by Paul Rance

Created on: June 03, 2010

The Canadian seal hunt has been widely condemned from around the world for decades, and it has done Canada such lasting harm, that if you asked many animal lovers to name half a dozen things they think of, when you ask them about Canada, then the seal hunt would probably be in quite a few lists.

The famous Kent Gavin photograph from 1968, of a baby seal looking up in its last moments at a merciless seal clubber, opened the world's eyes to the barbarity of the Canadian seal hunt.

Successive Canadian governments have used lame excuses to try and justify the seal hunt, with Canadian officials saying seal clubbers would be threatened with unemployment if the seal hunt was ended. They have a point, in that who would want to employ anyone who kills baby seals for a living? But these seal clubbers have HARMED the Canadian tourist industry, and you've only to look around the internet to see how many campaigns have been launched, including some advocating boycotting Canadian products and food. In short, the Canadian seal hunt is costing Canada money, on top of the terrible harm its doing to Canada's reputation.

There's also been accounts from the crew of the Sea Shepherd, which has monitored the seal hunt, that have shown up just how desperate the Canadian authorities have been to suppress any form of protest.

Brian Davies formed IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) mainly as a response to the Canadian seal hunt, and that has been an organization right at the forefront of exposing the baby seal massacre, since it was founded in 1969. Organizations such as Harpseals.org continue to expose the carnage on the ice, and it's been through the campaigns over the years which has brought down the demand for fur made from a baby seal's suffering.

The question of money shouldn't even really come into the equation regarding the seal hunt anyway. To end it would be basic human decency. Any normal human being can see that it is vile, and there can be no defence of it in the 21st Century whatsoever.

Canada as a country doesn't really have a bad reputation around the world on any other issue, but the seal hunt. It's time a Canadian Government actually had the morality and strength to end this gruesome yearly spectacle, which tarnishes Canada's reputation. Any Canadian Government banning the seal hunt would be respected and admired worldwide for doing so.

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