Monday, March 27, 2006

Shame on Canada

I am generally quite proud of my country, and I will usually defend it against its critics, but our seal hunt leaves me disgusted and ashamed.

Whatever the excuses for it -- its supposed economic benefits, the alleged need to control the seal population -- there is simply no good reason for it. We're talking about the killing, the brutal killing, of 325,000 seals, most of them babies.

Shame on Canada for allowing this to take place year after year. And shame on Prime Minister Harper for defending the hunt with the ridiculously stupid statement that Canada is the "victim of a bit of an international propaganda campaign". The mass slaughter of seals is reality, not propagandistic fantasy. We need the leadership in Ottawa to end it for good.

(The BBC has more here, our own Globe and Mail here.)

posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at 7:16 AM

Bookmark and Share

9 Comments:

  • This is shameful. Even if I hadn't been vegetarian for most of the last decade and a half, I'd still get sick from hearing about this. Why kill them? So sick.

    I turn off the TV when this is on the news.

    By Blogger Kathleen Callon, at 1:13 PM  

  • It's sad, it's sick, it's a national disgrace.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 2:11 PM  

  • Would you have the same problem if some killed a rat or a snake. Is it only because seals are "cute"?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:53 PM  

  • That's always the big question, Gran, but I can honestly say that I would. Sure, seals are cute, and that's one reason why they've become a "cause". So, too, cats and dogs. We'd never accept the wholesale slaughter of either. I like rats, however. (My pet rat Eddie was wonderful.) I don't much care for snakes, but I wouldn't approve of their slaughter, no. And certainly not when the basis is as flimsy as the rationale used to support the seal hunt.

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 6:03 PM  

  • Are there any First Nations cultural considerations, or are they just harvesting pelts? If the latter it comes down to your attitudes on the fur trade in general, at least to the extent hunters continue to shoot rather than bludgeon the seals which is going to come off as cruel and unnecessary to most people.

    I guess it surprises me there's that much demand for the stuff. My wife wouldn't dream of wearing real fur, and I think her attitudes are quite common.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:11 PM  

  • As a liberal I must take the other side of the argument. Inuits and locals doing the seal hunt are disgusting, but this is a way of life in a remote area. Where is the outrage when Inuits slaughter seals for food across the Artic. The real outrage should be for the consumers of the seal fur. Paul McCartney stay in England and worry about problem at home. Once again, I am a Liberal who finds the seal hunt disgusting, but an acceptable way of life for Native residents of the Artic.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:00 PM  

  • Where is the outrage when Inuits slaughter seals for food across the Artic. The real outrage should be for the consumers of the seal fur.

    And those Inuit who sell (adult: Inuit don't hunt seal pups) skins as an only source of income? They get tossed too because you think it's icky?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:29 PM  

  • The "excuses" such as overpopulation can be fixed for eg much more humanly with steriliztion...And why they use such barbaric methods I mean DO THEY ENJOY THE KILLING AND SUFFERING OF THOSE DEFENDLESS CREATURES? MAYBE THE YELLING FOR HELP TURNS THEM ON?!!!
    DISGUSTING!!! MURDERERS!!!!!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:29 AM  

  • THIS IS A SHAME FOR HUMANITY AND NOT FOR A NATION.
    TODAY I WANT TO STOP SAYING I CANNOT DO ANYTHING

    By Blogger Unknown, at 8:16 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home