After years of pressure the European Union  (EU)  finally agreed to ban seal products. This will surely mean the end of the fur seal slaughter in Newfoundland, Canada. It has been a very long time coming, but it is nice when something good finally happens. It couldn’t have happened without all of us raising our voices and all the activist groups who promoted the cause.
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Some background from HSUS: It is estimated the EU action will cost the Canadian seal industry over 6 million; Canada only made about 7 million on the hunt last year. Many sealers stayed home this year. The industry is now searching for new markets. However, humane groups are working to derail this attempt and there is a bill in the Canadian Parliament to end the hunt.What can you do? First, celebrate! Then support one of the many groups out there working for the seals, and manifest for the end of the seal hunt: see the bill passing and see the seals protected.
 Of course the spin off battle will be blaming all the seals that subsequently have not been clubbed to death for failing fisheries… Hello. For millions (?) of years seals and fish were in stasis. Who upset this balance? We did through over fishing and factory trawling. Those accusations should be directed at unsustainable fishing practices and at factory trawlers who are literally killing the oceans. So a new great cause: end over fishing and factory trawling of the oceans: see it happening, feel it happening, support the groups working to make it happen, and on and on.
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TRY THIS
Here is an idea for practicing sent in by a reader. Try it and see what happens.
I recently was on a long road trip with my dog Monte and had turned off the radio to reduce outside stimulation. I was having an internal conversation with myself and suddenly thought “cows”. Now I really like cows, but there was no reason for me to think this thought. I looked over at Monte and the word “cows” popped into my head again. He had his nose resting on the window and he was taking in the smells.
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Monte
 As we rounded the corner, there was a field of cows. Now the first time the word popped into my head, I was definitely too far away for ME to have smelled the cows, but I know Monte could have…so I decided to test our conversational skills. I let my mind go blank and said “Monte, let’s play a game. You can tell me what is coming up the road.” I got three solid “hits” in about 15 minutes. I questioned his “Tall brown cows” comment, and was answered with a herd of bay/brown horses not 15 seconds later. Then he said ‘boring.’ Game over, LOL. I guess it was too easy for him.
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THIS REALLY WORKS!
I have started a new feature to cover all the emails I am getting with stories from people who tried animal communication and discovered it really works! Here’s a good one from reader, Wanda Hudson.
I am about half way through your book, Learning Their Language, and am finding it really interesting. Something recently happened that has me sort of freaked out. This, to you, I’m sure may be an everyday occurrance but to someone who wants to communicate with animals but never thought it was possible…I’m a little freaked. New neighbours moved in next door to us about five years ago. They have a barking dog, that everytime he is outdoors, he barks and barks and barks. He has seen myself and my husband coming and going for the last several years, yet he still barks at us. He also would bark everytime his people were outside…barking non stop. This has been very frustrating and definetly interefered with neighbour relations. Big source of frustration both while he was barking and after the fact. By the way, we have a very well behaved Golden Retriever whom we have had for the last 10 years. Just to let you know we are dog lovers. I thought one day while reading your book and trying to think of an animal that I could communicate with…why not try the source of a lot of frustration. I wasn’t sure how to go about it but figured why not. I explained to Flash that we would not harm him or his family, that the reason we do not like him is because he barks so much. I also explained that we would like him very much if he would stop barking at us and everything else that moved. I also told him that his family would love him more if he stopped barking all the time and that he was interfering with their ability to go camping…as barking dogs are not allowed and that good dogs do not bark all the time. I am truly amazed…this dog does not even glance our way anymore when we go outside and it all started on the day that I had the long distance conversation with him. I told my husband what I did and got him to walk around the house several times opening and closing the doors etc… My husband and I only think good dog thoughts whenever we are around him now and there is no barking!!! I still can’t believe that he heard me and listened. I almost want to ask the neighbour if he might be sick or something. We’ve had two whole peaceful non-barking weeks…I’m amazed. Now to have a two way conversation, hmmm…must get reading !Â