EUROPEANS SHOCKED ABOUT CANADA’S MASSACRE OF BABY SEALS

Every time I visit Western Europe, people ask whether we Canadians still club baby seals to death and skin them alive. The question is always accompanied by a look of total disdain.

Over 90 percent of Western Europeans disapprove of the Canadian seal hunt, the largest and cruelest slaughter of marine animals in the world. This year the outrage was stronger than ever before. Whether waiting for a bus, attending lectures or visiting families, the moment people found out that I live in Canada, they reacted in ways I have never experienced before.

On my first day abroad, I entered a crowded book store to make photocopies. The lady who stood in line beside me asked where I come from. As I mentioned Canada, she and others in the lineup looked at me with a pained _expression on their faces. “There was another special on TV last night, did you see it?” a young man asked. “No”, I said, “I just arrived”. “It is disgusting what happens on the Canadian ice”, he said. “My respect for Canada is gone”. A lady with two young daughters looked at me while trying to hide her tears. “What we are seeing and reading is so horrific, so barbarous, that no one in my family and none of our friends will ever travel to Canada. How can any human being hit baby seals with spiked clubs and tear their skins off while some babies are still alive and their mothers watch in horror”. “These are bad men, mean men”, one of her daughters said in a trembling voice. “They crushed the babies’ skulls”, the other girl added, holding her hands over her face. I saw tears in the lady’s eyes, as she took her children by the hand and left the store. The young man asked what kind of government we have that supports such cruelty. “Some animal cruelty happens everywhere, but the Canadian atrocities on the ice are unsurpassed. Shame on Canada” he said, “what a disgrace this is to your country”. The other people in the store agreed, expressing their own views about the massacre of hundreds of thousands of baby seals every year. “You must do something about it, this is criminal” a woman said as I was leaving the store.

But this was only the beginning. One elderly lady said: “this barbaric hunt happens every year and Canada never listens to anyone who protests. For me Canada has died, I never want to hear the word Canada again”. Some people called Canada a “hopeless case” given its horrible animal protection laws.

Despite the shame one feels, it is comforting to know that love and compassion for animals know no international borders. People and organizations from around the world offered Canada immense amounts of money to see this painful spectacle finally end. The barbaric commercial seal hunt cannot be compared to the survival strategies of native people who have been catching a seal from time to time, honoring the animal’s spirit and using all its parts.

Cruelty is the worst human attribute. Admirable leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi knew that “the greatness and moral progress of a nation is reflected in the way its animals are treated”. Other great people and humanitarians, such as Albert Schweitzer, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, the Dalai Lama, Voltaire, Tolstoy, Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, and many more agree that cruelty to animals is a sign of moral decay.

The Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras warned: “what man does to animals will come straight back to man”. Indeed, the Canadian seal hunt has not only damaged Canada’s image abroad, but stirred a seafood boycott that will cost Canada hundreds of millions of dollars. Why not engage in eco-tourism and show the world the beauty of Canada’s natural environment and the love, respect and compassion most Canadians have for all life? Canada’s animals, its economy and its image abroad will not survive another seal hunt.

Dr. Inge Bolin
Nanaimo, B.C.
Ph.: (250) 758-3973
July 25, 2006

Anthony Marr, founder
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
Compassion for Animals Road Expeditions (CARE)
http://www.HOPE-CARE.org
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
cell while on tour: 415-686-8789