Canadian Seal Hunt
Originally Appeared in Paragon Music Magazine, May 2007
By Lisa Selvaggio
"When you dress in suede or leather or some fancy fur or feather, do you stop and wonder whether for a fad you have killed some beast or other, that you're wearing someone's brother or perhaps it's someone's mother in which you're clad" - "Like Animals" by Leslie Bricusse
Imagine this. Imagine that you live in a secluded, pristine environment, largely unaffected by outsiders. Imagine that this land is crisp, clear, and clean. It's so clean it's pure white. You look around and there's snow and ice and water, and above you is an endless blue sky. Imagine that you and your family made your home here, and you're happy here. Now imagine that you only have the ability to give birth to one baby each Spring. Biologically this is what you're allowed, and in order to keep your family strong and growing, and to keep your species alive, you take advantage while you can. But imagine that a monster, a species much larger and more powerful than you, with weapons that you can't create or use, knows that you can only give birth a couple months out of each year, and every year, without fail, comes by to brutally slaughter your one child and hundreds of thousands of your family's and friends' babies. These babies, only a few weeks old, are bludgeoned and skinned, sometimes skinned alive, and then left on the ice. Imagine standing on this once pure landscape, looking on a sea of bloody carcasses. And this all happens so quickly, within days, so you have no control. Nor do you have the strength to stop it. If you can imagine this, you can imagine what it's like for the Harp Seals that are slaughtered on Canadian ice each year.
The hunting of these precious animals is not only inhumane, but unjustifiable. Sealers stun the seals using wooden clubs or hakapiks, which are wooden poles with iron or steel hooks and hammers at the top. After hitting as many as they can, the sealers return to finish them off. The seals have no chance of getting away - they lack the speed and coordination on the ice to escape human hunters. Another method employed by the hunters involves shooting the seals from a distance and then dragging the animals, who are often still alive, using steel hooks. Hunters don't have much time to complete the highly competitive hunt, but it is conducted over a vast area of ice, resulting in a sloppy hunt that takes no time to consider the pain and suffering endured by the animals. As mentioned above, some seals are left alive on the ice, after they've been bludgeoned or shot, for a while before hunters return to kill them. IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), goes out every year to capture video and photographic footage of the hunts, and there is documented evidence that shows hunters don't think twice about skinning baby seals alive on the ice and leaving their carcasses behind. Yet the Canadian government, which has been petitioned countless times by people from around the globe, including its own citizens, refuses to put a permanent end to the hunt. According to HYPERLINK "http://www.stopthesealhunt.com" www.stopthesealhunt.com, "Year after year, IFAW hunt observers encounter seals that have been clubbed and left to suffer on the ice, bleeding profusely, crying, breathing and attempting to crawl."
If the seal hunt continues, it is likely that these seals will become extinct. Not only do hunters go far beyond their quota, even though the Canadian government quotas are already higher than what scientists believe would allow seal populations to thrive, but global warming and melting ice is taking its toll on them as well. IFAW states, "The lack of ice in the Southern Gulf [of St. Lawrence] has led to a mortality rate for baby seals estimated to exceed 90%, yet sealers continued to wipe out the last remaining survivors....the Canadian government has given sealers permission to kill 270,000 seals."
Why are baby seals hunted in the first place? First off, Harp Seals aren't the only species that are hunted. Other species include Hooded, Ringed, Harbor, Bearded, and Grey Seals. According to HYPERLINK "http://www.animalsvoice.com" www.animalsvoice.com, markets for seal products are few in number and unstable. One of the reasons these seals are hunted is for their fur, but with a decreasing demand in seal fur, there is an overabundance of seal pelts while the hunt continues. Another reason they are hunted is for their meat, but once again, very few people actually consume the strong-tasting meat - another reason the hunt is unnecessary. Finally, oils, including Omega 3 fatty acids, are extracted from seals and sold to Europe and Asia, and seal penises are sold in certain parts of Asia, where they serve as aphrodisiacs. It's clear that the reasoning behind the seal hunt is deeply flawed, and most people do not want or need to consume seal products.
YOU can make a difference though, and work to help stop these hunts from continuing, help organizations like IFAW succeed. First and foremost, do not buy fur products, as this feeds the fur industry and allows for the senseless, brutal slaughter of countless species, including seals. Never buy fur products, period. And if you buy faux fur, make sure it's fake, because it may actually be mislabeled and you'll unknowingly buy real fur. Secondly, boycott fish products that are from Canada. For your information, Red Lobster is the largest purchaser of Canadian seafood. The fishermen and Canadian government who profit from these sales will continue to have the means to conduct the seal hunts each year. Make sure that when you purchase seafood at a supermarket or fish market you know where it's coming from. If it's not stated outright, just ask. Thirdly, attend demonstrations, sign petitions, write letters, and join non-profit organizations (it's free to join most, but giving donations helps even more) to make your voice heard. Let government and industry know that you are against animal cruelty, suffering, and needless death. And spread the word to others. Use your networking sites, blog sites, etc. to inform others so that they can take action too. Finally, because global warming is another reason seals are suffering, do what you can to educate yourself about global warming and make changes to stop it (i.e. use less electricity and more energy efficient products, use less water, do some gardening to plant trees and vegetation, buy a hybrid car or at least drive less, and look into clean sources of energy like solar and wind).
It breaks my heart when I read about animal suffering and see it in videos or photos. Humans need to understand that we're only hurting ourselves by depleting the Earth not only of its vital resources but of its beautiful animals. Every species has a place here, and we all need to respect them and appreciate them as a part of this incredible world we live in. We need to stop treating animals as if they feel nothing, mean nothing, are nothing. Maybe once we learn to appreciate the world around us and all of its diverse life forms, we'll be able to appreciate and accept one another and our own differences, and we'll learn to appreciate life in general. But whatever you do, don't sit back and turn yourself off to the seal hunt. Much as it hurts, don't block yourself out from it just to protect yourself from feeling sad or angry. Instead, fight it and defeat it.