Animal Lovers Web Forum

Or rather the Canadian Seal Massacre.

Seals are hunted year round, sometimes for actual food, out of necessity. However The Seal Hunt refers to the big spring hunt in the gulf of St Lawrence. This is a mass slaughter and it is heavily subsidized by the government. Overlooking the cruelty for a moment, there is no market for the pelts and the meat is discarded so the whole hunt is pointless.

It is also cruel. The seals come up on the ice to give birth. They are very vulnerable. The pups are totally helpless. In the past they were allowed to kill the fluffy white newborns. The image of a fluffy white new born seal is very powerful and that was banned. However, they kill the pups as soon as they have fully shed and lose the white coat. They are still babies and very helpless.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...5X5LRXh-Sw

Like the whale slaughter off of the Faroe Islands it is pointless. They do it because they have been doing it for years, but it isn't even a source of food or a means of support.

It is also completely inhumane. There is no possibility of quick kills.  Animals suffer and nothing is done to stop this suffering.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...oUBLHNZFZg

It is horrible and shameful and it goes on year after  year. So many seals die. It is hard to comprehend that many animals killed so cruelly.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...b3Iw0I84Xg

We were shocked by the Gadhimai slaughter. This is worse. It helps that other places like the EU have banned seal products.
We need there to be a strong pressure from other countries. This will have to be stopped at the government level. As long as the government subsidizes the hunt, it will go on.

Is this bloodbath still going on? What is the average view of Canadians to this issue, Catherine? (I don't mean the attitude of animal-loving Canadians, but the "average" Canadian). Are there petitions out at the moment?

The hunt starts when the conditions are right. Since the government subsidizes it, the hunt will go on.

Many people on the east coast are still in favour of the hunt. They see it as an economic issue.
When you get further inland people seem unaware of the hunt. The ocean is not part of our reality. When you live on the prairies the ocean is so far away  that it all seems like someone else's problem.

I don't think they have actually polled the country to see how the average Canadian feels about the hunt. I think most people are unaware of it. They might have vaguely heard of it, but they don't really understand what is going on. All the years of educating people and protesting the hunt are not enough. People used to care, now I sense indifference.

Canada's attitude towards animals is very poor. We have very little legal protection for animals of any kind. We are rapidly becoming one of the poorer countries when it comes to animals rights and protections.