This article from our local paper "totally boggles" my mind.
Shellfish industry hurting sealions
Comox Valley Echo
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
It absolutely boggles the mind that there are people out there who consider Canada's legal east coast commercial seal hunt our country's most notorious atrocity! These people should give their heads a shake. Canada's most notorious atrocity is that there are 30 tax funded induced abortions for every 100 live births! Should not the spilled blood of innocent human beings be considered far more important than that of animals? Anyone who thinks otherwise should read the book of Genesis. We, human beings, were given dominion over the animals of the earth; not the other way around.
Animal rights groups would prefer to call the world's largest marine mammal hunt "inherently inhumane" and claim that hunt is cruel, difficult to monitor and ravages the seal population. However sealers and Canada's fisheries department counter that the hunt is not only humane and sustainable but that it brings much needed money to isolated fishing communities. The annual seal hunt has overwhelming support in Canada and the department of fisheries would not be able to control the seal population of about 5.6 million without the hunt.
Canadian authorities acknowledge that the shooting or bludgeoning of the seals is a bloody activity; however they also contend that the animals are killed quickly and do not suffer unnecessarily.
As a matter of fact new rules are aimed at ensuring that seals are dead before they are skinned and hunters are also forbidden from killing seal pups that haven't molted their downy white fur. Even Ottawa agrees that there are valid environmental reasons for allowing the hunt to continue and their position is based on science. Right now the harp seal population off Canada's east coast is booming. There are in excess of five million seals as opposed to less than a third of that in the 1970s.
The seal carcass is used to its absolute fullest and not left to rot on the ice as some would have you believe. Clearly these animals rights groups have never experienced the warmth of a seal skin coat or a pair of seal skin boots during a bitter east coast winter and I would further venture that they have also never tasted the savory delicacy of 'flipper pie' or eaten a fragrant bowl of 'flipper stew'.
Animal rights groups are responsible for the failure of the east coast fishery and this same group, if not stopped, will ultimately be responsible for the failure of the west coast fisheries as well.
K.E. Brown
Courtenay
© Comox Valley Echo 2009