2. The seal hunt begins in Mid-March and lasts for six weeks off Newfoundland’s Coast on the ice flows which stream down from the Artic and is the largest mass slaughter of marine mammals in the world.
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4. Inhumanity Each year less than 6,000 fishermen (90% of which come from Newfoundland) participate in the hunt clubbing about 300,000 seals each year Just last year the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) reported that 219,000 seals were slaughtered on the ice (as seen in the video). We ask if you believe what you just seen is human ? After the seals have been cuddled the ice is peppered with blood and the ‘useless’ seal carcasses.
5. Fashion As you all know by now there is no market for seal meat therefore only skins are sold!We believe that this is a very selfish act! Why should we kill poor innocent seals for our materialistic needs ? We feel that this argument ties in with the inhumanity because we are killing animals not for a source of protein in our diet but for fashion, something that we do not need to survive.
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8. “ The threat of this action already has had a major impact on the seal hunt. Prices for seal skins are now only about CAN$15, a direct result of this legislation, which will reduce demand for seal skins in Europe and beyond. Sealers cannot make a profit with prices this low, so many have stayed home. As a result, instead of over 280,000 seal pups being killed, the death toll has been about 60,000.” HarpSeals.org says; This shows us that the number of seals being killed are down, making the demand on sealers much lower. Also the profit of sealers has plunged, this makes the hunt no longer viable for the Canadian people.
9. Danger The seal hunt challenges men to jump from ice pan to ice pan in seek of seals. This presents the danger of falling into the ocean or jumping onto a weak ice pan forcing them to fall into the ocean Also the ship becoming stuck in ice flows or when technical difficulties arise is a hazard. We seen this tragedy happen just last year when sealing vessel L’Acadien ’s rudder failed and the captain could no longer steer the boat. The Canadian Coast Guard was then called in to tow the boat to land however during this tow the L’Acadien hit a large ice patch and capsized claiming four lives. This shows us that the occupation is very dangerous. Infact it was voted the 3 rd most dangerous job in North America! We believe that it is that dangerous and unnecessary that it shouldn’t exist!
