Sealing opponents should declare they’re against killing of all species
An avalanche of appeals from American friends, both Republicans and Democrats, are asking how they can help fight the Canadian seal hunt.
Well, frankly, I find the hunt abhorrent, just as I found the bear hunting season in Alberta abhorrent.
I’m not sure whether there are actually six-million seals and they will destroy entire cod fish swarm unless we cull 325,000 of them this year and a similar number every year.
Yet, it’s a horrific scenario, especially for an animal lover, which I surely am, but there is a another side to the story.
Newfoundland’s Tory Premier Danny Williams insists the seal hunt is economically essential—as does former federal finance minister and Newfoundlander John Crosbie—a Conservative.
Another fellow I greatly respect is Senator Colin Kenny, who is a Liberal, and crusading chairman of the Senate committee on national security and defence.
Kenny, as I recall, once pointed out to the Sun editorial board Newfoundlanders get involved in the hunt out of desperation.
I paraphrase him here, but believe this is the gist of what he told us: “Why would someone go out in small boats, on treacherous waters, clamour over slippery ice flows, often in bitterly cold temperatures, and kill seals, unless they were absolutely no other means to make a living?”
Which sounds pretty rational.
But I still find the hunt sickening.
That said, there’s a lot of hypocrisy by many of its opponents.
Take Sir Paul McCartney—a billionaire—and his sanctimonious wife Heather Mills.
They’re high-profile protesters of the hunt—but why doesn’t McCartney pour some of his staggering fortune into Newfoundland and build a new industry there to create safe and decent-paying jobs?
You can manufacture anything in Newfoundland—clothes, furniture, electronic products or whatever—just as you can manufacture anything anywhere else.
If McCartney and other publicity seeking celebrity hounds such as Brigitte Bardot and Pamela Anderson—put their fortunes where their mouths are and created jobs for jobless Newfies, you wouldn’t be able to drag them onto the ice flows.
In his column “Origins of hunt forgotten,” (April 3) Crosbie pointed out the likes of cattle, sheep and pigs—calves, lambs and piglets—are slaughtered everyday in much the same manner as seals.
They are given blows to their heads—or their throats slit.
The difference is they are brutalized behind doors in abattoirs, not in full public view.
Ponder the terror of hundreds of thousands of chickens having their throats slit every single day.
Yet I’ll bet the vast majority of seal hunt opponents have no qualms about eating a hefty steak, pork or lamb chops, or fried chicken.
Or gobbling down a hamburger or eating bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Hence, there really is hypocrisy in this scenario.
Those opposed to the seal hunt should at least refuse to eat any meat produced from animals that suckle and wean their young.
Personally, I’ve been increasingly avoiding any meat from mammals, and turning to sea food.
I even find it unappetizing to eat duck—for I find ducks to be beautiful little creatures.
Hunting for sport—whether bears, moose or deer—also increasingly disturbs me.
These animals don’t stand a chance.
If the bear hunt in Alberta is ever opened up again, then the hunters should be put on a level playing field with the bears—no guns—the hunter gets a knife and the bear its claws.
How many hunters would then have the bravado they do now?
On bear hunting, a ridiculous argument is to say they are invading our land or threatening us.
In actuality, we are invading their land—and always have.
To kill a bear simply because it attacked someone who wandered into its territory is also shameful.
Anyway, the anti-seal hunt people should add strength to their arguments by ensuring no one can accuse them of hypocrisy.
They should oppose the killing of all species.
And kiss their spare ribs and chicken nuggets goodbye.
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