Why do canadians club seals

Bernie Halloran, owner of a seal processing plant in Newfoundland called PhocaLux International, pins his hopes on Chinese desire for seal furs, meat, and oil, prized for its high content of omega-3 fatty acids and sold as a health supplement. Meanwhile Dion Dakins, CEO of Carino Processing, a long-standing seal operation based in Newfoundland, says that although he still does business globally, the primary market for his seal products is at home.

Regardless, Dakins and others believe there's no good reason to revile the industry. With warming waters, the stable sea ice platform baby seals need for nursing is melting.

Pups have been dying, and scientists have warned that if nothing changes, the average pup survival rate will continue to drop. All rights reserved. Read more stories about wildlife crime and exploitation on Wildlife Watch. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to ngwildlife natgeo. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Morocco has 3 million stray dogs. For context, in there were 3. In Toronto, the total raccoon population has been estimated at about , Harp seal populations have exploded since the cod moratorium, leading to a persistent notion that hungry seals are delaying the return of the cod fishery, and that sealing is a righteous cull of a competitor.

However, there is a study from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography endorsing the notion that grey seals actually could be eating significant quantities of cod. Nevertheless, the animals form a very small proportion of the annual seal hunt, which remains mostly harp. At least on the Atlantic Coast, a byproduct of the seal hunt is that thousands of pounds of seal meat, seal bones and seal organs will end up tossed into the ocean. Newfoundlanders do eat seal; seal flipper pie is a local favourite.

One study from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans found that between two and 10 per cent of young seals were killed without being collected. The rates were markedly higher when it came to older seals that were shot in open water. Among seals one year or older, up to 50 per cent sunk after being hit. In , Fraser Valley poultry farms were forced to slaughter and compost , chickens and turkeys due to an outbreak of avian flu. Meanwhile, most processed fish products come from pollock, a fishery that has accidentally caught and wasted up to , Chinook salmon in peak years.

Although the most humane way to dispatch a seal is with a kill shot to the head, keep in mind that hunters are generally taking aim from a boat. The aforementioned report commissioned by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association concluded that between 0.

And she has a point. In terms of net suffering, seal hunting would have a very hard time competing with the worst excesses of animal husbandry. Canadian sow farms have been found confining pregnant pigs in tiny, darkened cages. Canadian chicken farms have been documented employing workers known to tear animals apart for fun. When an undercover Mercy for Animals investigation revealed horrific abuse at a major B. Also, while farmed Canadian meat can be fatal if not cooked to minimum temperatures, seal meat is so clean that Inuit children routinely eat it raw.

In a Canada where Indigenous communities have suffered greatly by losing touch with traditional ways of making a living, Inuit are determined to hang on to one of their oldest links to the land. The same is true in Newfoundland and Labrador, where sealers often come from communities decimated by fishing closures and economic exodus to Alberta. Seal is served in the Parliament Hill cafeteria. At least one governor general has eaten raw seal heart. And when parliament discussed the creation of a National Seal Products Day last April, virtually the entire chamber, regardless of region or party, united in its love of all things seal.

Your go-to source for all the best Black Friday deals: tech, toys, fashion, mattresses, beauty, wellness, travel and more. These kill levels are among the highest witnessed in Canada in half a century. The last time seals were killed at this rate—in the s and '60s—the harp seal population was reduced by as much as two-thirds.

Moreover, the actual number of seals killed is likely higher than the number reported. Many seals are shot at and injured in the course of the hunt and studies suggest that a significant number of these animals slip beneath the surface of the water, where they die slowly and are never recovered. In , the Canadian government knowingly allowed sealers to exceed the quota by more than 37, animals. Sealers had already killed substantially more than the quota allowed by May 15 the regulated closing date of the seal hunt and yet the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans chose to extend the sealing season until June.

In , sealers killed close to 16, seals more than the permitted quota. Again, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans extended the sealing season until well into June. Seals are killed primarily for their fur, which is used to produce fashion garments and other items. There is a small market for seal oil both for industrial purposes and for human consumption and seal penises have been sold in Asian markets as an aphrodisiac. There is almost no market for the meat, so seal carcasses are normally left to rot on the ice.

They make, on average, one-twentieth of their incomes from seal hunting and the rest from commercial fisheries. Even in Newfoundland, where most sealers live, income from the hunt accounts for less than one percent of the province's economy and less than two percent of the landed value of the fishery.

According to the Newfoundland government, out of a population of half a million people, less than 6, fishermen participate in the seal hunt each year. The Canadian government could easily shut down the seal hunt and replace it with economic alternatives should it choose to do so. One solution, which is supported by both animal protection groups and sealers, is a federal buyout of the commercial sealing industry. Such a plan would be coupled with an investment in developing economic alternatives for the communities affected.

When Canada ended its commercial whale hunt, it compensated whale hunters for their licenses in a similar fashion. One potential industry for the federal government to develop in place of seal hunting is marine ecotourism, including seal watching. These subsidies take a variety of forms, including funding the salaries for seal processing plant workers, market research and development trips and capital acquisitions for processing plants. The Canadian government also commits considerable resources each year to lobbying foreign governments on behalf of the sealing industry, including overseas flights and accommodations for lobbyists.

Moreover, Canada's commercial seal hunt is also indirectly subsidized by the Norwegian government. These skins are shipped in an unprocessed state directly to Norway, where they are tanned and re-exported. The Norwegian government provides significant financial assistance to this company each year.

There is no evidence to support this contention. Some fishing industry lobby groups try to claim that seals must be culled to protect fish stocks, but nothing could be further from the truth.