We Rejoice As Canadian Seal Hunt Ends With Record Low Numbers

17
by Michael Parrish DuDell June 18, 2009
Categories: People.

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Do you smell that in the air? Ah yes, the pungent perfume of progress! 

The 2009 Canadian seal hunt has OFFICIALLY closed and only a quarter of the quota of seals were caught.

You see each year the Canadian government sets a legal limit for how many animals may be slaughtered during the season. The quote this year was 273,000, but fisherman only managed to kill 70,000. 

While 70,000 is still a HUGE number, it’s far from the maximum and a sure sign that the hunt is on a downward spiral.

Thanks to the efforts made my numerous animal organizations, inspired citizens and celebrity friends, awareness is at an all-time high. Couple that with the recent European Union Ban on seal products and you’ve got the recipe for a dying industry. 

What I’m trying to say is this: we’re going to win. It might take another year, it might another two years, but we will in fact win this battle. So start putting those wooden clubs and hakapiks on eBay, fisherman — soon they’re going be obsolete. 

photo credit: nigel barker


Categories: People.
  • Eva

    Over 200,000 saved…that’s amazing! I have so much hope now. I can’t wait!

  • Stephanie

    Yay! Save the baby seals! Hopefully I can tell my future kids one day how this cruelty “used” to happen back when people were less civilized.

  • Joe

    Congratulations. You have effectively decimated a source of income for needy families. You have also contributed to the upset of the eco-system on the east coast of Canada. Please remember this when the seal population explodes to the point where multiple fish stocks are threatened by these voracious feeders of the deep. Cod has been nearly decimated already by overfishing and poor management by our federal government. Now with the seals allowed to proliferate uncontrolled the chances of these stocks replenishing are greatly reduced. Sure it’s a small victory for you today but let’s hear what you have to say 10 years from now when we are totally overrun by these rats of the ocean.

  • think, people…

    maybe the numbers are lower because the population is shrinking. Let’s look into that before we uncork the bubbly.

  • Michael Parrish DuDell

    Joe, Joe, Joe – I have a few issues with your police work. Firstly, Canadian fisherman make barely one twentieth of their income from seal hunting. According to the Newfoundland government, out of a population of half a million people, less than 6,000 fishermen participate in the seal hunt each year.

    There have been various studies done that prove investing in eco-tourism could actually provide fisherman with MORE money than what they make now by massacring these animals. Also, convincing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to buy back sealing licenses isn’t out of the question and could actually generate even more of a cash flow. The government participated in a similar buy-out plan when whaling became illegal.

    As far as the overfishing of cod is concerned: sadly it’s the human cod eaters that are to blame. Only 3 percent of harp seal’s diet are made up of commercially fished cod. In fact, these animals are considered “opportunistic feeders” thus eating a variety of eat life, including some of the cod’s most vicious predators.

    The fishing lobby and Canadian government are working hard to promote the hunt, but science and the decency of the human spirit will prevail. We’re years, if not months away from the end of this brutal seal hunt. I promise you this.

  • jaxin

    “rats of the ocean” — Haha! Oh, dear. The things people tell themselves to relieve guilt.

  • deena

    Thanks to everyone that helped to stop this!
    I believe the hunters will be alright. Hopefully this helped to shift their consciousness in some way.

  • L

    Joe seems to have forgotten that there are people in the world who don’t subsist on Cod or any kind of animal flesh. I believe they[we]‘re called vegans? =)

  • http://RawfoodsRetreat.com Erin Raw Foods

    Just saw Joe’s post and everyone’s brilliant responses. And even if clubbing seals to death WERE their main source of income (which it’s not) I’d tell them to get another job. I know many don’t like this comparison… but I’m going for it. When they shut down the Nazi camps I’m sure many guards were out of work. They found new jobs and I’m sure these cruel bastards will too.

    E

  • Whoever…

    “You have effectively decimated a source of income for needy families. You have also contributed to the upset of the eco-system on the east coast of Canada.”

    My goodness, will these people never learn?

    First, instead of whining maybe the fisherman (if they were intelligent people) should start thinking about new ways of making money – why not seal and whale watching? This way they’d profit much more and everyone would be happy! Yesterday I watched a documentary about redwoods in the USA. They showed a town where it was decided not to cut redwoods any more – instead they built a cable car and charged for the rides.
    Guess what? Money started pouring in from visitors and they actually made a lot more money than before (with logging)!

    Also, Nature balances itself without our ‘help’! How arrogant these people are. Humans haven’t been on the planet since its very beginning, you know? And species and ecosystems made it without us!! The only destructive variable in the planet right now is the human species!!
    We are the ones upsetting all the ecosystems of our planet.

    Maybe we should think about eliminating a few million people… what about that?
    Oh wait, we’re humans, we’re special, we’re superior and more intelligent so we can’t eliminate people…! Oh but wait a minute, don’t we make wars and kill each other for natural resources and for important things like religion!?

    Humm…I’m confused…

    Either humankind evolves or it will face a very rough time in the next few years! Our lifestyle has put too much ‘stress’ on the planet… we have to expect its equilibrium to break at a certain point, and we’ll be the ones who will hurt the most.

    P.S. Erin, I love your comparison :)

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  • jamie lynn

    “When they shut down the Nazi camps I’m sure many guards were out of work. They found new jobs and I’m sure these cruel bastards will too.”

    zing! right on E :)

    this is fantastic. i agree: we will win!

  • Alex

    Why does nobody seems to realize that it is a little bit surprising that many people and organizations wants to stop seals hunting because it’s so cruel, but nobody seems able to compare it with others kinds of huntings. We already know that seals hunt is one of the most controlled kind of hunt and is generating a shroter agon time that practically all others hunts. So, why is it suppose to be more cruel than others ones?

  • http://www.alexfields.net Alex F

    Alex, two things. First, most animal activists think other forms of hunting ARE cruel and should be stopped. Focusing our efforts on ending one particular type of cruelty doesn’t mean we aren’t also opposed to other types, or even that we aren’t also campaigning against other types. Second, some forms of hunting are relatively painless for most of the victims–a gunshot to the head of a deer means instant death. That doesn’t mean the practice is acceptable, but compared to the seal hunt where many (most?) of the victims are speared on a hook and have their skin cut off while still alive, it seems clear that the seal hunt involves greater suffering and hence is crueler.

  • Alex

    Alex F, two things.
    First, the problem is that animalists propagates a lot of lies to convert peoples to anti-seals hunt ideas. You give an excellent example in sayingt that “many (most?) of the victims are speared on a hook and have their skin cut off while still alive”. The use of the akapic has always been the recomanded method to kill seals because it is faster and more presise that guns. I do not have the numbers, but it would be quite surprising if more than 75% of the deers woul be killed with the first shot. And, no, their skin is not cut while they are still alive. (By the way, I saw a video where a unemployed man paid by the Humane Society cuts an alive seal in the 90′s. It is very instructive in that sense that it makes you realise how hard it is to cut an alive seal, seriously, it is terrible and totaly uneffetive)
    Secondly, most of the people supporting the fight against seals hunt do it, not because they are against all kinds of hunting, but because they realy belive that seals hnt is more crual than others kinds of hunting. And the animalists groups use their support to fight aginst hunting in general, knowing that they are misinformed and that they do not poursue the same goals at all.

  • Alex

    Oh, sorry, it is akapik, and not akapic for sure!
    And, by the way, sorry or th quality of my english, it’s not my first language..

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