As I am actively opposing the baby Harp seal slaughter, am curious how the Canadian public see it ???

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After having spent a week in the Banff national park where elk, moose, mule deer, bears and coyotes live side by side with people and often take a stroll through the town without risking to get hurt, it is difficult for me to understand how this same nation can carry out seal massacres like that.

I urge the Canadians to stop this - people around the world can sign petitions, raise money etc, but Canadian people are the ones who can put an end to this cruelty - they are the the ones who can vote, they are the ones who can refuse to go out there and kill, they are the ones who can make sure that they don't create a market for seal fur etc...

People who go out there and kill the pups... in what ways are they different from serial killers?

It makes me so angry and so sad...

P.S.: No hair-splitting please: Cruelty and animal cruelty are WRONG EVERYWHERE - be it Alaska or Canada or Brazil Or France.

P.P.S:
I realize I haven't really answered your question - as I am not Canadian. But hopefully my opinion still counts.

TO THE PERSON BELOW: Yes I see the difference: one is illegal and the other (wrongly) not.
And don't even mention fishing. People are the ones overfishing, not seals.
Don't you have anything else to eat?
CLIMATE CHANGE. One of the largest contributors in climate change is animal farming. DUH! Do you have any idea how much rainforest is being cut to grow feed for livestock? And how many fuel is used for all the transportation across the world? And how many methane is produced on animal farms (and methane is MUCH worse than CO2). Farming contributes more to the global warming than all the car exhausts - fact!

tess

I'm Canadian and think it's disgusting. Everytime I see it on the news I want to cry. I'd sure like to take a club to them.

Enid H

I do not see the government condoning financing the seal hunt - I have found the government financing the disaster of it each year out of canadian funds - that is the message that is going around the world - they should find another way - of finding funds - lease your land for a few years - you did until recently it was a base for service people - I feel sad - I thought it was stopped years ago. Money is needed in the Region - but their is many ways - I think Caanda would agree - WOMEN AND ANIMAL LOVERS WOULD AGREE

Danelady

I think most Canadians are disgusted with it and oppose it. I certainly do.

However, that being said, I cannot understand why all this uproar over the harp seal slaughter, when sealing goes on in Alaska, and that never seems to make the headlines.

Thank you, Lord, for the ice.

kittycat

i think it is absolutely disgusting our government still allows such torturous behaviour to still occur in our supposedly first world country. it is barbaric and makes me ashamed to live here to be honest. i oppose it as well. glad to know you are taking actions to show your opposition.

Rockin' Mel S

People are opposed to this hunt because baby seals are cute and fuzzy - but hunting is hunting regardless of using a gun, bow, club or whatever. None of it is pretty. Now, as for seals - there are millions of them. Last estimate I saw was 5.5 million harp seals in the St. Lawrence and on the East Coast.

These are not endangered animals the only reason that people are making a fuss is because the images that idiots are putting out there are graphic and disturbing. On one side you have a cute fuzzy baby seal followed up by a dead carcass on a bloody ice flow.

But is a dead seal in New Brunswick any less dead then the deer in Michigan or the Black Bear in Montana? The truth is that no hunting is pretty and if people are going to hunt it's better that they hunt animals that there is an abundance of (& and in my books 5.5 million in the region would qualify as an abundance).

If these animal activists really want to accomplish something they should look at real problems like climate change, loss of habitat, pollution, the resumption of commercial whaling, destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling, Longline fishing, Asian blast fishing or cyanide fishing. Their efforts would be much more productive if they were directed and real threats instead of trying to ban the hunting of harp seals.

By the way - over fishing means that there is no longer enough fish to feed all the harp seals - so you have a choice - hunt them or let them starve. Either way you are going to have dead seals - this way they die with less suffering.

Come on M - "In what way are they different than serial killers"... really??? You don't see the difference? Really? No really?

And for part two of your question - do I support the Canadian government's condoning and financing of the seal hunt? Yes I do - I also support the over half a billion dollars the Canadian Government commits annually to Wildlife and Habitat Conservation. - That's a lot of money for a country with just over 30 million people (for those of you that are clearly lacking in facts and judgment.) Gee - sounds kind of condescending but what can I say except I wonder how many thumbs down I can collect on this unpopular but truthful answer.

And ..... when did this change from Yahoo Answers to Yahoo Soapbox? Post a real question and not your platform.

SteveN

Since you have hardly anyone (RockinMel is the exception) willing to share both sides of the story, I figured I'd pipe to give an opinion from the Pro-hunt side. I'm neither for nor against this hunt, but since most of the people are saying "God it is horrible!" I figured I'd try to take the sealer's perspective.

1) The government does not directly finance the seal hunt.

The Canadian Coast Guard is in the area to ensure that quotas are not exceeded, that the hunt is handled as humanely as possible, and that no boats get stranded. If they are using ice breakers in the area, it for the safety and security of all the boats in the area, not just the sealers.

The government has had to do additional spending in the area in recent years because protest groups like Greenpeace have been trying to interfere with a legal hunt performed by the sealers and tempers have risen with boats attempting to ram each other, a dangerous situation in frigid North Atlantic waters.

In one way, the Canadian tax dollars have been financing some sealers to NOT attend the hunt by limiting their licenses, hunting season, quotas, and forcing them onto welfare or unemployment insurance.

2) The hunting is no longer performed by clubbing cuddly white-furred defenseless baby seals over the head. Hunting the whitecoat harp seals has been illegal since 1987. Seals must be older than a certain age before they can be included in the hunt. The ones eligible for hunting are young, but they are not babies.

3) The hunt is an important source of income for some maritime fishermen and can make up as much as 1/3rd of their income during a time when they are not allowed to hunt certain other species, such as cod, crab, and such. The unemployment rate is hovering around 15% in Newfoundland, and so there is not much for these men to do to raise money for their families if the hunt is banned.

4) People get all upset because the opponents of the hunt are still using the pictures from prior to 1987 where there were bodies of young white pups all over the white ice with pools of blood all over the place as propaganda. Sir Paul McCartney and his ex-wife Heather recently contributed to the misinformation by having a photo-op with one of the cute whitecoat baby seals that are not allowed to be hunted in the first place, to increase international outrage against the event.

Every day, thousands of chickens are slaughtered in KFC supply houses, but because it is away from the public eye and the animals are not as cute and cuddly, there is not a big boycott going on of the three-piece chicken meal of extra crispy variety.

Likewise, minks and ermines are killed and skinned exclusively for their fur, so Saks Fifth Avenue can sell a coat to someone for $15,000. But Greenpeace is not driving Jeeps around the mink farmer's yard and trying to boycott Yves St. Laurent products.

And for the record, I am totally opposed to any hunting for sport. People go out with a high powered rifle and hunt deer and other animals just so they can hang a head on their wall. If you are going to do that, I would make it more of an equal footing and force the hunters to use arrows, spears, and knives to give the animal a fighting chance. I much prefer to go out and "hunt" animals with my camera.

As for the Canada Seal Hunt, if I am forcing a person out of business and then have to give more of my tax money to help feed and shelter the guy that I just made unemployed, I would rather that he keep his hunt for now until we can provide suitable alternative employment.

firehorsetwo

I totally agree with Rocky. I am female, and I am an animal lover, and Canadian. Canadians will never condone seal hunting, or hunting in general.

No, I don't want my tax dollars spent on condoning or financing any hunting. But, to me, hunting is hunting. baby seals, moose, deer, fish, rabbit, duck, turkey, cow, pig - whatever. Do I want money spent on resources to have seal security guards to walk up and down the Canadian landscape making sure no one kills anything? No.

I personally don't like the idea of hunting, and will not partake in the activity. Do I think it is wrong for others to do it? No - I'm not the boss of anyone.

There are many people in Canada that depend on "hunting" for their livelihood. There is a huge fishing industry - the US gladly feeds off of - as well as other types of product. Then there are also the native who hunt for their own use. I am certainly not going to tell anyone that they can no longer be self sufficient and now must rely on Government subsidy for food for their family. Kinda of defeats the purpose.

So, this Canadian does not condone it either.

jemulock

I actively oppose the slaughtering of cattle and livestock in Alberta (search Youtube.com for the videos). Seals are insanely vicious....good luck trying to get close enough to one of them to even slaughter it....they might look cute, but man, they turn completely evil.

fleurpixie

How do Canadians see it? Like every other nationality there are extremists on both sides and there are the rationalists in between. Am I opposed to the hunt? No. Do I myself like hunting? No. Do I enjoy the thought of pain in any creature? No. Do I think this is the most important issue for this first world nation? Absolutely not. For one of the best countries in the world to live in we still rank as one of the lowest industrialised countries in terms of child poverty among many other issues.

The world continues to use animal based food and clothing. Myths continue to abound the world over concerning the seal hunt. The vast majority of images that are still shown in protest are decades old and do not reflect the actual hunt as it is today. Seals are considered an important natural resource, and they are not, despite the media, killed solely for their fur. Outside of the benefits for coastal communities, the seal is a source of food and culture for aboriginal peoples. Canadian requirement is for the fullest use of the seal.

The Coast Guard is there yes, but you may ask yourself why. The hunt is regulated by the Department of Fisheries and oceans. Like any other hunting season, such as deer, or lobster fishing, licenses and catch quotas are based upon the population. Of the six species of seals in the area four are allowed to be hunted, not just the Harp seal. Within each of those species licenses and quotas are based upon the health and population of the seals. Seals that are hunted must be independent and self reliant animals, not pups.

Fishery officers monitor the hunt via Coast Guard ships and their own vessels. Observors are also deployed on the hunting vessels and on the ice floes to ensure regulations are complied with. The hunt is monitored via the vessel patrols, aerial patrols, dockside inspection of the sealing vessels as well as inspection of the buyers and processing facilities. Since 1996 over 200 charges have been laid of varying severity against sealers.

I'm not sure who said it, but sealers akin to serial killers? Seriously? If you can't see the difference then no one can show you.

And M, Banff is a National Park, and while it is lovely to see wildlife in an area where you cannot hunt, a few things may interest you. One you are very lucky if you saw a moose in the town. It would be a very rare occassion as they prefer higher elevations and marshier areas than the paved streets and neon signs that Banff would supply. Elk is not a native species to the area either, and when the popluation explodes like it does they conduct a cull of the poplulation. As well, every animal you mentioned is hunted within Alberta outside the boundaries of the National Parks.

I'm curious, tell me, how do Australians feel about the annual Kangaroo cull? Seems like there are a lot of parallels there. Use of the animal, kangaroo populations, quota settings, licensing controls, monitoring processes, economic benefit, importance of aboriginal rights, environmental factors......I haven't seen any photos of Paul McCartney holding a joey in the outback.....

Do your own thinking!

This Canadian vegetarian is just confused as to why seals are a big deal, and cows and fish and the like are not.

I don't have a problem with other people eating meat; I'm just irritated with the "it's bad because they're cute" thinking that colours a lot of this particular controversy. Never mind all the utter BS in the anti-hunt propaganda.

I'm also not clear on what people who depend on the seal hunt are supposed to do for an income. It's not as though northerners just started hunting last year.

And, not being from the north myself, I'm reluctant to get involved in another party's affairs. Certainly I'd feel silly if I was from a country plagued with as many problems as the US, and had "but, these animals are much cuter than pigs, thus Canadians are bad. I have never read _The Jungle_, me" as a personal moral priority.

Go Blue

couldn't care less

people hunt, and the big beef with the seal hunt is the method used. But in the end, a club to the head and a nice shotgun do the same thing

I think you should find a better cause because from all the Canadians I know (mysel;f included), we don't give a rat's *** about it

Gallifrey's Gone

The hunting of baby seals has been banned for years. Saying differently damages your credibility as well as that of the entire animal rights movement. Get your facts strait and maybe we can have a real discussion. Beginning with a premise that is false leads people to mistrust everything you claim.
At least the seal hunters actually eat the animals they kill, unlike European tourists who come here to shoot animals for the thrill of it.

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