Ethical Travel - Putting an end to Sealing
This month we would like to introduce a new E-zine column from a journalist who likes to go by the name of Jen Page. She took a look at the controversial subject of sealing and dug up a few ways for you to combat this bloody sport as you ethically, travel the planet.
- When most people think of seals they imagine large marine mammals sporting whiskers and big brown eyes, swimming happily in the sea and diving under foamy waves to catch fish for their dinner. You might even have seen pictures of baby seals with their thick, white and fluffy fur.
Every Spring a third of seal pups, aged between 12 days and eight weeks, are killed by a gun, club or ice-pick, in the Canadian seal hunt. In fact more than one million pups have been killed for their fur in the last three years.
Story Highlights
- The Facts
- The Action Taken So Far
- How You Can Help
The Facts
The hunt has been harshly criticised because of the cruelty involved and the failure to comply with Canada's basic, animal welfare standards. During the 2006 hunt, the Canadian government allowed fishermen to club and shoot almost 400,000 seals. The last time seals were killed like this was in the 1950s and the 1960s. During this dark time the Harp Seal population shrunk by nearly two thirds.
In almost 50 per cent of cases the seals are likely to have been skinned alive while they were still conscious.
The hunt takes place on Canada's East Coast in the Gulf of St Lawrence and the northeast of Newfoundland. Harp Seals are targeted, but Hooded Seals are also killed. In 2006 98 per cent of the slaughtered Harp Seals were pups who had been alive for less than three months. In almost 50 per cent of cases the seals are likely to have been skinned alive while they were still conscious.
Seals are killed for their fur which is often made into fashion garments. There is a small market for seal oil and seal penises are sold in Asian markets as an aphrodisiac. There is almost no market for the meat so seal carcasses are often left to rot.
The hunt is an off-season activity which 4000 fishermen take part in every year. On average one twentieth of their income is from seal hunting and the rest comes from commercial fisheries. Even in Newfoundland, where 90 percent of sealers live, profits from the hunt make up less than one percent of the economy.
the government quota has allowed over 300,000 seals to be killed each year
Canada's federal government could easily replace the seal hunt with economic alternatives, but instead they provided $20 million to support the killings between 1995 and 2001. Without the government‘s support, Canada‘s seal hunt would probably have ended years ago.
The IFAW (International Fund for the Welfare of Animals), one of the leading charities opposing the hunt says: “Over the past three years, the government quota has allowed over 300,000 seals to be killed each year. But many more have died without being accounted for, leaving more than a million seals bludgeoned or shot to death, all in the name of profit.”
The Action Taken So Far
In January this year, footage of last year's hunt led to a protest in Denmark and Greenland. Now both countries no longer import seal skins from Canada. Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have banned - or aim to ban – the seal product trade and the United Kingdom is pressing the European Union for an EU-wide ban. This would eliminate a key market for Canada's commercial hunt.
Pamela Anderson, Brigitte Bardot and Sir Paul McCartney have also made headlines speaking out against Canada's seal hunt.
How You Can Help
According to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) you can take the following action to stop the Canadian seal hunt.
- 1. Sign the HUSU pledge, which can be found at www.protectseals.org.
- 2. Boycott Canadian seafood products and ask businesses such as Red Lobster and Wal-Mart Stores to boycott it.
- 3. Contact Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Email: pm@pm.gc.ca or Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
- 4.Contact the Canadian embassy on canada@canadianembassy.org
- 5. Don't vacation in Canada. Spend your tourist money in a nation that doesn't actively promote the barbaric slaughter of wildlife. Write to the Canadian Tourism Commission and the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Office to explain why you've made this decision. Use the Contact Us form on www.canadatourism.com
- 6. Tell Canada's Minister of International Trade, David Emerson, that the seal hunt damages Canada's international reputation. Email: emersd@parl.gc.ca
- 7. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper protesting against the seal hunt.
- 8. Ask the designers who use seal fur and skin to stop providing a financial incentive for the seal hunt.
Many charities, such as HUSU, IFAW and WSPA are fighting to stop the unnecessary and inhumane killing of seals in the annual hunt.
Please join them and help boycott the seal hunt once and for all.
- Jen Page
