What is your opinion on the Canadian Seal Hunt?

Question

Over 350,000 babySeals are being beaten and shot to death each year in Canaada by a few thousands commercial fishermen. This is the largest slaughter of Marine Mammals in the WORLD!
Many Seals are skinned ALIVE! Many others slip into the water, only to drown or bleed to death. These innocent , helpless Seals are killed for their skins in a slaughter subsidized by the Canadian government but condemned by most Canadians and people all around the world. Check it out for yourself at harpseals.org

Answer 1

The very nature of the seal slaughter prevents it from ever being humane. In a few days, over 300,000 seals are bludgeoned and/or shot. The race is on to kill as many as possible, and consequently shortcuts are taken. A 2002 report published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal stated that 87% of sealers observed failed to confirm that the seals were dead or unlikely to regain consciousness (and therefore remain insensible to pain) before skinning, hooking or leaving on the ice and moving on to the next "kill" - this is a direct violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations which specify that a sealer must palpate the skull or check for corneal reflex before skinning or moving on. Independent studies state that 42% of seal carcasses examined suggested that those seals were not dead or sufficiently insensible to pain when they were skinned. A further study conducted in 2005, by an organization that does not oppose the commercial seal hunt, came to the same conclusion.

The Canadian commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world, and the only slaughter specifically targeting the baby of the species, with 95% of seals killed being under three months of age. Whilst it is indeed illegal to kill a whitecoat, a seal can be killed legally the moment it begins moulting that white coat, usually at 2 weeks of age. Given that a harp seal reaches sexual maturity at 6 - 7 years of age and the average lifespan is 30 - 35 years, there is no question that a seal of 2 - 12 weeks is indeed a baby. The seals killed have not yet eaten their first solid meal, cannot swim and are incapable of self-defence or escape. They are hardly "self-sufficient and independent" as the Canadian government claims. In response to Grev's question as to why babies with less skin and less meat are targeted, the babies' skins are pristine, not yet marked or flawed. In terms of "less meat", only a very small portion of flesh is recovered in the commercial seal hunt, in any event. There is no market for seal flesh outside of Newfoundland, despite the Canadian government's efforts and spending of taxpayers' dollars in attempting to promote it internationally. Consequently, only a small portion of the flesh is taken. The pelt is the primary product, with seal oil (which, laden with mercury and PCBs, isn’t safe for human consumption) also taken. Most of the flesh is left to rot on the carcasses as they are tossed aside after skinning.

The eco-system is unbalanced because humans have made it so. The seals have played no part in it, although some people still believe governments’ past claims that the seals were responsible for the depletion of cod stocks and that seals are preventing cod stocks from "bouncing back". Neither of these claims is true. Indeed, if we hunt the seal to extinction (which is what will happen if DFO continues to get their way) the cod will be no better off, nor will the many other species of fish upon which the seal preys. We are removing top layers from the marine eco-systems and destroying an already frail eco-system.

The commercial seal hunt is separate and apart from the aboriginal or Inuit subsistence seal hunt. The commercial seal hunt - which is the hunt being targeted by animal protection groups - is being conducted by primarily white men of European descent. The aboriginal and Inuit subsistence hunt is not in dispute. The government has manipulated the Inuit into believing their way of life is threatened and has played the "race card" to shame people into thinking that protesting the commercial seal hunt is tantamount to racism against Canada's native population.

Government's repeated claims that the hunt is "closely monitored and tightly regulated" are false. DFO cannot even monitor that quotas are kept. Sealers have consistently gone over quota year after year and a DFO official has admitted that there are too many boats to be able to closely monitor quotas. If they cannot monitor quotas they certainly cannot "closely monitor" and "tightly regulate" the humaneness of the seal hunt. Numerous violations of the Marine Mammal Regulations are filmed every year and the videos - as recently as this past spring's - is available on the internet for viewing. Claims that animal protection groups are using 20-year old videos are false.

The talk of banning the hakapik is not an attempt to make the seal hunt more humane but rather to make the seal hunt APPEAR humane. Premier Williams refers to “the visual image”, Minister Hearn refers to “unpleasant optics” and the president of the Magdalen Islands Sealers Associations stated that “the hakapik makes the industry look bad and should be banned” but states that there is no short-term alternative to the hakapik. Further, it is not a motion before government, as suggested. It is simply a series of musings made by Williams, Hearn and the president of the Magdalen Islands Sealers Association, in an attempt I suspect to placate the European Parliament who has just passed a Written Declaration calling for the European Union to ban the import and sale of seal products.

To say that the harp seal population is out of control simply because it is claimed to be "nearly triple what it was in the 1970s is not logical. Overhunting from the 1950s to 1970s left the harp seal population dangerously low. Due to increased kill quotas over the past few years, together with this past spring's unseasonably warm temperatures resulting in the nursery floes melting early and most of the pups drowning, the seal population is actually quite fragile. If sealers continue to kill at current quota levels the seals will be hunted to extinction.

Also bear in mind that quotas reported in past years do not count those seals "struck and lost", that is seals that are shot and escape, and seals whose pelts are so badly damaged that they left by sealers. Government admits this past spring that as many as 10,000 seals will be struck and lost. They are not included in the "quotas".

The Canadian government claims that it does not subsidize the commercial seal hunt. This is not completely true. Whilst direct subsidies were stopped, indirect subsidies continue. Taxpayers' dollars pay the salaries of DFO, RCMP and Coast Guard staff present during the commercial seal hunt. Additionally, it is taxpayers' dollars that fund politican's trips abroad to promote seal products internationally. Processing plants are set up with government loans and those loans are forgiven and written off when the planst fail. Subsidies do indeed continue.

To say there are other evils in the world such as slaughterhouses and sweatshops is stating the obvious. Just because there is one evil does not mean that we should condone the other. Many people fight for human causes, many people fight for animal causes, and many people fight for both. You would never find an animal protectionist berating a person for fighting against injustices toward humans, insisting that they stop worrying about the sweatshops when there are seals being killed. Why, then, do some people berate seal hunt opponents, insinuating that they should be focusing solely on human issues? It is my experience that people who use this argument do not particularly care about human rights issues either, but merely use it as a last resort when credible argument fails them.

As an Atlantic Canadian I applaud everyone who is boycotting Canada and encourage them to avoid this country, its services and goods until such time as we drag ourselves into the 21st century and stop the seal slaughter. Government and sealers need to sit down and consider the alternatives that have been put forward over the years. Viable alternatives have been put forward to sealers in the past, all of which have been cast aside without serious consideration and in some cases have been met with violence and death threats.

The sealing industry is in serious trouble. It is a dying industry, regardless of the government's blustering claims of the multi-billion dollars it brought it this year. Norway, the major market for Canadian seal pelts - as the Canadian government claims - has been caught burning seal pelts, paid by their own government to do so.

Something is very rotten here in Canada, and it's not just the bloody seal carcasses left behind on their nursery ice floes. It is the reek of politics.

At the end of the day, so-called “tradition” and “economic necessary” can never be used as a justification for cruelty.

Answer 2

Your facts are wrong. Canadian officials are on-hand during the very brief seal hunt season. The Hunters are required to deliver quick and humane death to the animals either by a swift blow that crushes the skull and results in immediate death as the spinal cord is severed and instantly stops the heart or they may use firearms and knives.

Seals are like many animals that mankind uses for food, hides, and other uses. The seal hunt is also a part of the culture of the native peoples of the area. This is a long time controversy and Canadian inspectors are ALWAYS viewing that the hunt is humane.

Harpseals.org is not a reliable source of info.

Answer 3

for starters no they are not skinned alive, and not they don't drown. and no fishing is not subsidized by the Canadian gov. I'm not sure where u people get your "facts". the only reason it is condemned is because of the spared of false propaganda by groups like harpseals.org
why do they do this? i can't figure it out wouldn't there time be better spent feeding the worlds starving children????
no i don't really support the hunt but only because it gives us a bad name.
the population of seals is ballooning (bigger numbers than the last 100 years), decimating fish stocks.
there is a motion before gov. to ban clubs(only guns allowed)
why don't u people visit a slaughter house, see where hamburger comes from, or a Nike factory, see all the kids making sneakers.
I'm getting really tired of celebs telling us what is right and what is wrong, ya it's OK for them to ban hunting ,beef or milk, they make gazillions of dollars and can afford free range imported martian grown peanut free sunflower feed goats milk or the next big fad.
but here in the real world fishermen have family's to feed and bills to pay. here on the east coast our economy is failing, we need all sources of income to survive.
instead of people baning Canadian products why not come here and support our tourism industry? did any of u know that a day before Paul and heather McCartney arrived on Pei we hosted the East coast music awards a huge festival, that spanned a week. imagine the publicity it would have gotten if sir Paul went to some of the concerts, but i guess that wouldn't sell as may Cd's as pics of him on the ice with baby seals???

Answer 4

I didn't check out that website but I've heard of this before. Think logically when you say baby seals why would they kill baby seals why not adult seals when they have more skin more meat and the like. If the seal population wasn't controlled in someway they would exhaust thier food supply. Then you can post how the canadian goverment is letting all the seals die of starvation. From an unbalanced eco-system.
Seals provide oil, skins, useful things.

Answer 5

I am disgusted and horrified by this. I am Canadian and this slaughtering really disturbs me, as it should any other human being. But sadly this kind of thing goes on all over the world and with many differnt types of species being tortured. Even in some cases humans.

Answer 6

yeah, it's pretty sick.