the skins for sale. The fur skins are mostly used to produce parkas and hats but I bet I could get a few people here interested in making seal skin sporrans.

[Lallans]

I don't think animal activists, who I would otherwise really like to support, much care about whether or not native peoples are involved in the process, or if they starve or live on welfare or not. If said activists in fact do, I hope to see some postive action in that regard. Let us know when that happens.

[auld argonian]

Here:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dogs-Pigs...9547653&sr=8-1

I heard an interview with this author on NPR a couple of weeks ago...very interesting.

I'm sort of convinced that nothing makes someone want something more than when they're told that they can't have it. You can make a sporran out of any number of things but the seal skin thing keeps coming up again and again. It looks nice but so do a lot of things that don't come with a hassle.

Best

AA

[Lallans]

Don't know if you're a South Park fan but I refer you their recent-ish "Whale Whores" episode (Google it, I can't provide a link from where I am). The boys find out why the Japanese slaughter dolphins and whales and then manage to redirect their slaughtering energies to the socially acceptable chickens and cows. Quite a funny takeoff on both the film "The Cove" and the Whale Wars TV show- if that is you think South Park is funny. Otherwise it's just true.

[Vegan Scot]

I don't think animal activists, who I would otherwise really like to support, much care about whether or not native peoples are involved in the process, or if they starve or live on welfare or not. If said activists in fact do, I hope to see some postive action in that regard. Let us know when that happens.

Rod Coronado immediately comes to mind. There are many people out there who feel just as passionate about the welfare human animals as they do about non-human ones. I think one thing to remember is that people are more than just one thing; animal activists are rarely just animal activists. Most of them see the connection between the earth, the animals, ourselves and everything in between and work to strengthen that connection. Granted, I'm not talking about PETA types here specifically, I have no truck with them. But others who often choose not to affiliate with specific organizations are usually the ones to transcend the "animal activist only" label.

And... I'm done. Sorry to hijack the thread, just had to put my two cents in!

[D.A. Guertin]

Seal is quite nice, but I'll make a sporran out of anything. I'm restricted to recycling vintage items when it comes to seal and walrus, but there is *nothing* I wouldn't use. My wife knows full well her Huskie's are destined for my workshop before they go in the ground...

I've been a lover of leather since my earliest days of knife making, where you pretty much have to have something special in the sheath to sell the knife. Ostrich, Cape Buffalo, Teju lizard, Alligator... They can all be used for sporrans as well, you just have to back them with another thickness of hide. ;-)

[MacRobert's Reply]

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Strasbourg backed the ban on the use of seal products by a majority of 550 to 49. Individual EU nations are endorsing the decision. The UK is scheduled to enact the ban in August this year. The implications for sporran makers, retailers and hire companies in Scotland are not yet clear. It is probable that making sporrans from sealskin will be completely banned. However, it seems likely that sporrans already made can be sold or hired. How this will be policed is not clear. Perhaps we will need to carry evidence that our sporrans predate the ban.

[azwildcat96]

Rod Coronado immediately comes to mind.

Rod Coronado,

...scuttled two ships in 1984, the Hvalur 6 and Hvalur 7, accounting for half of Iceland's whaling fleet. Before scuttling the ships, Coronado and Howitt caused $2 million worth of damage to the Icelandic whaling station.

...was jailed in 1995 in connection with an arson attack on research facilities at Michigan State University. The incident caused $125,000 worth of damage and destroyed 32 years of research data.

...in 2004 he was indicted on three charges related to Earth First! hunt saboteur actions to disrupt a hunt of mountain lions in Sabino Canyon, near Tucson by dismantling a lion trap and spreading mountain lion urine. He was found guilty of felony conspiracy to interfere with or injure a government official, misdemeanor interference with or injury to a forest officer, and misdemeanor depredation (theft, destruction, or the attempt to do so) of government property.

... in 2006 he was arrested on a felony charge of demonstrating the use of an incendiary device at a public gathering in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego. In 2007 he subsequently entered a guilty plea.

Sounds like a real role-model :crap:...more like a terrorist!

...in 2006, while imprisoned for felony conspiracy and awaiting trial on further charges, Coronado expressed a change in his personal philosophy inspired by fatherhood. In an open letter, he wrote, "Don't ask me how to burn down a building. Ask me how to grow watermelons or how to explain nature to a child," explaining that he wants to be remembered, not as a "man of destruction but [as] a human believer in peace and love for all." He was released in December 2008.

I don't buy it for one second!

I get off my soap box now...

Sorry for continuing the hijacking of this post and for expressing my different point of view...