Seal Hunt Rant
I want to respond to a comment I received on my Newfoundland post. Here's the entire comment:
And I have to disagree with the words "cruel hunt". What makes this hunt cruel, as opposed to other (deer, moose, duck, pheasant) hunting? Beef and chicken slaughterhouses? Fishing and allowing the fish to suffocate to death? Humans hunt and kill all kinds of animals for food and for the fur. I just love it when people call hunting cruel and then go to the grocery store to buy meat that is all sanitarily wrapped in white and clear plastic with a pad absorbing all the blood, so it doesn't look too gory. Where do they think that meat is coming from? I hope they never end up in a situation where they need to obtain their own food. Even the idiots on Survivor can kill rats and fish. I guess hunger is a good teacher.
The animal rights groups use pictures that are inflammatory, even if they know those pictures are misleading. For instance you will often see pictures of whitecoat seals being killed. This has been illegal since 1987. The International Fund for Animal Welfare released a video that shows extreme cruelty during the 1996 sealing season. The methods on the video are illegal and charges were laid in that case. Here's a link to a pdf the International Fund for Animal Welfare has produced, if you'd like to see the opposing view. Be warned, it contains cute white baby seals, and carcasses of seals that have been skinned. http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/dimages/custom/2_Publications/Seals/sealsandsealing2005.pdf
The Fisheries and Oceans Canada website has some good info. The following is an excerpt:
Myth #1: The Canadian government allows sealers to kill whitecoat seals.
Reality: The image of the whitecoat harp seal is used prominently by seal hunt opponents. This image gives the false impression that vulnerable seal pups are targeted by sealers during the commercial hunt.
The hunting of harp seal pups (whitecoats) and hooded seal pups (bluebacks) is illegal – and has been since 1987. Marine Mammal Regulations prohibit the trade, sale or barter of the fur of these pups. The seals that are hunted are self-reliant, independent animals.
Myth #2: Seals are being skinned alive.
Reality: A 2002 independent veterinarians’ report published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal and numerous reports mentioned by the Malouf Commission (1987) indicate that this is not true.
Sometimes a seal may appear to be moving after it has been killed; however seals have a swimming reflex that is active – even after death. This reflex gives the false impression that the animal is still alive when it is clearly dead – similar to the reflex in chickens.
Myth #3: The club – or hakapik – is a barbaric and inhumane tool that has no place in today’s world.
Reality: Hunting methods were studied by the Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing in Canada and it found that the clubbing of seals, when properly performed, is at least as humane as, and often more humane than, the killing methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, which are accepted by the majority of the public.
A 2002 report published in the Canadian Veterinary Journal found that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely.
Sealers in the Magdalen Islands (Gulf of St. Lawrence) and on Quebec's Lower North Shore, where about 25% of the hunt occurs, use both rifles and hakapiks while sealers on the ice floes on the Front (in the waters east of Newfoundland), where 75% of the hunt occurs, primarily use rifles.
Myth #4: The Canadian government is allowing sealers to kill thousands of seals to help with the recovery of cod stocks.
Reality: Several factors have contributed to the lack of recovery of Atlantic cod stocks, such as fishing effort, poor growth and physical condition of the fish, and environmental changes.
In addition, there are many uncertainties in the estimates of the amount of fish consumed by seals. The commercial quota is established on sound conservation principles, not an attempt to assist in the recovery of groundfish stocks.
Myth #5: The hunt is unsustainable and is endangering the harp seal population.
Reality: Since the 1960s, environmental groups have been saying the seal hunt is unsustainable. In fact, the harp seal population is healthy and abundant. A 2004 survey estimated the Northwest Atlantic harp seal population at approximately 5.8 million animals, nearly triple what it was in the 1970s.
DFO sets quotas at levels that ensure the health and abundance of seal herds. In no way are seals - and harp seals in particular – an “endangered species”.
It's too bad that Canada still allows the annual clubbing of baby seals for their fur. The Humane Society of the U.S. and Humane Society International is currently in Newfoundland to report on this cruel hunt.
www.protectseals.org
~Tyler
April 2, 2007 11:33 AM