Seal Hunt Embarrassment To Be "More Humane"
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.10.08
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It is an annual tradition; the world shuns Canada and threatens trade bans while hardy Newfoundlanders pursue "a tradition that dates back commercially to the 1700s". There are six million harp seals, supposedly dining on cod and in desperate need of culling. They have not hunted the whitecoated babies for years because of the cute overload factor; now they wait a few weeks to let them bond with mom and then try to kill them with clubs. They often botch the job, so this year an "independent group of veterinarians assembled by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans proposed "a three-step method of stunning, checking and bleeding seals [that] can result in rapid, irreversible loss of consciousness and death, and thus can be a humane process."- if it ain't dead from the clubbing, slit its throat.
I am just so thrilled to see that our proud Canadian traditions are being adapted to the modern age. We are truly building a better world. ::National Post
See our earlier post on Paul McCartney at an earlier seal hunt, where many commenters came out in defence of the hunt on the basis of preserving Newfoundland culture, jobs, destruction of the fish stocks, the explosive growth of the seal population and that TreeHugger "really should hire some fact checkers."
Congrats on getting in the top 50 blogs list, you totally deserve it. :)
justifying the slaughter of baby seals because they deplete fish stocks doesn't add up. The buck for destroying fisheries stops with human beings who harvest cod for profit, not the codfish's natural predators. I'm not saying we should stop fishing cod, but honestly that is a really poor reason for murdering baby seals. Thats like saying we should allow polar bears to become extinct because they'll be a threat to humans when we try to try to take over the liquified arctic circle.
I always thought that TreeHuggers would at least come out in favor of a hunt that is at least "trying" to be more humane. I don’t know how the seal hunt comes off year after year as being less humane then all the other hunts that must take place around the world. Not to mention all the animals that are breed in captivity and held in pens or cages until they are “humanly” killed. I seriously hope it’s not just the “cute” factor, I thought we were beyond judging the value of life by how cute it looked.
"a tradition that dates back commercially to the 1700s".
god forbid that we use the 1700s as our moral standard for all human behaviour. if it flew then, well hell, it's gotta be good and right. just like all the other morally atrocious behaviours that were condoned then (racism, homophobia, sexism, slavery, etc.)
dare i even ask why we need to kill seals in the first place??
Not a Proud Canadian.
I makes me so frustrated with my government that they continue this... and only for one reason: It gives some Newfoundlanders a job.
This is the worst employment program ever, and leaves no trace of respect for any of our so-called "leaders" that allow it to continue.
I talked to a newfie who often takes part in the seal hunt. He said he uses a gun. Did you know that Alberta has rat control? Thats right, we mercilessly slaughter innocent, cute fuzzy rats that dare set foot within out borders. And for no other reason than: we don't like them. WE certainly don't have an overpopulation problem, as I have never seen one.
All apologies to vegans and animal rights activists.
This is not a sustainability problem. It is a PR problem. Seals have cuteness on their side but aren't lambs cute too. From every indication, it seems that these seals aren't an endangered species in any way. Whether they have a huge impact on cod stocks or not is debatable as well. The seal population continued to rise even as the cod stocks crashed. That's not usually the way population dynamics works. It's hard to argue that a large number of hungry predators won't have an effect, though. I'm sure that the deer population in Yellowstone has been effected by the reintroduction of wolves.
When I worked for Greenpeace I had to tell people constantly that we weren't involved in the anti-sealing actions. It just isn't a Greenpeace mandate to end all hunting (or wasn't then).
What am I getting at? I don't know.
I don't hunt and the thought of killing a baby seal (or an adult) or a deer makes me physically ill. On the other hand, if I lived in the north of BC and supplemented my food supplies with venison (or even cute little rabbits) or sold my hunted meat to buy other staples, this talk of bans on hunting would make me very nervous.
When you thionk of the boycotts that the seal cull elicits against Canada those few Newfoundland fisherman must cost the rest of Canada over 1miliiion US$ each.
Pay the cruel SOBs off and the rest of Canada will reap the benefits.
Thank God the rest of the world has moved on in the last 300 years.
So lemme guess, the seal population is booming because humans are either directly killing or destroying the habitats of all their other natural predators?
I am always amazed that the seal hunt becomes an issue every year. To me it is proof that we as a society have a very poor grasp of the real issues at hand and choose to highlight ones that are really quite unimportant. If people spent the time they spend complaining about cute animals being killed (as the person pointed out in the comments no one says ban the Alberta rat control or stop the slaughter of rats in NYC) doing something constructive we would be at least a bit better off.
Sorry, Chris, but last time I checked seals didn't carry nasty diseases and pose a public health problem. hmm. i guess you'd probably be opposed to killing mosquitoes to prevent west nile too then, huh?
we DON'T NEED to kill seals. there are other ways of making money in the north and other foods to eat and even other aphrodisiacs that could be sold on the exotic foods markets. there's absolutely NO REASON to hunt seals. i would just like to put that out there again.
We don't kill seals, we harvest them. Killing is a crime and the seal hunt is a way of life where killing is considered useless and abusive. The seal provides more than just food and clothing - it provides a way of life. It is not exotic or an aphrodisiac; it is simply a way of life. we need the omega oil from seals to sustain our health and immune system to very extreme temperatures. We live off the land and the seal is something that is very much a part of the north eastern Atlantic culture. The main reason for the need to support the seal hunt is to rid the nonsense that comes from bought media propaganda and misleading comments by those who are not even sure where the food in front of them came from. The seal hunt will continue as it did for centuries, because it is an organic way of life, just like fishing is a way of life. By the way, the seal population has exploded on account of the lack of harvesting these mammals that eat 30 pounds of fish - every single day of the year and live to be on average, 35 years old. Thus seal worm is in fact a very real disease that is now commonly found among the herd. so get your facts straight before you rant!
THE FACT THEY ARE KILLED IS BAD ENOUGH BUT THE "WAY" THEY ARE KILLED IS HORRIBLE. THEY DON'T WANT TO HAVE BULLET WOUNDS ON THEIR PELTS SO THEY BEAT THE BABIES TO DEATH WITH CLUBS AND THEY EVEN BEAT THE MOTHERS TO DEATH IF THEY TRY TO SAVE THEIR CRYING BABIES. I AM SORRY BUT IF THAT IS HOW YOU HAVE TO MAKE A LIVING, GO SOMEPLACE ELSE. I ALWAYS CONSIDERED CANADIANS TO BE ANIMAL LOVERS AND RESPECTERS OF LIFE - BUT THESE PEOPLE ARE SAVAGES! IN THE U.S. MANY YEARS AGO FARMERS WERE HAVING A BOTHER WITH TOO MANY RABBITS. ONE DAY THEY DECIDED TO GET THEM ALL TOGETHER AND THEY CHASED THEM INTO AN ENCLOSED AREA AND BEAT THEM ALL TO DEATH - LITTLE HELPLESS ANIMALS. THEY SAID FOR MILES AROUND THEY COULD ONLY HEAR WHAT SOUNDED LIKE BABIES BEING BEATEN TO DEATH. A GREAT SCARCITY OF WATER CAME UPON THAT LAND FOR YEARS AFTERWARD AND PEOPLE HAD TO MOVE AWAY AS THEY COULD NO LONGER LIVE ON THAT LAND. MANY THOUGHT A HIGHER FORCE WAS PUNISHING THEM AND MANY COULD NOT SLEEP FOR YEARS BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY HAD DONE AND THE "WAY" (THE "WAY") THEY HAD DONE IT. I HOPE THESE GUYS DON'T SLEEP AT NIGHT EITHER AND I WISH THERE WERE PEOPLE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO STAND BETWEEN THE SAVAGES AND THE
BABIES. THERE HAS TO BE OTHER WAYS TO MAKE A LIVING WITHOUT TORTURING GOD'S CREATURES AND THEN THEY SAY 1/2 OF THEM ARE SKINNED WHILE STILL ALIVE! MAY G-D DAMN THEIR SOULS!
I completely agree with you! I live in Nova Scotia and I've always thought the seal hunt was abominable, and just last weekend I was walking on a beach and saw a baby seal sunning itself! It was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen and I think anyone who could kill something like that should be sent for psychiatric assessment. Or they should just be clubbed themselves.
I'm going to have to agree with many commenters here who say that the only reason there is such an outrage is because of the "cute" factor. I don't know enough about the population dynamics of the seals to know if it is sustainable or not. Overpopulation due to a lack of natural predators can be a serious problem though, just look at the deer population in Wisconsin, and the fear of cronic wasting disease. What I do know is that if the seals were actually giant reptiles or huge ugly insects a lot of people would probably view these events in a different light.
joel- your an idiot! no its not cause there cute! its because its horrible and cruel!! so umm got to hell:] which you will anyways