Posted on 03/30/2005 7:25:57 PM PST by Pikamax
320,000 will die in Canada's biggest seal cull for more than 50 years
Skin trade fuels government's quota increase
Paul Brown, environment correspondent Thursday March 31, 2005 The Guardian
It was carnage on a scale the frozen ice floes of Newfoundland have not seen for more than half a century. The cull started early in the morning, with more than 70 boats disgorging hundreds of seal hunters on to the ice. By the end of the day more than 15,000 harp seal cubs, most less than six weeks old, lay dead, clubbed to death and skinned to provide coats, hats, handbags and other accessories for the European fashion trade.
The contentious harp seal hunt, the target of protests since the 1960s, begins about two weeks after the seal pups are born and their fur changes from white to grey. Animal rights activists claim the pups are often skinned alive, but sealers and government officials who monitor the hunt insist the pups die instantly in compliance with strict guidelines. The Canadian government claims the cull will protect fish stocks and bring in much needed revenue and employment for those who live on Canada's vast northern coastline.
Phyllis Campbell-McCrae, from the UK office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), observed the start of the cull yesterday. "There was lots of rain mixing with the blood of the seals and we were wading through pools of blood with the odd carcass floating by," she said.
"It was simply awful. They club the seal and turn it over and slice it down the middle to get the skin off.
"They are supposed to do the eye test, that is touch the eye of the seal they have clubbed to make sure it does not blink, that way they know it is dead before they skin it. They work at such a frenetic pace they often do not bother."
She said tests carried out in previous seasons on cubs that had been clubbed and skinned showed that 42% were still conscious when skinned.
The pups are fed for two weeks by their mothers before being abandoned to fend for themselves. They are called "beaters" at this stage because they are unable to swim and when the ice melts they fall into the water and beat it with their flippers to keep afloat. Left alone they learn to swim and begin looking for food but before the ice melts they make an easy target for sealers and have no means of escape.
The killing of seals has been controversial for years with IFAW saying it is unacceptably cruel. Campaigners also say that the Canadian government's claim that the seals had been eating too many fish and had to be controlled was making the seals a scapegoat for their own failure to control overfishing.
Opposition to the slaughter in the 1980s led the EU to ban the import of the youngest white coated seals less than three weeks old and the trade went into decline. In the 1990s overfishing of cod stocks off Newfoundland led to mass unemployment of fishermen and renewed claims that the seals, which were increasing in numbers again, were responsible.
This led to pressure for increased quotas for seal hunting to provide an income for unemployed fishermen.
The Canadian government has progressively increased the quota and decided to cull 1m pups in three years - the largest quota since 1957. IFAW claims this level of killing led to a serious decline in harp seals.
The trade in the slightly older soft grey skins of the beaters is now thriving and the Canadians have decided to kill 320,000 in the next four weeks. Beater skins are worth around £20 and a high fashion sealskin coat made of beater skins sells for £1,200.
The Canadian government denies that the killing of the pups is cruel and say it is closely regulated. The government's latest estimate of harp seal numbers is 5.2m and Geoff Regan, the fisheries and oceans minister for the federal government has said he would be happy to see the number reduce by one-third.
In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen he said that while seals had been traditionally hunted for meat and skins the fatty layer under their skin could be processed into oil to produce omega 3 fatty acids used for treating hypertension, diabetes, arthritis.
"Seal oil is great in terms of omega 3 acids," Mr Regan is quoted as saying.
"I'm anxious to see that the whole animal is used as much as possible and encouraging more ways for that to happen is important." Mr Regan said his department is not only ignoring calls for the seal hunt to be outlawed, but encouraging it to expand.
He accused animal welfare groups of using images of seal pups being slaughtered "to pull at people's heartstrings".
Mr Regan claims that the seal cull is economically viable and is not subsidised.
The largest importer of seal pelts is Norway, which last year paid £1m for raw pelts. Denmark, Poland and China also import large quantities. Italy imports finished pelts to be made into fashion items.
So sensitive has the Canadian government been to criticism of cruelty it put out yesterday a fact sheet to journalists. It said that seals may appear to be moving after they are killed because of a reflex reaction similar to that in chickens. The government claims that quotas are set as "a sustainable commercially viable fishery based on sound conservation principles. It is a market driven harvest."
The more, the merrier. Wonder how they taste?
seals vs Canadians? my money is on the seals.
320,000 what? People? animals? It makes a big difference for some of us. The liberal headline writers are shameless.
Think of the headlines they could write about the millions that will die when I put a fresh Tidy Bowl in the back of my toilet.
How many chickens died today to satisfy Colonel Saunder's customers?
Was their death more pleasant than that of the seals?
It is just a guess, but from the headline, I would say SEALS.
"It is just a guess, but from the headline, I would say SEALS."
And no Crofts were harmed in the filming of this headline....
I understand. I have worked in and with media for many years now. The headline was written to evoke gut level emotions. Had they written "320,000 seals will die....yada yada" it would have been more accurate and less eye-catching.
"How many chickens died today to satisfy Colonel Saunder's customers?
"
Mmmmm Tasty I had one today!
The Sami (Lapps) kill off a third of the reindeer each year.
Through Norway,Sweden, Finland and Russia.
Never hear about that.
Of course,that is livestock.
320,000? Seal Tsunami!!!
If the Cannuck's just put the seals in a corral, and raised them like livestock, no one would complain...or notice...really...
Haven't heard this organization lobbying for Terri Schiavo, but then again, they would call this a horse of a different color.
Wouldn't it have to be a well chilled wine? Or would a Liberal Whine be the best?
Where the heck do all those seal pelts go? Who is wearing them? I thought about it, and I literally don't know anyone who has a seal coat. (Heck, I don't have any friends who have any kind of fur coat that wasn't left to them by a mother or aunt.) Are they wearing them in Japan or Finland or something?
So these two seals walk up to a bar, and one of them says, "I'll have a Canadian Club on the rocks."
Post anything about slaughtering animals, or killing peoples pets and the jerks come out of the woodwork.
I think little seals sewn from the fur would make nice ornaments for the truck's rear view mirror. Maybe they could carry them at Wal-Mart...
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