In today's global economy, enlightened trade decisions made in one part of the world can save animals thousands of miles away.
Such is the case with Taiwan, which has just prohibited trade in marine mammals and their products. The move is a significant gain in the effort to protect marine mammals from cruelty and human-caused threats globally, and in the campaign to end commercial sealing.
Canada's seal slaughter is the largest kill of marine mammals on Earth. Each year, up to hundreds of thousands of baby seals are clubbed and shot to death for their fur and oil. Because many Canadians oppose the commercial seal hunt, there is very little domestic market for seal products, and they are generally exported for sale in foreign countries. There, unwitting consumers, with little knowledge of how seal products are derived, create the financial incentive for Canada's fishermen to kill seals.
It is the nature of this cruelty that motivates Humane Society International to travel to the remote ice floes off Canada's east coast each year to document the seal slaughter. Our cameras record what citizens in other countries -- and even in Canada -- rarely see: the unbearable suffering of the defenceless seal pups who are the targets of this massive slaughter.
The horrific images we film each year have sparked a global movement to stop the seal slaughter, compelling governments to close their borders to seal products.
In the past four years alone, more than one-million seals have been spared a horrible fate because of the responsible and compassionate actions of governments in prohibiting seal product trade.
With industry executives confirming late last year that hundreds of thousands of seal furs are now in stockpiles, many believed the Canadian government would do as the majority of Canadians want, and end the seal hunt for good. Instead, our government vowed to develop alternate markets in Asia. Last year, government subsidies were provided so sealers could slaughter even more seals to meet "future demand."
Taiwan's decision is so important because it sends a clear signal to the Canadian sealing industry and government that Asia will not become a dumping ground for these products of cruelty that the rest of the world has rejected. The Taiwanese ban sets a powerful example that we hope many nations in Asia will follow.
Ultimately, the end of commercial sealing is inevitable, but there is a solution at hand right now that can benefit seals and the sealers alike. Humane Society International is hoping to work in cooperation with sealers to lobby the federal government for a fair and generous buyout of the sealing industry. This simple plan would involve the government ending the seal hunt, providing immediate compensation to sealers, and investing in economic alternatives. Polling shows that half of Newfoundland sealers are already open to such an idea. One industry that could be developed is marine eco-tourism.
The amazing migration of harp seals to Canada's east coast is one of the most impressive wildlife spectacles in the world. In the 21st century, we should do everything in our power to protect these magnificent animals, not subject them to a relentless slaughter that brings Canada growing condemnation from around the globe.
For the seals and the sealers, it is high time Canada listened to countries like Taiwan and relegated commercial sealing to the history books where it belongs.
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WARNING: SLIDESHOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
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Canadian Seal Hunt
Seal hunters use a hakapik, a club used for killing seals, to kill a seal near their boat in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence March 31, 2008 near Charlottetown, Canada. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Seal hunters skin harp seals on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
Canadian Seal Hunt
The bodies of harp seals, roughly twenty days old, lie on an ice floe March 27, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
Canadian Seal Hunt
The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
Canadian Seal Hunt
The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
Canadian Seal Hunt
The carcass of a harp seal, roughly twenty days old, lies on an ice floe March 30, 2001 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Newsmakers)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Seal hunters carry dead seals in their boat in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence March 31, 2008 near Charlottetown, Canada. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
A policeman tries to remove female animal-rights activist Ashley Fruno (R), covered with a body-painting to look like the Canadian flag, during her one-woman anti-sealing protest by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) outside the Canadian embassy in Tokyo on March 24, 2010. (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Animal rights activists, Sir Paul McCartney(R) and then-wife Heather Mills McCartney get up close to a seal pup during a venture onto the ice floes of the Gulf of St-Lawrence before the start of the 2006 seal hunting season in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Members of the organization for the defense of animals AnimalNaturalis protest naked and painted as bloody seals to protest the seal hunt in Canada on March 15, 2010. (Getty)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Members of the organization for the defense of animals AnimalNaturalis protest naked and painted as bloody seals to protest against the seal hunt in Canada on March 15, 2010. (Getty)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Inuit hunter Pitseolak Alainga (L) explains how the Inuit traditionally hunt seal to Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty outside the Nunavut Legislature in Iqaluit, Canada, February 6, 2010. (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
An animal-rights activist holds a baseball bat as he stands next to a person wearing a seal costume during a protest against the killing of seals in Canada on March 29, 2010 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
An animal-rights activist wears a mask depicting the face of a seal during a protest against the killing of seals in Canada on March 29, 2010 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
People protest in front of the Canadian Consulates, on March 25, 2009 in Nice, south eastern France, to protest against the seal hunt in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada. (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
Having recently returned from a trip out to the ice floes to collect seal heart valves for scientific research, local butcher and seal hunter, Rejean Vigneau (R) and AN employee (L) prepare seal meat in his meat shop on March 25, 2008 in the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, Canada. (DAVID BOILY/AFP/Getty Images)
Canadian Seal Hunt
The Grim Reaper clubs a mock seal to death during a protest by the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animlas) in Hong Kong, 21 April 2006. (MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images)
In today's global economy, enlightened trade decisions made in one part of the world can save animals thousands of miles away.
Such is the case with Taiwan, which has just prohibited trade in marine...
In today's global economy, enlightened trade decisions made in one part of the world can save animals thousands of miles away.
Such is the case with Taiwan, which has just prohibited trade in marine...
Ban this cruel and bloody occupation as it is outdated and useless. Canada also needs to ban all trophy hunting especially Grisly and Polar bears. One more opinion I would like too stop calling hunting a sport as it has never been a sport. A sport would be going out and wrestling a Grisly or Polar bear with your bare hands. I would pay to watch a man do that.....
PMDoyle: Ban this cruel and bloody occupation as it is outdated
Curious, on one hand the International community screams for First nation rights to engage in traditional practices like hunting and fishing. Yet on the other there is a huge push to ban the purchase of the fruits of their labour of hunting.
Such is the dichotomy of First Nations life. Lose or lose.
Zozzer: Curious, on one hand the International community screams for First
Who do you think many of the seal fishermen are? FN people make up a good chunk of them. Go to Hay River or Yellowknife and have a look see, FN people are not living in some idyllic Hunter/Gatherer fantasy.
Zozzer: Who do you think many of the seal fishermen are?
This effort to ban sealing has nothing to do with native groups. No one is insisting that they quit hunting for sustenance, etc. It's an effort to BAN THE COMMERCIAL INDUSTRY. First Nations won't lose in this instance.
DebbyM: This effort to ban sealing has nothing to do with
except those FN people engaged in the Seal hunting industry. FN hunters don't wear seal skin jackets, and there are only so many pairs of boots one guy needs. The skins and other valuable pieces are sold on the open market. Hence an international ban on seal products does hurt the average hunter.
Zozzer: except those FN people engaged in the Seal hunting industry.
As far as a buyout, I applaud HSI's effort to find a peaceful way to stop the slaughter, but why should Canadian taxpayers have to subsidize a government payoff of these murderers to get them to stop? To think of my tax dollars going into the bloodied hands of the men I've seen gleefully clubbing and hooking these defenseless creatures! Sorry, but for three decades I've seen way too many photos and videos of these sociopaths thoroughly enjoying clubbing the lifeblood out of 3-week-old seals lying helpless on the ice to have an ounce of sympathy for any of them! They certainly don't deserve to get fat checks from their fellow Canadians after their years of animal cruelty.
If they live in an area where they cannot make a living, then they should move like millions of us have done. Or figure out a humane way to make a living where they are, like eco-tourism. The Canadian government needs to stop the seal slaughter immediately, with or without a buyout, stop the cruelty, and stop shaming us Canadians!
Lori_Sirianni: As far as a buyout, I applaud HSI's effort to
Seamus, if you honestly think I have exaggerated, I suggest you look at all the videos online that I've seen, that you have the courage to NOT look away from the bloodshed, so that you educate yourself as I have. And I also would note that the seal killers in the Eastern provinces clearly have NO idea how angry and resentful their fellow Canadians in other provinces have been for many years over their bloodshed!
It's abominable that one tiny segment of a nation's population is permitted to continue a slaughter that most Canadians oppose but the government siphons our tax dollars to support in defiance of our will; and that this tiny group of people (and I am generous in referring to them as "people") are allowed to tarnish the international image of ALL their fellow countrymen. Do you even KNOW what the rest of the world thinks of Canada???
Lori_Sirianni: Seamus, if you honestly think I have exaggerated, I suggest
Don't waste your time Seamus! When people like this start calling sealers "murderers" and "sociopaths" they are clearly way beyond rational thought and debate on the issue.
Ian_Nolan: Don't waste your time Seamus! When people like this start
Seal populations need to be managed as any other booming wildlife populations (deer, coyote, geese, muskrat...). It can be through a cull paid with taxpayers money or through an industry that will benefit small coastal Inuit and Atlantic communities.
Truth is, nobody will ever stop seal killing. It just a matter of knowing if it will an expense or a income for our society.
chasseursdephoques: Seal populations need to be managed as any other booming
Sorry, but I strongly disagree. Nature manages populations, and it does so in a much wiser and more effective way than humankind does. How do you think that all the nonhuman animals on this planet survived before man came along? WE are the newcomers on this earth, and species have evolved, thrived, or become extinct according to evolution and climate changes.
How arrogant of us humans to think that we have to "manage" seals, deer, elephants, geese, or any other species. And most of the time human "management" not only upsets the balance of nature, but it involves extreme cruelty to animals and a distinctly clear benefit to the human race (like killing off the perceived "competition" as in Canada's seal slaughter.)
I have no qualms about stating that I believe it's the HUMAN population that needs to be "managed"! We foolish humans have overpopulated ourselves to 7.003 BILLION people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (some estimates are higher.) We need serious birth control, or nature will come along and do it FOR us AGAIN, as it did with the influenza pandemic of 1918 or the Bubonic Plague (aka the Black Death) that wiped out millions at various times in history, most notably in the 14th century.
It's clear to anyone who consistently studies both animal "culls" and human population, plus history, plus climate change that has already reduced seal populations, that there's NO defensible reason for Canada to continue killing seals. No.defensible.reason.
Lori_Sirianni: Sorry, but I strongly disagree. Nature manages populations, and it
The only population that requires managing is the human one! When we stop interfering through killing, de-forestation etc etc the natural order prevails and the populations are exactly right. We can stop people from dying, but not from breeding, so we have billions starving with no future, and we keep pouring good money after bad and no solution in sight. WE overfish, not the seals!
Toni_Brockhoven: The only population that requires managing is the human one!
HSI's idea of urging the Canadian government to buy out the seal hunt is worth considering. However, as a Canadian I have reservations.
The seal hunt should end first and foremost because of the immense cruelty and bloodshed of defenseless creatures. Second, due to the nonsensical reason that it has continued; as a make-work program for out-of-work fishermen in the Eastern provinces who dug themselves into their own hole by greedily overfishing the North Atlantic. Third, because the majority of Canadian citizens have opposed this atrocity for decades and it is the responsibility of a government to listen to, and follow, the will of its people. The Canadian government, through many changes in leadership since Pierre Trudeau, has thumbed its nose at the Canadian people instead of following their will. Fourth, because there is NO "future demand" for seal products! Now that the U.S., Mexico, Taiwan, the EU and even Canada's largest former consumer of seal fur, the Russian Federation, have banned the import of seal products from Canada, it's time for the Canadian government to realize this industry is dead in the water, like so many seals who were clubbed and escaped, just to die in the water.
It's abhorrent that the Canadian government is so stubbornly defending, supporting and protecting this cruel industry, and is even now trying to find markets in China for seal penises! Can Canada sink any lower?
Lori_Sirianni: HSI's idea of urging the Canadian government to buy out
So if baby seals weren't so cute would that change your opinion? Generally if your going to hunt a creature you should ideally use all of the creature. Most northern communities are very thrifty in that regard. Its easy to stand up and scream "Do something else!" a better plan would be to give some realistic alternatives.
Zozzer: So if baby seals weren't so cute would that change
No, it wouldn't. I happen to have an especial love for what I call "the uglies" as my Facebook page reflects. I love and advocate for the unpopular animals like bats, rodents, ugly fish, etc. Cuteness doesn't have anything to do with it, though I did grow up with a poster of a baby harp seal on my bedroom wall (and back then, whitecoats were also killed in Canada's seal slaughter.)
It's about respect for all creatures, for the web of life that nature wisely regulates, and that if humankind learned to live in harmony with nature instead of trying to dominate it or kill it off, the world would be a better place.
And if you're trying to paint the Eastern province sealers as "northern communities" and insinuate that they are Inuits or Native North Americans, wrong. Our Inuits live WITH the land, and they are far too intelligent to ever decimate an entire species they see as competition. The sealers are just regular Canadians and they don't understand that the seals are an intrinsic part of the ecosystem.
Lori_Sirianni: No, it wouldn't. I happen to have an especial love
This is part 2 of my reply. So you want realistic alternatives? OK, here's my take: My hometown, Hamilton, Ontario, was always a "Steel Town" and has lost its two biggest employers, Stelco and Dofasco. It survives. Some people have had to move away to look for jobs, just like people in the U.S. Rust Belt, including Buffalo and Rochester, NY and Pittsburgh, PA have had to do for 2 decades after major industries closed. I have relatives and friends in all those places who have relocated to find work. I have also made long-distance moves for better opportunities.
Relocation is one idea. If the rest of us can leave our families and hometowns for work, it makes the sealers look like a bunch of spoiled brats to demand a government (aka: taxpayer) handout to not consider doing the same.
Lori_Sirianni: This is part 2 of my reply. So you want
If people want to Ban seal hunting, coal mining, oil mining and tree cutting fishing and so on. There is always a group that wants to ban something. Where do you think people will work for a living we can't all be on unemployment or welfare and someone also has to pay the first nations there welfare Any one who wants to protest these things has to go and find a job if they can after shutting down this lively Hood.
polearch: If people want to Ban seal hunting, coal mining, oil
Did you read the article? Did you read where it said that one more market is gone? This is not a livelihood, it is a hole that government throws money into now.
DebbyM: Did you read the article? Did you read where it
What a shameful disgusting slaughter of animals. We are trying to create an industry where none exists and less and less countries want to buy those products.
Mimikos_Athanassiadis: What a shameful disgusting slaughter of animals. We are trying
get real the natives have been doing it for thousands of years, its their tradition and its culturally ignorant to suggest otherwise...even Harper ate seal in recognition. Theyre also a nuisance for eating all the salmon stocks,They legally shoot cute little fuzzy rabbits in Australia because they compromise the food crops, go cry about the rabbits.
DrewleyOnYou: get real the natives have been doing it for thousands
The difference is the natives did it for survival. The Atlantic fishermen do it for big bucks and to allow them to collect UI for the rest of the year. All in order do appease (largely) women's vanity.You do see the difference don't you?
Sunst0rm: The difference is the natives did it for survival. The
Excuse me Drewley but if you read the article and understood the situation, you would know that no one is banning First Nations from hunting seal for sustenance. It is a ban on a product that has no market and will affect commercial sealing only. Also, they are not a nuisance for eating salmon stocks, the pretended issue is the cod fishery.
DebbyM: Excuse me Drewley but if you read the article and
We eat fish, meat and eggs, drink milk, wear leather shoes. However, cows, fish and chickens don't register on the cute scale.
Neither do you take into account the environmental and economic damage these animals wreak. With a reduction in natural predators, their numbers have grown remarkably and they have given us a pretty good hand in wiping out the cod stock.
Canada was built on the fur trade. It remains feasible to harvest this renewable natural resource. If you don't like it, don't buy fur. I, on the other hand, would like to know where I can buy sealskin products.
amitchell3251: Here we go again... We eat fish, meat and eggs,
The fur trade is a dying industry. Yes, as a Canadian I know the whole history, including the first days of the Hudson's Bay company. But this is 2013, not the 1800's. Fur is socially unacceptable now and public figures who still wear fur, from J.Lo to politicians to (ugh!) Kim Kardashian are vilified for wearing fur. And as far as "if you don't like it, don't buy fur", that concept is fine when it comes to anything (products, treatments, etc.) that don't involve the suffering of animals. (And I'm a 16-year vegetarian who wears only man-made materials). The seal slaughter clearly involves the suffering of animals, which makes it everybody's business. They are innocent victims and there are humans like me who find it imperative to speak for them and work to protect them.
Lori_Sirianni: The fur trade is a dying industry. Yes, as a
Frankly, I have trouble giving a fig about the "suffering" of seals. Do they suffer less when eaten by orca's? Death comes for us all - even seals.
I am much more concerned about the unneccesary suffering of my own species. Poverty, starvation, famine, thirst, disease and, of course, the endless spiral of warfare that we inflict on one another are much more important than the death of a few seals and yet a huge amount of effort, (mostly self-righteous rhetoric), is expended on this dubious cause.
amitchell3251: Frankly, I have trouble giving a fig about the "suffering"
Vegetarians of the world unite!!. If you continue with this practice of killing animals for their meat and fur, then I will spread the news around of just what it is you do in an abattoir, and post colour pictures of bloodied and skinless carcasses. That will turn you away from your path of evil and on to the path of righteousness. We have spoken!
techhie: Vegetarians of the world unite!!. If you continue with this
and do we want another treaty problem? Sorry China buys like no tomorrow. Sorry just because imperialists not from Maritime's think it wrong then maybe we should start our own country then. Also seal products use the whole thing not just the fur.
Charles_the_Great: and do we want another treaty problem? Sorry China buys
Charles, did you even bother looking at the photo slideshow on this page? Did you happen to notice the skinned seal carcasses left on the ice? They use the whole thing? Really?
Lori_Sirianni: Charles, did you even bother looking at the photo slideshow
So would you rather these people collect welfare checks all winter. If they were rare like Elephants or Tigers you would have a point. Nature isn't always pretty, but the people out east have to eat. If you want to go out there and create jobs go right ahead. In the meantime don't destroy these peoples jobs because you find seals cute.
Whitey_McWhite: So would you rather these people collect welfare checks all
Like Paul McCartney's ex wife. Down to my last $100 million and nothing else to do. I know, I'll ban the seal hunt! Now what was the name of that Premiere again??
techhie: Spot on! Like Paul McCartney's ex wife. Down to my
It's changing because a bunch of hippies shame people out of buying these products. I hope your happy that families out east have less money to survive through the winter because you don't want cute animals to be killed. If this was a group of natives doing this you would have no problem with it.
Whitey_McWhite: It's changing because a bunch of hippies shame people out
Such is the dichotomy of First Nations life. Lose or lose.
If they live in an area where they cannot make a living, then they should move like millions of us have done. Or figure out a humane way to make a living where they are, like eco-tourism. The Canadian government needs to stop the seal slaughter immediately, with or without a buyout, stop the cruelty, and stop shaming us Canadians!
It's abominable that one tiny segment of a nation's population is permitted to continue a slaughter that most Canadians oppose but the government siphons our tax dollars to support in defiance of our will; and that this tiny group of people (and I am generous in referring to them as "people") are allowed to tarnish the international image of ALL their fellow countrymen. Do you even KNOW what the rest of the world thinks of Canada???
Truth is, nobody will ever stop seal killing. It just a matter of knowing if it will an expense or a income for our society.
How arrogant of us humans to think that we have to "manage" seals, deer, elephants, geese, or any other species. And most of the time human "management" not only upsets the balance of nature, but it involves extreme cruelty to animals and a distinctly clear benefit to the human race (like killing off the perceived "competition" as in Canada's seal slaughter.)
I have no qualms about stating that I believe it's the HUMAN population that needs to be "managed"! We foolish humans have overpopulated ourselves to 7.003 BILLION people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (some estimates are higher.) We need serious birth control, or nature will come along and do it FOR us AGAIN, as it did with the influenza pandemic of 1918 or the Bubonic Plague (aka the Black Death) that wiped out millions at various times in history, most notably in the 14th century.
It's clear to anyone who consistently studies both animal "culls" and human population, plus history, plus climate change that has already reduced seal populations, that there's NO defensible reason for Canada to continue killing seals. No.defensible.reason.
The seal hunt should end first and foremost because of the immense cruelty and bloodshed of defenseless creatures. Second, due to the nonsensical reason that it has continued; as a make-work program for out-of-work fishermen in the Eastern provinces who dug themselves into their own hole by greedily overfishing the North Atlantic. Third, because the majority of Canadian citizens have opposed this atrocity for decades and it is the responsibility of a government to listen to, and follow, the will of its people. The Canadian government, through many changes in leadership since Pierre Trudeau, has thumbed its nose at the Canadian people instead of following their will. Fourth, because there is NO "future demand" for seal products! Now that the U.S., Mexico, Taiwan, the EU and even Canada's largest former consumer of seal fur, the Russian Federation, have banned the import of seal products from Canada, it's time for the Canadian government to realize this industry is dead in the water, like so many seals who were clubbed and escaped, just to die in the water.
It's abhorrent that the Canadian government is so stubbornly defending, supporting and protecting this cruel industry, and is even now trying to find markets in China for seal penises! Can Canada sink any lower?
It's about respect for all creatures, for the web of life that nature wisely regulates, and that if humankind learned to live in harmony with nature instead of trying to dominate it or kill it off, the world would be a better place.
And if you're trying to paint the Eastern province sealers as "northern communities" and insinuate that they are Inuits or Native North Americans, wrong. Our Inuits live WITH the land, and they are far too intelligent to ever decimate an entire species they see as competition. The sealers are just regular Canadians and they don't understand that the seals are an intrinsic part of the ecosystem.
Relocation is one idea. If the rest of us can leave our families and hometowns for work, it makes the sealers look like a bunch of spoiled brats to demand a government (aka: taxpayer) handout to not consider doing the same.
We eat fish, meat and eggs, drink milk, wear leather shoes. However, cows, fish and chickens don't register on the cute scale.
Neither do you take into account the environmental and economic damage these animals wreak. With a reduction in natural predators, their numbers have grown remarkably and they have given us a pretty good hand in wiping out the cod stock.
Canada was built on the fur trade. It remains feasible to harvest this renewable natural resource. If you don't like it, don't buy fur. I, on the other hand, would like to know where I can buy sealskin products.
You'll find some idea there : )
I am much more concerned about the unneccesary suffering of my own species. Poverty, starvation, famine, thirst, disease and, of course, the endless spiral of warfare that we inflict on one another are much more important than the death of a few seals and yet a huge amount of effort, (mostly self-righteous rhetoric), is expended on this dubious cause.
And really Taiwan, don't they eat dogs, many other Asian countries do.
Maybe once everyone else has banned seal products, prices will drop enough to grow a true Canadian market for seal products.
I loved the pictures of the blood & bodies used to illicit support, have you ever been in a meat or poultry slaughter house, it's no different.
Like Paul McCartney's ex wife. Down to my last $100 million and nothing else to do. I know, I'll ban the seal hunt! Now what was the name of that Premiere again??