Let’s stop hunters
Canadian river of blood
More than 140,000 seals are killed in less than two days each winter in Newfoundland, Canada every year. Protestors often respond that this figure represents only a fraction of the total number of seals killed, because many seals’ bodies fall into the water or under the ice and are not counted. Environmental and animal groups are hoping that officials will bow to pressure and reduce the total allowable catch of seals.
Humane methods
According to recent studies done by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), the hakapik, when used properly, kills the seal quickly and painlessly. The Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing in Canada, also known as the Malouf Commission, claims that properly performed clubbing is at least as humane as the methods used in commercial slaughterhouses, and according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), these studies “have consistently proven that the club or hakapik is an efficient tool designed to kill the animal quickly and humanely”.
Slaughter on the Ice
Why do we still feel there is something inherently inhumane in the process? While the implements used to kill seals may be deemed humane in a laboratory setting, the commercial seal hunt occurs far offshore, on unstable ice floes, in extreme weather conditions. Add to this the fact that sealers literally compete against each other to fill the quota – killing as many animals as quickly as possible – and the likelihood of humane killing becomes far more remote, given the physical environment it operates in and the speed at which it must be conducted it is just a river of blood.
The hunters sometimes begin the process of bleeding out seals prior to skinning, video evidence shows sealers do not often allow any time to pass between cutting the seals open and skinning them. It is therefore probable that a large number of seals are conscious not only while they are bleeding to death, but also while their skins are being removed.
It has also been strongly pointed out that seals killed by guns are not shot to a quick death, but wounded and left to die.
A Cruel Hunt That Must Be Stopped
In January, 2007 Belgium became the first European country to ban all seal products in an unanimous vote of Belgian parliamentarians. It has also suggested that promoting that area as an eco-tourism site would be far more lucrative than the annual harvest.
As an individual, you can help protect seals by joining our Canadian seafood boycott. You will be in good company. An international coalition of some three-dozen groups including Greenpeace, Canada’s Nova Scotia and Vancouver humane societies and others. Hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of restaurants, stores, and other companies have already signed our Canadian seafood pledge.
Fur farming and Fur clothing
Animal welfare advocates object to fur, when many synthetic “faux fur” alternatives are available. It is often argued that the chemicals used to process fur are highly toxic and therefore negate any environmental advantage of fur over synthetic products but recently great strides have been made in producing commercially tanned pelts using more environmentally friendly processes. Remember about it while going shopping!
Improve your vocabulary!
seal – foka
allowable – dozwolony
painlessly – bez bólu
slaughterhouse – rzeźnia
slaughter – mord
inherently – z natury
inhumane – niehumanitarny
likelihood – prawdopodobieństwo
ban – zakaz
unanimous – jednomyślny, jednogłośny
fur – futro
welfare – opieka
stride – krok