The shame of seal hunting
Dr. George Voskopoulos
April 16, 2006
The cruel practice of commercial seal hunting has been under way for a few days now. Rarely in my life have I felt so ashamed of being a human. Seals, including baby seals, are battered or shot to death in a barbaric hunt that literally constitutes a dis-grace to the civilized world.
In Canada the practice has been going on for years turning the country into a huge slaughter laboratory that overlays the very basic elements of our globalised society.
The senseless slaughtering of 230,000 baby seals is an affront to the environment and the efforts to protect those wonderful mammals but also a sign that a totally apathetic attitude towards environmental issues is the best and fastest way to destruction.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and other organizations have all these years tried hard to put an end to this cruel practice. Monitoring of the imposed quotas has been the last resort in a diachronic battle against cruelty.
According to the IFAW ?rifles are used to kill 90% of the seals on the Front, yet the cruelty continues. Seals are shot, taken onto the boats, skinned, and then tossed back into the ocean. We have already documented several cases of seals being shot, wounded, and then lost under the ice. We caught one poor seal on film that slipped into the water after it was shot, struggled to stay afloat, and then finally disappeared under the ocean?.
The images available on IFAW?s web page are appalling and beyond imagination. Seals are the victims of a global society that has failed to set rules ad observe them, a society willing to sacrifice everything in the name of profit.
Speaking out is the only way to illustrate that there are humans who can make the real difference and put pressure against a totally senseless practice. Raising our voice is the only way to illustrate that sustainable development and respect for the natural en-vironment is the best way ahead.
In Canada the practice has been going on for years turning the country into a huge slaughter laboratory that overlays the very basic elements of our globalised society.
The senseless slaughtering of 230,000 baby seals is an affront to the environment and the efforts to protect those wonderful mammals but also a sign that a totally apathetic attitude towards environmental issues is the best and fastest way to destruction.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and other organizations have all these years tried hard to put an end to this cruel practice. Monitoring of the imposed quotas has been the last resort in a diachronic battle against cruelty.
According to the IFAW ?rifles are used to kill 90% of the seals on the Front, yet the cruelty continues. Seals are shot, taken onto the boats, skinned, and then tossed back into the ocean. We have already documented several cases of seals being shot, wounded, and then lost under the ice. We caught one poor seal on film that slipped into the water after it was shot, struggled to stay afloat, and then finally disappeared under the ocean?.
The images available on IFAW?s web page are appalling and beyond imagination. Seals are the victims of a global society that has failed to set rules ad observe them, a society willing to sacrifice everything in the name of profit.
Speaking out is the only way to illustrate that there are humans who can make the real difference and put pressure against a totally senseless practice. Raising our voice is the only way to illustrate that sustainable development and respect for the natural en-vironment is the best way ahead.
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