The Newfoundland Seal Hunt
 

I don't know how many of you have ever heard about this issue, and I don't know if its ever been discussed on the forum here, but as somebody from Newfoundland the constant controversy over this bugs the hell out of me. That time of year is coming up again quite soon, and I'll expect a dozen more celebrities to pay their sole attention to Newfoundland within the next few months.

First of all, half of what is said about the seal hunt through Greenpeace and other conservationist groups are blatant lies.

Lie #1: The seal hunt is inhumane.
Truth: Every single study ever done by any group, Canadian or American, has shown that the seals never feel a thing.

Lie #2: They kill the cute litte white seals! OMG!
Truth: Killing of baby seals has been illegal for just about thirty years.

Lie #3: The seal population is declining.
Truth: The seal population has nearly tripled in the past hundred years. There are more today than there ever have been, save for some imaginary statistics given by Greenpeace that come from the 17th century.

Lie #4: The sealing industry isn't that big of a deal. It makes about as much money as a medium sized business.
Truth: While it is true that the seal hunt isn't so much profitable compared to a place like Toronto or New York City, Newfoundland's entire population is about that of a small city. (400k)Proportionally, it IS a big deal when the province has the lowest income rate, lowest employment rate, and highest tax rates in Canada.

Lie #5: The seal hunt is the biggest issue of concern in Eastern Canada.
Truth: While all these conservation groups protested the seal hunt in the 1980s, Newfoundlanders tried unsuccessfully to focus their attention on foreign overfishing of the cod stocks, which at the time was nearly 25% of all Newfoundland employment/income. Now, 20 years later, the cod are nearly extinct and there are more seals.

Lie #6: Hunting is the biggest cause for species decline.
Truth: Global warming and habitat destruction are the biggest causes of species decline. Hunting, when managed properly, provides a perfectly renewable resource.

Lie #7: Seals are hunted only for their pelts.
Truth: Less than 20% of the seals killed are used only for their pelts. Seal meat is eaten regularly in Newfoundland in a variety of forms, and the meat contains Omega 3 fatty acids which are quite nutritious. Seal bone carvings and tools are also quite popular.

Lie #8: Its not cultural because they can't claim to have done it for thousands of years.
Truth: Maybe not thousands, but 500 years is no small thing. Newfoundland is known to be the oldest settlement in North America. If Newfoundland traditions aren't cultural, then NOTHING in North America is.

Lie #9: Hunting is cruel and unnatural.
Truth: Hunting is probably the most natural thing. You want culture? People hunted long before their were slaughterhouses. You want to protest inhumane treatment of animals? Go to your local butcher and watch as they bleed an animal dry by slicing its throat open and hanging it upside down while its heart is still beating. People accuse us of butchery while scarfing down their Big Macs, and quite frankly, thats both hypocritical and disgusting.

Lie #10: Boycotting all Newfoundland (Canadian) products is a logical way to protest.
Truth: Yeah. Screw over a bunch of poor people because their way of life disagrees with you. How about boycotting Japanese products because of the whale hunt or the dolphin hunt(which is a lot more ecologically significant than the seal hunt) and lets see how far you get? You don't want to eat seal meat or buy their furs? Fine, but there's a market it out there that does, and there's a province out that that needs every bit of help it can get.

Lie #11: Celebrities always get involved in the seal because they care.
Truth: Most of them don't even know where Newfoundland is. Its for publicity as it shows them going after an environmental debate, but one that has the least chance of affecting their own lifestyle. Its quite easy to criticize somebody thats far away, but don't you think that there's a lot more serious issues out there rather than going for one that only affects a few thousand people on an island in the middle of the Atlantic?

Fact: Hunting happens all the time. The only difference with seals is that they are cute.

Do you know anything about Newfoundland other than the seal hunt? All international press about Newfoundland tends to be negative, but there's a lot this little province has to offer:

Fact: Newfoundland has the oldest city in North America (St. John's)
Fact: Newfoundland was discovered by the Vikings in 1000 AD, and you can visit the remains of the Viking settlement.
Fact: Newfoundland lost nearly 25% of its male population in WWI.
Fact: Newfoundland was the first place ever to use wireless communication.
Fact: Newfoundland is the only province with two breeds of dog (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Fact: In spite of the relatively poor conditions, Newfoundland is the only province with NO homeless people.
Fact: Newfoundland has the lowest crime rate in Canada.
Fact: Newfoundland was the first province to host a transatlantic flight.
Fact: Newfoundland is the only province capable of landing a space shuttle.
Fact: Newfoundland is known for its distinct dialect, favoring more of an Irish accent rather than the American-English found in the rest of Canada.
Fact: St. John's, NF, has the most pubs per area and per capita of anywhere in North America.
Fact: Newfoundland is host to the largest oil reserve and nickel reserve in Canada.
Fact: Newfoundland is the 16th largest island in the world. To cover the entire highway, not counting normal roads, is about 20 hours of straight driving. The entire province is slightly larger than Texas, but has less than half a million people making it the lowest population density of all the Canadian provinces.
Fact: Newfoundland has a site with the remains of a 4000 year old aboriginal civilization on the Northern Peninsula.
Fact: There is a Newfoundland tradition called 'mummering' in which members of a community cross dress and hide their faces and go door to door in search of drinks during the Christmas season.
Fact: There are very few animals native to Newfoundland. Newfoundland has no skunks, snakes, raccoons, porcupines or deer. We do, however, have lots and lots of moose.

In closing, I think the media, and the conservationist groups should quit with all this focus on the seal hunt, and stop demonizing Newfoundlanders for it. In the big scheme of bad things people do to the environment, the seal hunt is very very minor on that list and there's so much more to Newfoundland than just the seals.

Thus ends my rant.

But you're killing cute little animals. How could you possible support such a deplorable act?[/sarcasm]

Seriously, you guys should try switching it over to the cod thing agian. They're nearly gone. Sounds like a better case now than in the 80's.

And now my response:
1: Too true. Killing ants with a magnifying glass is cruler.
2: I wasn't aware of the legal status of seal hunting. This goes in the "other" filing part of my brain.
3: The same people who would argue that lie would say that the deer population is declining because of hunting. Let me give you a hint people, it's not.
4: This is problematic and Newfoundland should make efforts to change this. I mean, what happens if the seal population undergoes a huge decline all of a sudden. Putting all your eggs in one basket rarely pays off in the long run.
5: Everything is the biggest issue of concern about Eastern Canada. Global Warming, Overfishing, Viking Invasion, these conservationists find fault with every part of Canada's system. Some things actually have merit, but when you constantly change your opinion on these matters, I can't side with you.
6: No comment
7: ""
8: Oh, I guess baseball isn't cultural then, pizza isn't cultural then. Fortunately, breathing and dying both happen to be cultural.
9: No comment, as I have my own reservations about hunting in general.
10: That'll work like boycotting Cuba turned it from its communist ways. Oh, wait...
11: More likely than not, the closest link these celebs share with the seals is the thick fur coats their wearing.

That's game, set, and match for Newfoundland.
EDIT: Yes, they're cute, but so are poison dart frogs. And you really want to stay away from those.

Okay, what? So seals lack a nervous system that lets them feel physical responses from the environment then? Because, if that's true, then I think we've found groundbreaking news in the mammalia class.

No, because they're dead before the signal reaches their brain.

That's what I don't get. Do they decapitate the seals before clubbing them or something? Because I'm pretty sure that beating the hell out of them would make for a very slow and painful death.

A well placed blow to the head causes instant death. At least, last time I checked it did.

The hakapik is a spiked club that is used on a spot on the seal's skull that results in instant death. You think slow painful death, neuroscientists say within microseconds. Rather than envisioning a blunt force to the head, try to imagine someone going through your skull with an ice pick. Much much quicker death with the ice pick. Sure it SOUNDS brutal, buts quite efficient.

Also, 80% of the seals are actually shot in the head without the hakapik even being used.

Looking on Wiki we aren't the only ones doing it.

It can.

If you do it really well. Which involves hitting the seal in the right place, hard.

Yeah, I really don't see how it could be humane all the time. But it's good to hear that you're at least trying to be humane.

I don't personally like hunting, but I don't really have any objections to it, as long as you're not hunting something for kicks. Which I hate.

And this appears to be a case where you actually use the animal for something.

Anyway.

Yeah, I don't see why people complain about this. I mean, this is basically the Northener equivalent of hunting deer. Which PETA never gets riled up about.