The season of blood is approaching once again late this spring. Seals, young seals, baby seals, will be killed for their fur and their penises.
There’s a market for seal fur in Scandinavia, Russia and the Far East for clothing, boots, and garment trim.
Their penises are an aphrodisiac in China.
The lucky die quickly after being clubbed or shot. The wounded are skinned alive or escape to die beneath the ice.
A few years ago, Member of the Parliament of Canada John Efford declared to his cronies when he was the fisheries minister of Newfoundland,
“I would like to see the 6 million seals, or whatever number is out there, killed and sold, or destroyed and burned. I do not care what happens to them. The more they kill the better I will love it.” [AFC News]
A few years ago nearly half of Canada’s population had no idea there was a seal hunt. Today, most of the world is condemning the practice. And most local fisherman who have wielded the clubs and aimed the rifles also want out.
The Humane Society of the United States reports that more than 95 percent of the seals killed are under 3 months old. Veterinarians reported that in 42 percent of cases seals did not show sufficient cranial injury to guarantee unconsciousness at the time of skinning—in other words, they were skinned alive.
Perhaps more than six million have been killed in the last several years. As of October 2007, the Canadian government has banned journalists and observers from viewing the hunt, a garish and piddling $3million industry. Veterinarians who traveled to Newfoundland for the European Commission were also denied access.
[full article here]
[background faq here]
[Stop the Seal Hunt here]