Well I’ve debated commenting on this issue. Living in NFLD I guess it would seem undeniably prudent to comment. I am not a hunter though I just cooked moose meet for lunch given to me by a friend. It was very good. I guess it is crazy out there in the real world when we begin to think of how any of our food is harvested when we think of where we came from as humans and our traditional hunting styles when it was all based on need and not for sport or nike’s or nice black leather jackets or gloves or seat covers for fancey automobiles ….well you probably get the picture. It is ironic to me that the people who indulge in such decident and extravacant lifestyles actors, actresses, musicians, the wealthy etc. and demand the leathers and fossilfuels, and “fois gras” are the ones who spear head movements to milk money for mutli million dollar organizations that prey on ones emotions like barracudas, to booster their own coffers. I wonder where everyone was when the waters off NFLD were being raped when millions of tons of biomass by over fishing from foreign fleets that was devestating the fish stock of the oceans and the lifestyles of a people. Too bad fish don’t shed tears. Might of been a different emotional impact. Please refer to this link. http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/03/07/SealHunt/
I think,this is however, in light of the devastation to or planet as whole today, a time to have good debate. But please keep in mind that emotions are easy prey to those who are very experienced at capitalizing on peoples weaknesses in support of their own greed mascaraded as a sincere form of caring and concern of either humaneness or humanity and please be as fair and compassionate for all species including geese “fois gras” refer to link and picture gallery http://www.goveg.com/feat/foie/ and give every species the air time, the fan fare and the cultural dissection that we are so willing to give to an extremely small portion of what is being called inhumane on Canada’s East coast. It would be ludicrous to think that the seal hunt is a thriving part of our economy., barely in a given year taking in anywhere from 2-21 million dollars annually after you consider subsidizations to the industry in various forms includng Coast Gaurd support etc. So even though many abroad and in Canada do not support the industry we are certainly not the only country with issues around humanity and humaneness, I won’t even get into the politics of war and the inhumanity of some countries with regard to humanity and imperialism and loss of cultures and civilizations over the years. The seal hunt is a good emotional distraction though, for the real issues that plague our world. We welcome the Heather Mills, Paul McCartneys and Pamela Andersons of this world to NFLD as we welcome everyone with open arms, but drive comfortably in your plush leather, fossil fuel consuming Rolls-R, while eating your fois gras apres veal and contributing to the rape of humanity.

Hey Steve,

Can’t argue your points!!! As the article about “lights out for earth” mentioned, so many of these issues are political in that an individual really can’t make much difference. There are folks out there that are trying to make a difference on the front lines of many of these issues. I don’t know how they keep their chins up really.

I agree with you on the Heather mills thing. Vegan jetsetters is a contradiction if there ever was one!

But their only hope is that somehow the issue catches fire with the average person. The sad part is that to get the average person to care, the animal has to be fuzzy or the issue has to effect their personal pocket book.

That’s why I always say I think we will never actually do much of anything about anything in the end. We just don’t have the will.

There are no easy deaths. Not in Newfoundland, Greenland, or anywhere. Let’s not fool ourselves into believing that burger we just ate came from a cow happy. Humans have been killing animals so we could exist for several million years. It’s time we stop pretending it’s all going to end. Far better to spend our energy on saving the planet we’ve wrecked, an issue much more detrimental to every living thing than the harvest of some seals.

Michael makes a good point of course. I’d guess that’s the vegan point of view really. Since animals used for food all meet a “brutal” end then we should not eat any animal products. Of course I’m not vegan but I got to give them credit for standing up for their values. On the other hand we do tend to need to deal with issues like spot fires. People just don’t have the patience to try to take in everything at once, so activists focus on the issue most important to them. It’s the only way they can keep energized. Man, if you took all the problems of the world and tried to solve them at once you’d go mad!

Thing is most folks I know who hunt were taught to be a good shot. Regulations are in place in most industrial farms to try to be humane. (of course we all know there are issues there too). I don’t think most people are opposed to hunting although like Dave says there seems to be a slow shift away from it. In fact most individuals that kill animals for one reason or another are in general trying to be humane even if they feel killing the animal is ok. But the issue with the seal hunt, or whaling or the annual dolphin drive in Japan is the seeming cruelty of the method and of course the value of the hunt in the end. My original post was certainly not about hunting, but about the graphic way in which it’s carried out.

Here’s an example of what I’m getting at. Here in town we have hundreds of ducks. You could argue that we have WAY TOO MANY ducks. But the community seems to have decided they are pets. So a family immigrates from China and opens a restaurant. Well, they realize that there are lots of ducks . . . . Well, the poor guy got a lesson in local laws and took a lot of heat. In the end the community seems to have forgiven him and the restaurant is still doing well. (although he has to get his ducks in the proper manner now)

The other thing the ducks do is stop traffic. Always. In Baraboo on a busy road it is not uncommon to see traffic all backed up as everyone waits for ducks to cross the road. Almost everyone will wait for the ducks. It’s just a fact of life here. Yet every once in awhile you’ll get some bonehead who will go around the traffic and run over the ducks intentionally. Who knows if it’s the joy of killing, or the fact that he is late for work and a duck is just a duck, or that he thinks the community is stupid for putting up with the ducks and expresses that by running one over in plain sight of everyone in all the cars that are waiting. (imagine explaining that behavior to a child watching).

The point is, no one is questioning hunting ducks or issues of livelihood. (well, some are, sure), but people in general just question the method and the mindset.