Spring is on the way. Even though we'll still be enduring below zero temperatures for a few months up here in eastern Canada, March still rolls in as usual, and with it, the annual slaughter of thousands of baby seals on the ice floes of Newfoundland in the Canadian Arctic. For what? For their fur and oil. For Inuits? For the natives to keep warm?

No no.

The fur is for wealthy fashion designers in Norway, Russia, Eastern Europe, China, and Japan. The oil is sold to health food stores and marketed as a good source of Omega 3s - which can easily be obtained from, who would have thought, flax seeds (which are, incidentally, in some of the bagels at your local Tim Hortons.)

But, didn't the Canadian government ban the killing of baby seals?

Afraid not. They banned the killing of whitecoats, that is, newborn baby seals who still have the fluffy white coat of fur, which is lost after a few weeks. The vast majority of seals killed in the seal hunt are under a month old.

But the seals are killed humanely, right?

Well, sometimes. If you consider being clubbed over the head humane, which seems to be the general consensus with regards to non-human animals but not human animals (but then, that's only if you poll human animals). However, a hit over the head and instant death is for the lucky - there are many unlucky seals who are left to drown in their own blood, or are skinned alive. Observers have videotaped and photographed several incidents in which this has taken place. Autopsies reveal that live skinnings are not uncommon.

But didn't the seals eat all the fish, leaving none for fishermen in Newfoundland?

No, Newfoundland fisheries and foreign fisheries are responsible for the over fishing. Remember, the harp seals were in Newfoundland thousands and thousands of years before humans arrived. Humans are on their territory, eating their natural food supply - not the other way around.

But don't Newfoundland fishermen need that money?

Putting aside the moral problems inherent in comparing monetary gain to the life of a newborn, no. The seal hunt is an off season activity that costs more taxpayers dollars than it brings in. And there are alternatives, like eco-tourism (for example, we now make millions watching whales instead of killing them). And...

"A cruelty free, non-lethal sealing industry: This idea was created by Captain Paul Watson and involves the brushing of naturally-molted seal hairs from whitecoats at the stage when they lose their baby hair. The seals appear to enjoy the brushing and each seal yields about 300 grams of harp seal hair. The hairs, which are composed of hollow transparent follicles, have qualities similar to eider down. Sea Shepherd found a German fabric manufacturer eager to purchase all the seal hairs that could be obtained. This was an alternative that could provide hundreds of jobs but the Canadian government refused to issue permits for it."(*Atlantic Canadian Anti Sealing Coalition)

But, surely this is best for the harp seal population?

No. A report that is available at hsus.org shows that up to one half of seal pups have been killed by commercial fishermen each year. That, and taking into account it takes six years for a harp seal to reach the age where she can give birth, coupled with all of the deaths caused by global warming, which melts the ice floes needed for the baby seals and causes many to drown, means that it is unsustainable - the results will merely take a number of years to become obvious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When March rolls around, I'll once again put on my warmest clothes and join the protesters here in Atlantic Canada. Even if you don't live in the area where the seal hunt takes place, there are still things you can do, like boycotting Canadian seafood (or, if you care about the lives of all sea-creatures, not just harp seals, boycott seafood completely) or signing petitions: [link] [link]

You can also write Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, and let him know what you think:

Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Canada
Constituency Tel (for Canadians) 613.992.4211
Fax 613.941.6900
Email pm@pm.gc.ca

Or contact your local Canadian Embassy.

** This article is written by me, however, the above picture is widely circulated among activists and was not taken by me, but by a fellow protester.