(no subject)
Don't hide behind Inuit in pursuing seal hunt
CHRISSIE HYNDE
Special to Globe and Mail
As you read this, two shameful spectacles are taking place: Men armed with guns and clubs are slaughtering thousands of seals on Canada's ice floes - for something as unnecessary as fur - and Canadian officials are excusing it.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. The same officials who previously told us that some seals only appear to be alive (because of something called the "swimming reflex") after hunters beat them with spiked clubs and leave them to crawl around in their own blood, are now telling us Canada's Inuit depend on the commercial seal hunt for their livelihoods.
If you believe either of these claims, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you.
No one - not even PETA - has a quarrel with native peoples who truly have no choice but to hunt in order to survive. But that's not what is going on here. Most Inuit live in the Canadian Arctic, in Nunavut and other regions - not in Newfoundland, where the main Atlantic seal hunt takes place. The Inuit hunt year-round and use seals for meat. The thousands of seals who will be slaughtered in the next few weeks are killed for their fur - not for food. Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik says native people in his region hunt "the ring seal, and it's primarily adult ring seals." The hunt in Newfoundland is for harp seals - and it's primarily for babies.
Canadian officials and seal hunters alike take issue with the word "baby," but what else would you call a seal who has not yet learned how to swim or eaten a solid meal? The animals being shot and beaten with hakapiks, so their pelts can be turned into fur coats for a few "don't care" fashionistas, are seal pups - and seal pups are baby seals. Seals can legally be killed as soon as they begin molting their white natal fur, when they are about 12 days old. Almost all the seals killed in the hunt are just three months old or younger. These animals have no defence against the violence raining down on them.
Oh, and one more thing: According to the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), when Inuit people do kill harp seals, it's to provide meat for their dogs.
So just who is holding the club during the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet? Commercial fishers. NAMMCO says that "the typical professional sealer is an active fisherman who participates in the seal hunt for only a few weeks of the year." Both small vessels and longliners - the same ships that are depleting our oceans of fish - are used.
The commercial seal hunt that takes place every spring is an off-season cash bonus for a handful of big-business fishing companies - not a needed source of income for aboriginal peoples. The hunt is about greed, not necessity. Seals are not being stabbed with boat hooks and dragged across the ice to "save" the Inuit.
Seals are being killed because there is a demand for fur, plain and simple. Anyone who wears a mink coat or a jacket with rabbit-fur trim is helping create an environment in which fur - all fur - is acceptable.
Everyone reading this can do two things to help stop this shameful slaughter. First, don't buy or wear fur. Second, tell Canada's elected officials that if they're going to continue to promote this massacre, they should at least come clean about the reasons behind it.
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is a long-time animal rights activist and supporter of PETA.
CHRISSIE HYNDE
Special to Globe and Mail
As you read this, two shameful spectacles are taking place: Men armed with guns and clubs are slaughtering thousands of seals on Canada's ice floes - for something as unnecessary as fur - and Canadian officials are excusing it.
Surprised? You shouldn't be. The same officials who previously told us that some seals only appear to be alive (because of something called the "swimming reflex") after hunters beat them with spiked clubs and leave them to crawl around in their own blood, are now telling us Canada's Inuit depend on the commercial seal hunt for their livelihoods.
If you believe either of these claims, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you.
No one - not even PETA - has a quarrel with native peoples who truly have no choice but to hunt in order to survive. But that's not what is going on here. Most Inuit live in the Canadian Arctic, in Nunavut and other regions - not in Newfoundland, where the main Atlantic seal hunt takes place. The Inuit hunt year-round and use seals for meat. The thousands of seals who will be slaughtered in the next few weeks are killed for their fur - not for food. Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik says native people in his region hunt "the ring seal, and it's primarily adult ring seals." The hunt in Newfoundland is for harp seals - and it's primarily for babies.
Canadian officials and seal hunters alike take issue with the word "baby," but what else would you call a seal who has not yet learned how to swim or eaten a solid meal? The animals being shot and beaten with hakapiks, so their pelts can be turned into fur coats for a few "don't care" fashionistas, are seal pups - and seal pups are baby seals. Seals can legally be killed as soon as they begin molting their white natal fur, when they are about 12 days old. Almost all the seals killed in the hunt are just three months old or younger. These animals have no defence against the violence raining down on them.
Oh, and one more thing: According to the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), when Inuit people do kill harp seals, it's to provide meat for their dogs.
So just who is holding the club during the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet? Commercial fishers. NAMMCO says that "the typical professional sealer is an active fisherman who participates in the seal hunt for only a few weeks of the year." Both small vessels and longliners - the same ships that are depleting our oceans of fish - are used.
The commercial seal hunt that takes place every spring is an off-season cash bonus for a handful of big-business fishing companies - not a needed source of income for aboriginal peoples. The hunt is about greed, not necessity. Seals are not being stabbed with boat hooks and dragged across the ice to "save" the Inuit.
Seals are being killed because there is a demand for fur, plain and simple. Anyone who wears a mink coat or a jacket with rabbit-fur trim is helping create an environment in which fur - all fur - is acceptable.
Everyone reading this can do two things to help stop this shameful slaughter. First, don't buy or wear fur. Second, tell Canada's elected officials that if they're going to continue to promote this massacre, they should at least come clean about the reasons behind it.
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is a long-time animal rights activist and supporter of PETA.