Stop the seal hunts in Canada

More than one million seals have been killed in the last five years alone. In addition, nearly 98% of the seals killed were less than three months of age. However, hunters are allowed to kill seals as young as 12 days of age when they begin to shed their white coat. But at this age, the seals have only just been weaned off of their mother's milk and virtually do not know how to swim. So instead, they are left defenseless to hunters as they approach them with wooden clubs and metal hooks. Furthermore, since hunting rules and regulations are not enforced as they should be, hunters become careless with their killing and often leave seals alive before they bleed or skin them. Also, many seals are left critically injured and usually slip under the ice where they suffer a long, painful death. 

Seals are hunted mainly for fur, oil, aphrodisiacs, etc. However, many countries have banned seal products including the European Union. So there is virtually no market at all for these products thus making the hunts nonessential. Despite that, the Canadian government continues to subsidize and allow these hunts and have even increased the yearly quota of seal deaths. 

We must put a stop to these hunts. Not only are they inhumane, there are also a number of unwanted consequences attached to the them. 

For instance, these hunts inevitably put a dent in the seal population. This decline in population directly affects predators such as killer whales and polar bears. The scarcity of food results in a decline in population for both species. In terms of the killer whales, according to the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, killer whales have “experienced a 20.4% population decline between 1995-2001.” On the other hand, as per the World Wide Fund for Nature, Polar Bears have endured a “40 percent population loss between 2001-2010 from 1,500 to 900 bears.”

Not only do these hunts affect animal lives, they also affect humans. Because these hunts are so unprofitable, the Canadian government is forced to subsidize them. Therefore, the Canadian taxpayers’ money is basically lost and the only ones who profit from it are the small number of fishermen that participate in the hunt. Naturally, 68% of Canadian residents oppose these hunts according to a poll released by insightswest.com

Please join me in bringing a stop to these inhumane hunts and lets make sure that our seals are protected. I would greatly appreciate it if you signed and shared my petition so that we may reach our goal.

Thank You.