Hi there - thanks for the welcome! About the seals - there are as many Canadians certainly who are against the seal hunt, as there are people around the world who are against the hunt. Just today there was an article in our local newspaper about a new group that's been formed to protest the hunt - which begins very shortly -
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/555833.html - people locally aren't immune to animal rights issues, and in fact there is a very large and vibrant animal rights community. I myself am part of a community of Buddshists and we are the largest community of Buddhists in North
America per capita - so that has got to say something for the level of compassion in Nova Scotia - haha!
But at the same time - that compassion isn't only for seals - I give it out to all sentient beings - cows, pigs, dogs, cats, rats, and chickens. I don't see any difference between any of those animals - they are all alive - and some cultures see any and all of those as food, and some see them as pets. Some Atlantic Canadians see a seal as food, some see it as something that should be left alone. Some people see a cow as food - some see it as something that should be left alone. I really can't judge it - and just because seal hunting happens to happen in the backyard that I've been born in, I can't have any better opinion than someone who's got a pig aboittoire in their back yard. You living where you do may have a chicken farm in your back yard where every day 1,000's of chickens are killed - and I can't judge you because of that.
But maybe you can find out about the chicken farm and make sure that those chickens aren't dying a horrific death - but are being killed humanely, and that the laws in your State make sure that happens - and that when you eat chicken - you thank the chicken who died to give you that meal.
I know this is definitely NOT the email you figured you were going to get! haha! I am pretty weird about the seal hunt! I have thought a lot about it over the years and have worked it into my philosophies pretty oddly.
I have a blog where I mostly talk about my dogs - but I've also talked about the seal hunt quite a bit - I've pulled out the seal hunt posts and listed them here - http://dogkisser.ca/seal_category.htm - if you're interested.
I hope you're not too angry at my response!
She emailed me back right away saying that she agreed with everything I was saying, but that she just couldn't get over how cruel the seal hunt seemed, and how cruel the fishermen seemed, and why the Canadian government seemed unwilling to do anything about it, and how the fishermen were so mean to the protestors. Now there is no better conversation to me than one where I can answer all the questions! So I swiftly sent her back another email:
Oh well - that's the media - and it's all who you choose to believe. I don't believe that the people who are operating the seal hunt are killing the seals by clubbing them over their heads. 90% of the seals are killed by shooting them. They are a regulated industry just like every other industry - it's just that their aboittoire doesn't have any walls. All food industries are legalized animal torture. It's
just what corporations allow you to see and what they don't allow you to see.
Unfortunately the Newfoundland fishermen can't keep people from watching them - Burger King can keep people from seeing how the burger patties end up on their grill. Do you understand what I'm saying?
And the HSUS people and PETA people who come to "bear witness" and protest - they don't do it silently. They are there saying the most awful things - and they actually find out the fishermen's names and call those people's homes and threaten those fishmen's families - and then out on the ice tell the fishermen that that is what they've just done - and then expect the fishermen to not react to it. And all the while the camera's are rolling. And that is the footage you see - except that you don't hear what the "protestors" are saying - you only see what's happening - in quickly edited shots - edited BY the protestors.
And the shots you see mostly are of white coated, cute seals - that aren't allowed to be hunted - and have not been hunted - for more than 20, maybe 30 years - but still that is the mascot of the HSUS and PETA - because that is the face that brings in the most money to their organization when the seal hunting begins.
Because the seal hunt is a big money maker for the HSUS and PETA - they make a ton of money from the seal hunt, and that is why I believe they advertise it so heavily. Donations pour in to end the seal hunt - but the thing is - the seal hunt is a well managed, agri-industry - just like other food industries in every other developed nation - so it's not going to stop. Just because it's aboittroire has no walls and people can see the gore doesn't mean it's any more gorey - it just
means it's more truthful. And that's the truth. Maybe if more people find out the truth about the seals - they'll also realize the truth about chickens, cows and pigs - and be equally horrified and will turn off those foods as well.
I wonder what the HSUS and PETA would think of that.
She emailed me back again to say - she definitely could see what I was saying, that she totally did not know any of what I had just told her, that what I had told her was very interesting, and that was why she had wanted to ask a Canadian.
So we now have one American who knows the truth about seal hunting in Eastern Canada. I hope that she will put the seed of doubt into another American's ear. Maybe eventually seal hunting will be reviled as much as chicken farming is someday. We can only hope, eh?
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