Seal Hunting in the News

The other day I read in the paper about the renewed seal hunt in eastern Canada. This was the first time I'd heard about it since the big protests in the 70s through the 90s. Apparently, the seal hunt has been quietly going on in full force for the past six years after being curtailed! Now, the Canadian government is allowing almost 1 million baby seals to be killed over three years.

According to the Humane Society, "One way the Canadian government justifies its support of the seal hunt is to claim that seals in the North Atlantic eat too many cod. But there's no good scientific support for this claim. In fact, two of the government's own scientists reported in 1994 that the true cause of cod depletion in the North Atlantic was over-fishing."

Over-fishing is a more likely reason than the Canadian government's explanation of the seals being to blame for the decline in cod population. Humans historically have upset the balance in nature by taking and using more than necessary and wantonly destroying things that get in the way. Then we blame other things than ourselves when other species, plant or animal, decline or become extinct. That, in no way, excuses us. We are the most sentient beings on this planet and must take care of everything organic and non-organic here to sustain all life for generations to come.

To read more about this topic, try these links from some news organizations and animal activist groups. In balance I've included links from a couple of Canadian sources.

Arizona Daily Star
Honolulu Star Bulletin
BBC1 Newsround
The New Zealand Herald
Bloomberg.com
Capital News Online
The Globe and Mail

International Fund for Animal Welfare
Humane Society
Greenpeace
Friends of Animals