The Guardian
Fur and against
International public opinion may be opposed to the annual seal cull but many Canadians think differently, writes Anne McIlroy
Monday April 17, 2006
A survivor of the first day of the annual harp seal hunt in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada. Photograph: Jonathan Hayward/AP
It has become a ritual of the Canadian spring. Celebrities such as Paul McCartney and his wife Heather cuddle cute white seal pups on the ice floes and criticise Canada for the largest annual marine mammal hunt in the world.
This year, the former Beatle called the seal hunt a "stain on the character of the Canadian people," and urged the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper, to put an end to it. The French actor Brigitte Bardot, a long-time activist and opponent of the cull, waited in vain for a meeting with Mr Harper, who ignored her, and Pamela Anderson was booed when she criticised the hunt at a television awards ceremony.
Many Canadians feel similarly towards the high-profile protesters. They either ignore them or are irked by them.
"I'm itching to go seal hunting this weekend - if only because there are laws against clubbing B-list celebrities who belatedly espouse fashionable causes," wrote Globe and Mail columnist Kate Taylor after Ms Anderson made her contribution to a debate that sometimes seems more intense outside Canada than within its borders.
"Even on a good day, I am only willing to be preached to on the subject of the seal hunt by vegans who don't use leather," Taylor wrote.
Not all Canadians feel this way, of course, but it is difficult to know how many agree with animal rights groups that the hunt should be shut down.
Organisations such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) say their polls show the majority are opposed to the annual cull, but a recent government survey found the majority - around 60% - were not opposed, so long as no nursing seals are hunted, that the killing is done in a humane manner and that quotas are set to keep the population healthy.
The government, which regulates the hunt, insists these conditions are met, but groups like IFAW disagree.
Taylor and other Canadians don't like the fact that the activists use pictures of the cute white pups, even though they have not been hunted for almost a decade. That doesn't mean that the hunters don't kill young seals. Seals moult within two or three weeks of birth, and the federal government says that by then they are weaned and independent, and so fair game.
There are estimated to be almost six million harp seals on Canada's east coast, up from two million in the early 1970s, and federal scientists say the population is not threatened by the cull. Ottawa's quota for this year is 325,000 animals.
Activists, however, worry that global warming and melting ice could put the population at risk. They also argue that most of the animals killed are under three weeks old, that many of them are skinned alive, and that their carcasses are left to rot on the ice and in the water.
The government denies the sealers skin animals alive.
"Sometimes a seal may appear to be moving after it has been killed. However seals have a swimming reflex that is active, even after death," the fisheries department says. "This reflex gives the false impression that the animal is still alive when it is clearly dead, similar to the reflex in chickens."
Activists such as Rebecca Aldworth, who grew up in a sealing community in Newfoundland, say many Canadians don't understand what is happening in the hunt, and that if they had seen what she has seen they too would be opposed.
Last year, she says, sealers in the Gulf of St Lawrence, killed 105,000 seals in about five days. "From the air, the blood could be seen in all directions, literally small lakes of it washing over the wet ice," Ms Aldworth, now with the Humane Society of the United States, wrote on her blog.
The second phase of the cull opened this week in Newfoundland, where it has strong political support because it is a centuries old tradition and helps hundreds of families make ends meet.
Last year, the hunt was worth $14.3m (£8.1m), and sealers say this year could be one of the best ever. Pelts, which are exported to Russia and China now sell for $60, compared with only $13 a decade ago. A Newfoundland family that takes part in the cull can boost its annual income by between $6,000 to $13,000.
Canada's government is strongly behind the hunt, and has been for many years. Mr Harper shows no sign he would even consider banning it. The activists say they won't give up, but unless they can convince more Canadians to share their outrage, their protests will continue to be an annual ritual - as will the seal hunt.
guardian.co.uk
Fur and against
International public opinion may be opposed to the annual seal cull but many Canadians think differently, writes Anne McIlroy
Monday April 17, 2006
A survivor of the first day of the annual harp seal hunt in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada. Photograph: Jonathan Hayward/AP
It has become a ritual of the Canadian spring. Celebrities such as Paul McCartney and his wife Heather cuddle cute white seal pups on the ice floes and criticise Canada for the largest annual marine mammal hunt in the world.
This year, the former Beatle called the seal hunt a "stain on the character of the Canadian people," and urged the country's prime minister, Stephen Harper, to put an end to it. The French actor Brigitte Bardot, a long-time activist and opponent of the cull, waited in vain for a meeting with Mr Harper, who ignored her, and Pamela Anderson was booed when she criticised the hunt at a television awards ceremony.
Many Canadians feel similarly towards the high-profile protesters. They either ignore them or are irked by them.
"I'm itching to go seal hunting this weekend - if only because there are laws against clubbing B-list celebrities who belatedly espouse fashionable causes," wrote Globe and Mail columnist Kate Taylor after Ms Anderson made her contribution to a debate that sometimes seems more intense outside Canada than within its borders.
"Even on a good day, I am only willing to be preached to on the subject of the seal hunt by vegans who don't use leather," Taylor wrote.
Not all Canadians feel this way, of course, but it is difficult to know how many agree with animal rights groups that the hunt should be shut down.
Organisations such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) say their polls show the majority are opposed to the annual cull, but a recent government survey found the majority - around 60% - were not opposed, so long as no nursing seals are hunted, that the killing is done in a humane manner and that quotas are set to keep the population healthy.
The government, which regulates the hunt, insists these conditions are met, but groups like IFAW disagree.
Taylor and other Canadians don't like the fact that the activists use pictures of the cute white pups, even though they have not been hunted for almost a decade. That doesn't mean that the hunters don't kill young seals. Seals moult within two or three weeks of birth, and the federal government says that by then they are weaned and independent, and so fair game.
There are estimated to be almost six million harp seals on Canada's east coast, up from two million in the early 1970s, and federal scientists say the population is not threatened by the cull. Ottawa's quota for this year is 325,000 animals.
Activists, however, worry that global warming and melting ice could put the population at risk. They also argue that most of the animals killed are under three weeks old, that many of them are skinned alive, and that their carcasses are left to rot on the ice and in the water.
The government denies the sealers skin animals alive.
"Sometimes a seal may appear to be moving after it has been killed. However seals have a swimming reflex that is active, even after death," the fisheries department says. "This reflex gives the false impression that the animal is still alive when it is clearly dead, similar to the reflex in chickens."
Activists such as Rebecca Aldworth, who grew up in a sealing community in Newfoundland, say many Canadians don't understand what is happening in the hunt, and that if they had seen what she has seen they too would be opposed.
Last year, she says, sealers in the Gulf of St Lawrence, killed 105,000 seals in about five days. "From the air, the blood could be seen in all directions, literally small lakes of it washing over the wet ice," Ms Aldworth, now with the Humane Society of the United States, wrote on her blog.
The second phase of the cull opened this week in Newfoundland, where it has strong political support because it is a centuries old tradition and helps hundreds of families make ends meet.
Last year, the hunt was worth $14.3m (£8.1m), and sealers say this year could be one of the best ever. Pelts, which are exported to Russia and China now sell for $60, compared with only $13 a decade ago. A Newfoundland family that takes part in the cull can boost its annual income by between $6,000 to $13,000.
Canada's government is strongly behind the hunt, and has been for many years. Mr Harper shows no sign he would even consider banning it. The activists say they won't give up, but unless they can convince more Canadians to share their outrage, their protests will continue to be an annual ritual - as will the seal hunt.
guardian.co.uk
