THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

Every end of winter is the same story. Despite international protest, Canada decides to carry on with its war on baby harp seals and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. The UK Guardian has a video with bird’s eye footage of the massacre, released by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and it contains graphic images of violence. Still, make an effort to watch it. Despite what Canada says, the seal killing business is heavily subsidised by tax payers and the killers would be better off staying at home.

Luckily, the European Union is considering a total ban on baby seal products, which would sound the death knell for this horrible, cruel, industry. And recently, Canadian senator Mac Harb proposed a bill to end the annual slaughter. Please give your support to the bill by signing this petition. We can make this nightmare come to an end.

On Saturday I wrote about grey seals being safe in Canada afters buyers cancelled their orders. However, those blood-thirsty sealers managed to get an order for 200 seals and so that number of animals were murdered for what is most certainly a meagre amount of money. How much is life worth? It’s priceless, but not in the sick minds of these assassins. According to a report in the Chronicle Herald:

Bridget Curran of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition said she was upset her group, which monitors the hunt, wasn’t notified that sealers were on the island. It just shows a total lack of transparency on DFO’s part,” she said. “As licensed observers, we have a right to be there to monitor and document the kill.”

It’s disgusting that Canada allows such a thing to happen. In fact, this vile industry has come up with a novel way to defend the slaughter of seals: to protect fish stocks! Now, humans have been overfishing for decades and they want to put the blame for the disappearance of ocean fish population on seals? Puh-lease! I’ve never heard anything as hypocrytical in my whole life.

I was nearly moved to tears when I opened my inbox this morning and saw the news that grey seals have been spared of the brutal killing that takes place every year in Canada around this time of the year. And why has it happened? Because demand has shrunk, which proves once again that boycotting is one of the most powerful weapons an ethical consumer has. This is the point of veganism: decreasing demand for cruel products.

According to a report by seal activist Rebecca Aldworth, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the government of Nova Scotia announced last week that they were authorizing another grey seal kill. But yesterday, seal processing plants told seal hunters that they would not buy the skins of the baby grey seals, and the sealers stayed home … “this is the beginning of the end of the commercial seal slaughter”.

Many sealers are now openly wondering whether shrinking markets will also impact the imminent commercial harp seal kill. In light of these developments, HSI Canada is urging the Canadian government to buy out sealing licenses and develop alternative economies for coastal communities.

But we should not assume that all’s well up north. The grey seal pups are likely safe for now, but in just a few weeks, the true target of the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals, the harp seals, will be killed by the hundreds of thousands in horrible ways. But, just as with the grey seals, there is hope for the harp seals. Not only is the demand for seal products drying up; the boycott of Canadian seafood products is costing the Canadian seafood industry far more than the seal hunt brings in. So, let’s keep at it and tell Canada, one of the richest countries in the world, that defying ethics for the sake of a cruel commerce is a very ugly thing.

Action ideas:

• Watch the video of Rebecca Aldworth with the grey seal pups.
• Boycott pledge.

Friends of Animals is inviting activists and advocates to join them in the city of Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast for the nation’s biggest seal demonstration. “Hundreds of thousands of seals are still murdered every year on the ice under government quotas and assistance,” says Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, an opponent to seal killing for over 30 years.

“This despicable policy must end, and the Canadian public needs to demand this be done.”After gathering in Centennial Square by City Hall, hundreds of activists will march through the streets of downtown Victoria. The march will culminate at the BC Legislature, where speakers will inspire more action on the issue.

 Says Dave Shishkoff: “Many people care about this issue. Our plan is to call to account the two people in Canada who can put a stop to the killing on the ice floes off Newfoundland: Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Gail Shea’s predecessors have perpetuated human arrogance and violence which the world associates with Canada every spring. It’s Gail Shea’s time to change history and declare peace for the seals.”

Event co-organizer Bruce Foerster, of the West Coast Anti-Sealing Coalition, observes that the commercial pelt trade exists essentially for vanity, generates very little income to the people pressed by the quota to engage in it, and can no way qualify as a matter of human need. Pelts have dropped from a high of $105 in 2006 to $35 in 2008. “It is impossible to justify from any perspective,” says Foerster, “be it moral, cultural or financial. It is high time that Canada stops financing this bloody trade, and joins the growing list of countries which have outlawed the sale of seal furs.”

The activists demand that Harper’s government stops issuing quotas, buys back permits for killing seals, and establishes solid training and job placement in and around Newfoundland.

Last Saturday, the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT) marched down the streets of London to protest against one of the most morally repugnant trades in the world. Don’t get me wrong: any form of animal exploitation, be it for food, drugs, ‘entertainment’ or anything else that humanity’s wicked imagination can think up, is repulsive. However, there is an element of extra sadism in the fur trade, considering that it exists solely to satisfy cruel vanity. When you remember that 10 million animals languish in traps every year set up by hunters coming after a wounded, desperate animal’s fur, you really can’t help feeling very, very angry. Take a look at CAFT’s website and do what you can to help stop this evil trade. You can start by boycotting companies that use it in their products and, let’s face it, it’s one of the easiest things you can do for animals. Best of all, go vegan and you’ll be taken the most signicant step towards eliminating animal cruelty from your life.