Canada opened another seal slaughter season last month. It continues to subsidize a dying industry much like Japan's continued support for commercial whaling. Demand for seal products worldwide has dropped precipitously, but Canada's rational for subsidizing the slaughter is employment for displaced cod fisherman. Cod fishing off Canada' east coast was shut down in 1992 due to over-exploitation. There is no scientific evidence to support the inhuman killing of harp seals. It was man, not seals that fished the cod population to near extinction. The same over fishing and dams are responsible for the Pacific salmon's decline. The government support is therefore entirely political, intended to distract the public from its mismanagement of a natural resource..
In 2009 the EU conducted a
study of seal hunts around the world from an animal welfare perspective. After this study it banned non-indigenous seal products from its market. Canada fought against this ban and lost its appeal in 2014. It has spent millions in litigation and attempting to find markets for seal products to little avail. The number of seals killed annually has fallen to its lowest level since the 1980s. So why does Canada continue to prop-up the slaughter with increased quotas and financial aid?. There is evidence that Canadians have had enough. Labrador and Newfoundland, where most of the killing takes place, sued a seal skin processor for failing to return a $1 million bailout from 2015. The seal skin chair covers in the House of Assembly were replaced. Despite the public disapproval fishing unions continue to pressure the government to keep the hunt alive. Help harp seals survive by
signing a petition asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end the inhuman killing of seals for a market that no longer exists.
