Survey: Should Canada End the Seal Hunt?

Killing seals won't bring the cod back. Not fishing for cod will.
Seals eat all sorts of fish, including predatory ones who eat cod.

This is one of many collapsed fisheries we are going to need to learn to deal with. Not by wiping out the top predators.

When they removed the wolves, the caribou population became less viable, likewise with deer/moose in N. Canada.

Leave it be, let it regain some viability, the grand banks still have some of the most fertile waters in the pond, the fish will come back.

I'm just not educated enough about this topic. Why do they have to kill the babies at all? If the population needs to be culled (as I understand animal populations need to be sometimes), why can't they do it in the fall, to the adults before they have a chance to breed? We don't go out hunting fawns when the deer population grows too aggressively.

Brigitte Bardot should focus on animal right issues which are a little closer to home first. Foie gras, anyone?

Why aren't we shipping all these seal over to feed the polar bears, as the old saying goes it would kill two problems with one seal.

As a fellow Canadian, I view our government no better than the Chinese Empire that has ordered the mass capture and murder of all the dogs and cats on the streets of Bejing. I don't see any reason for the continuation of 'traditions' like these. Those who seek fortunes in the others (whether it be the human animal or any other animal) should reconsider there necessity of being on this planet.

Living in Vancouver, and following the Robert Pickton case, one could also make an argument that killing animals blurs the line of human homicide, as Pickton slaughtered pigs for a living, he may have not thought too differently of the 20+ women he killed. If we truly love our earth and want to 'save it', then we should truly love ALL inhabitants and not seek to destroy life. Green is the common theme these days, however until we stop the sea of red, we can never achieve true 'greenness'.

Seal pups are extremely cute animals. If they were ugly, nobody would care and the annual seal hunt in Canada would never have received any publicity. This is not about protecting an endangered animal, this is about PR. Millions of mice and rats are exterminated yearly yet you never see a famous actor campaigning against the killing of these little critters.

Everyone who afgreed with Bardot better be vegetarians who don't wear leather. Otherwise, their names will be next to Spitzer's in the dictionary under "hypocrite".

Unless seals are endangered, I don't see the problem with harvesting a small number of them in a very humane way (ie making sure they don't feel anything).

I mean, when you hunt there is a connection to your food that is not there when you just buy it at the supermarket. Sure it seems more humane to buy it, but that is only because you are disconnected. In reality, hunters probably show much more respect to their food than supermarket customers.

But I'm not very educated on the seal hunt. Maybe I have it all wrong.

Well Brennan aren't you an uneducated idiot - you just managed to find the worlds thinnest argument - well done. Please explain to me how vegetairians wearing leather are anything to do with 275,000 seals being killed in a cruel and inhumane way for nothing but profit?

go get yourself some education and form your own opinions!

Your poll is clearly designed to split the vote that supports the hunt.

Speaking of uneducated viewpoints, maybe people should read the WWF position.

http://www.panda.org/faq/response.cfm?hdnQuestionId=11320030954082

LA: I thought they were two different but valid reasons to support the hunt; people can add and see that they total more or less than 50%. No deviousness was intended.

I will never stop being amazed by the cruelty the human race is capable of. How can anyone try to justify the clubbing and hooking of any animal, regardless of its age. The disregard for life.

I would agree with Brigitte Bardot except that it doesn't matter whether Canada is a rich country or not - such a mass slaughter has no place anywhere. Time for people to learn and accept that it is unacceptable to butcher and exploit living beings - humans included - under the pretext of economic gain.

seal huntin g is really sad!!!!! i mean how can people kill such a cute animal. You look into the seals eyes and they are sooooooooooooo cute!!!

The strong opposition to the seal hunt is in no way influenced nor does it have anything to do with the 'CUTENESS" of the animal. Just go to a website on the hunt itself and watch one of the recorded videos and you will see how these animals are brutally slaughtered for their fur. No living thing should ever be treated in such an inhumane fashion . It is a disgusting reminder of how insensitive and arrogant people have become . You would never accept doing this to a human being , so why to an animal? Their lives are just as important ours and they deserve to live in peace and not suffer from such brutality.

The human being is the most evasive creature ever created wiping out many species until extinction all for the almighty $. I am ashamed at all the horrific actions humans make on animals and our own kind! We don't have any right to take the life of any animal for its skin or body parts etc. All the seals have a right to life just like us. If I think about the outside world which contains many many horrors that are caused by humans I can get pretty down on my own kind. I then try to do my part to make myself a better person for myself and the environment and when I die and am asked "What did you do to make a difference" I am going to have some answers. I am a vegetarian who is in the process of turning vegan (not an easy thing) I power down all power in the evenings and I recently passed the Ontario Wildlife Rehabilitation exam so I can help Ontarios wildlife and I also have a penny drive going to raise $ to build wells in Africa. I live outside the bubble and that sometimes can be a curse- my friends are worrying about what color paint chip to buy when I worry about how many animals got slaughtered today in the world for a $. See the difference- more people live in the bubble as its an easier existence and don't want to know what is really going on in the world. I pray the seal hunt ends one day hopefully soon!

BB all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an inhumane and disgusting hunt. The seals are beaten, clubbed, hooked, and more than half are skinned alive. Some are killed ( if that) and their penises ripped off and sold to Asia...
The seals are a population affected by global warming and the same amount killed each year inhumanely will die from the natural effects of global warming...they will drown or starve to death...This has to end....Let them live. The seals will not over populate, the fish industry is sucking to begin with, so who are we to play GOD and exterminate animals .....who eat the fish...for more fish for us to eat....... and for more money!?? We have to stop this. We caused global warming, now we do not have to kill the animals to keep up with what we caused....boycott Canadian fish, Prada, Gucci, and donate to help those research and film these horrific acts so we can end this now.

I have forced myself to watch the videos and without a doubt the seals (less than 3 months old) who are "sitting targets" on the ice without their mothers anf unable to escape are not in most cases dead or unfeeling when they are hooked and dragged on the boats. In my opinion these so called "men" (sealers) are putting no effort into making sure the seal pups are dead before they are dragged on the boats. I observed the pups being hit a few times and it's time to move on on many, many videos. I am sure once the pups are on the boats that they are given no more humane treatment and yes I believe at this point they are skinned alive. This is not humane and the Canadian Government cannot prove contrary. The pictures speak for themselves. I have read many posts about this and it cannot be justified because there is also other animal abuse in the world. This has to stop. The country of Canada is above this type of behavior.

I hope that the EU decides to stop this barbaric slaughter once and for all. Its an ambarressment for Canada.

good news is on the way for the seal hunt. The cost of the pelts have gone down dramatically. About this time last year, the skin pelts were being sold for over 100 US dollars; they are now fetching 33 US dollars. Hopefully the sealers will see that it is not worth to hunt these animals and the hunt will be banned for next year. One can only hope though. I know that HSUS has done a lot to educate people around the world to help put a stop to the endless slaughter including a boycott on Canadian Seafood, which is Canada's largest export, and have had people urge the EU to put more guidelines on the slaughter.
You can visit their website to join the others and sign the pledge to end the seal hunt.
http://www.hsus.org/index-seals.html

I don't really have a problem with hunting animals, as long as they are killed quickly and humanely, and the meat is used for food. Seal hunting is hideous because the animals suffer, plus they are being killed only for their fur.

Can you believe this??? Here we are again... The year 2009 and another seal hunt????? Are these people ever going to learn that what there doing is completely senseless and brutal!!!! Come on already! There must be a viable alternative made to generate an income for these people besides the slaughtering of innocent and defenseless animals!!! I cannot stand this anymore and it makes me so angry!!!! I have written a letter to Stephan Harper and it has been forwarded to Gail Shea who is the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. I will never stop pushing the envelope until this brutal slaughter of seals stops!!!! Our government has to wake up and realize what they are doing. I don't think they have ever witnessed the seal hunt first hand. All they do is sit in there comfy offices and sign papers, shake hands etc,... Maybe they should go out to the ice floes and hear a seal screaming for it's life as it's getting beaten to death!!! Maybe that'll change things......God!!!!!!!!

It's not about how cute and adorable the seals are, it's about what's right and wrong. There are only a few countries that actually use the seal meat. The U.S. and many countries in Europe have banned the importation of seal pelts and meat. Unfortunately there are still companies, like Prada and Gucci, that still use seal fur for their products. Not only is it wrong to kill seals for their meat, fur, and skin, but also there is no penalty for sealers that exceed the quota the government has set. Why have a set quota when there are no consequences for those who exceed it? This hunt isn't necessary. The fisheries that import and export these products should be shut down and as for the sealers, it's not like they can't find any other jobs! They can get paid for protecting the seals rather than killing them.

Our government is deceptive, conniving and vindictive.

They have actually increased the seal quota out of sheer stubbornness to tell all if it's Canadian Citizens who care about this seal slaughter that they don't care what anybody thinks.

They support the sealers. End of story. They do not care what the world thinks and they do not care what it's citizens think.

Kind of sounds like China doesn't it?

This isn't just about slaughtering animals - cute or not.
This is about the millions of taxpayers dollars being flushed down the toilet each year to sustain less than 10,000 jobs, in a dead industry that is no longer viable, while hundreds of thousands of fellow Canadians are struggling to put a roof over their heads because their industry is suffering.
Why is the government not subsidizing all those other industries with my tax dollars when they might be a more viable industry for the future? Why throw away that money on an industry that is basically bankrupt?
This is about the loss of revenue that other industries, namely the fish and seafood industry who lost nearly 50% of their revenue last year alone, that are suffering horrendously by worldwide boycotts because our government stubbornly won't let go of clubbing seals.
This is about the men out on the ice floes that are literally dying so that someone on the other side of the planet can wear a sealskin hat. What are the lives of those men worth - $6, $35 per pelt that they 'harvested' before they died a miserable death?
I can't believe that there are actually Canadians out there who feel that this is a responsible use of our tax money, especially in this economic climate.
WAKE UP CANADA!!!!