Another Stand Against the Seal Hunt

I hate this time of year. My dislike is not due to late-winter blues or an early spring fever. Instead, the yearly seal hunt causes my restless disfavour. I am a Canadian opposed to the senseless hunt. Simply put - animals should not be harvested like wheat, corn or apples. They are part of the ecological chain. They exist for their own sake, not for Canada’s bottom line.

The seal hunt makes me wonder about compassion - that emotion of kindness and consideration. Where has compassion gone? Is it misplaced or missing? As individuals we rarely care about anything beyond our short-term selfish selves. Furthermore, we are no longer encouraged to care - disallowed from wearing our hearts on our sleeves or from voicing concern.

To the international community who believes this opinion is inherently an internal Canadian dilemma - it is not. The lack of compassion is a universal concern. When we close our hearts, we ultimately close our eyes to other misdeeds and injustice toward animals and humans alike. And, to those who believe caring for animals means I do not care for humans - this is not the case. I care about the human condition, however I choose to focus on the animals.

Unfortunately, there are too many injustices to list here. Among those involving animals and the environment I can include the disappearance of sharks from the ocean; the global loss of wildlife habitat; the intent of the Bush administration to eliminate the Endangered Species Act; the threat of global warming on numerous species - including the seals targeted in the Canadian seal hunt.

The seal hunt is justified by the Canadian government and the hunters themselves as a necessary and viable source of income. Statistics are referenced, quotas are set. The term heritage is bandied about as a form of justification for the hunt’s mass commercialization. Yet, according to a recent newscast on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, the seal hunt supports a mere 6,000 people out of a population of 31 million. Why is Canada backing a horrific practice for so few individuals? In February, the Minister of Fisheries Loyola Hearn claimed that Canadians support the hunt - but who are these Canadians? I personally have yet to meet one.

The seal hunt is quantified as an income. To kill a seal is to make a buck. To kill a seal is to make up for the lost fisheries. But how do you quantify the suffering of an animal? How do you quantify a creature’s existence in nature? How do you quantify the loss to Canada’s self image stained with bloody ice floes and carnage? Is that worth the profit and to whom? In an era of ecological conservation and environmentalism why is Canada stubbornly pursuing the hunt for the personal income of 6,000? Isn’t there an alternate ethical and sustainable means of income that can be offered as a means of employment?

In previous years, international celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson and others opposed the hunt only to be ridiculed by the Canadian media with a who-do-they-think-they-are indignity. Meanwhile, private individuals - including myself, wrote letters to members of Parliament, signed petitions and rallied against the hunt. The famous were deemed publicity whores; the anonymous deemed insignificant.

Somehow, those with compassion are regarded as out of step with society. Somehow, those who care are an embarrassment to the rest of the population - an entire nation proud of our seal killing capability. Somewhere, Canadian men and women are walking around wearing seal pelts, bludgeoning naysayers in their way.

The Canadian government refuses to discuss the issue or re-examine viable options. The Canadian media refuses to examine the debate with integrity. This denies opponents a voice and eliminates their democratic right to freely disapprove of the government’s actions.

Last year, hunt opponents who travelled to witness the carnage of clubbing, shooting and skinning were assaulted with seal guts, attacked and arrested. Laws were tightened banning them from witnessing the hunt in upcoming years - another means of silencing opposition.

As for myself - a citizen in a Western democracy, I want to make my opposition clear. I want to be heard. I want hearts rather than wallets to lead the way in this and other areas of concern.
I am not a celebrity. I am a regular Canadian who does not want the seal hunt upheld in my name anymore. I am opposed to the slaughter that supports the economies of so few. I do not want blood on my hands. I do not want to carry the responsibility of pain, suffering and the extermination of a species on my conscience.

All this may be too much to ask. Yet, I like my sense of compassion. I cling to it as to a buoy in the ocean. I am proud of being able to feel something for another creature. I am not ashamed to wear my heart on my sleeve. However, each spring I feel like Lady Macbeth trying desperately to wash out that damn’d spot that can never be pristine again.