Don't sugarcoat it: the annual seal hunt is barbaric

Editorial - The St. Catharines Standard - Friday, May 2, 2008

Re: Seal hunt protest lives on propaganda, The Standard, April 25.

It's ironic to read an editorial so full of half-truths accusing others of spreading propaganda. Since when are 12-day-old seals (the age their fur begins to moult) considered adults? For it is at this age that it is legal to shoot and/or club seals.

And while eight out of 10 seals killed for their skins are babies, the sealers that kill the adults leave behind orphans too young to take care of themselves.

It's worth noting that killing seals is not a full-time job, it merely supplements the incomes of those in the fishing industry - a little extra cash if you will.

A little more knowledge on the subject and the author would know that activists also oppose other forms of animal exploitation, including the unnecessary and cruel slaughter of animals for human consumption. That's why a growing number of activists, as well as other people, have become vegetarians.

The author also mentions that harp seals are not endangered. So what? Neither are Homo Sapiens, but no one would endorse the killing of them.

And to call the killing of seals, cows, chickens and other sentient beings a "harvest" is just as misleading as the rest of the article. Apples are harvested, corn is harvested, animals are killed, butchered and slaughtered.

A number of animal welfare groups, including the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the Humane Society of the United States, have called the seal slaughter inhumane. I wonder why the author failed to mention this?

Some may consider slaughtering helpless babies an honest living. Our government, which cares more about revenue than anything else, certainly sees nothing wrong with it.

But please don't sugarcoat the truth - the seal slaughter is barbaric and a civilized society would have ended it long ago.

Daniel Wilson
Four Mile Creek,
St. David's