Thanks, but, murder, for instance, is banned in the U.S..

 I can probably get you a cite.

 I was looking for something more indicative of the fact that the practice
had actually ceased.

Q & A SESSIONS:
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE CANADIAN SEAL HUNT

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PLEASE HELP US
BY DONATING $, TIME OR EFFORT
HARPSEALS.ORG needs your help to help the seals...

A dying seal spews blood after being "stunned".

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If you want to be part of the monumental effort needed to change the
situation for the seals, please get involved.
Click here for details.

WHITECOAT PHOTO NOTE & DEDICATION:
Harpseals.org dedicates this photo to:

1) all the seal hunt PROPONENTS out there who HATE the fact that us seal
hunt OPPONENTS occasionally use images of white baby seals on our website to
engage emotion and energy against their cherished slaughter.

2) all the grey baby harpseals that the white baby harpseals turn into
(molt) at the ripe old age of 10-14 days, who have died at the clubs and
knives of the killers.

NOTE:
We acknowledge that the commercial harpseal hunt in Canada DOES NOT
(officially) kill baby whitecoated harpseals since 1983, but that INSTEAD,
kills higher numbers of baby greycoated harpseals NOW than ever before -in
the same exact manner they have done for hundreds of years: beat them to
death using clubs, sticks, and hakapiks.

1) Wasn't this hunt stopped in the 70's? I thought that Brigitte Bardot and
Greenpeace ended this years ago.
What's up?
   A: Since the first protest in 1955, those who wished to stop the killing
have filmed the horrors, published articles about it, obtained proclamations
from foreign governments in opposition to the killing, proposed and
facilitated alternative sources of income for seal killers, written
countless letters to Canadian officials, and staged demonstrations around
the world.

The U.S. Congress even introduced legislation in 1972 to ban the importation
of commodities made from marine mammals, but it wasn't until a worldwide
outcry led to European actions in the 1980's- the ban on the importation of
baby seal pelts (whitecoates) in 1983, and the threat of a boycott of
Canadian fish products in 1987- that the killing declined dramatically. But
it never ended.

The Canadian government and the seal-killing industry worked tirelessly to
develop new markets to replace those eliminated by these actions; and the
government required that seal killers wait until seal pups molted at about 2
weeks of age, when, according to the government, they become adults.

An average of 60,000 seals were killed each year between 1984 and 1994. In
1995, the commercial hunt was resumed when a Newfoundlander named Brian
Tobin became the Minister of Fisheries. This was two years after the cod
fishery collapsed due to over-fishing. The fishermen blamed the seals for
the decline of the cod and demanded a kill. Since 1994, the kill quota has
risen each year. Markets were developed in Asia; and seal skins were sold in
the seal killing nation, Norway, as well as in Denmark, Poland, Estonia, and
Greece.

The three year plan ending this year (2005) was to kill almost one million
seals. When the "struck and lost" seals are included, the total killed
exceeds one millions, making this the largest marine mammal slaughter in the
world. Still the Newfoundlanders are not satisfied and are demanding that
even more seals be killed. Some Newfoundland politicians have called for
eradication.

As an aside, it is a mistake to credit Greenpeace with ending the hunt.
Greenpeace was one of the organizations opposing the hunt between 1976 and
1982. There were many other organizations involved including the
International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Fund for Animals and the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society. From 1984 until this year Greenpeace
refrained from actively opposing the hunt. (see more details about the
annual Canadian seal slaughter)

2) Where do the pelts go? Are any sold in Canada? What country buys the most
pelts?
      A: Most of the pelts are first purchased by processors in
Newfoundland. The main companies are Carino, based in South Dildo,
Newfoundland, and Atlantic Marine Products, with its main plant in Catalina,
Newfoundland.

Carino is a subsidiary of a Norwegian company named Karl Rieber & Sons based
in Bergen, Norway. Atlantic Marine Products is a subsidiary of the Barry
Group, a major seafood processor and exporter in Atlantic Canada.

After the pelts are processed, some are sold in Canada but most are imported
into Norway. In 2004, other major importers were Greenland, Germany, China,
Poland, Denmark, Hong Kong, Greece, France, Russia, and South Korea (in
order from most to least number of pelts imported).

In prior years, Ukraine, Estonia, and Japan also imported large numbers of
pelts. The pelts are sold in Canada, Europe, Asia, and possibly other parts
of the world, but they are not sold in the United States due to the Marine
Mammal Protection Act.

The Canadian government is currently developing plans to subvert this
treasured environmental protection through such measures as appeals to
international trade ruling boards. The slaughter of the seals is not by
itself economically viable. The current wholesale price of seal skins
provides greater incentives to the sealers; but without government
subsidies, including the work of the Coast Guard in carving paths through
the ice for the sealing boats, the commercial seal "hunt" would not survive.
(see more details about the seal skins and fur market).

3) What happens to the meat of the seals after they are killed?
    A: Most of the meat is wasted and left on the ice. Some if it is sold
to fur farms and some is ground up into animal feed. A few thousand seal
flippers are sold for human consumption in Newfoundland. There is also a
growing black market demand for the seal penis bone in the Far East as some
sort of voodoo quack remedy for impotence.

4) Why do they kill them with clubs? Why not use bullets?
    A: Most of the younger seals are killed with clubs or hakapiks in order
to not downgrade their pelts with a bullet hole. Since older seals are
faster, more aggressive, and can swim, most are shot at a distance with high
powered rifles to limit their efforts at escape. (unless it's a clean shot,
most wounded seals will head for the nearest open water where they often
will simply slip away under the ice and perish.)

Some seals are caught in nets and die from drowning. Many seals are run down
in the ice, especially by the Canadian government ice-breakers. (see the
Annual Slaughter page for more details about the hunt)

5) You guys (opposing the seal hunt) aren't against native peoples surving
and subsisting off seals, are you? What gives?
    A: There are no indigenous peoples involved in the East coast Canadian
seal hunt. Seals hunted by Inuit or Native people in the North are taken in
the arctic and are primarily ringed seals. The Harp and Hood seals are
hunted in the Gulf of St.Lawrence by residents of the Magdalen Islands in
Quebec. These are French speaking people. The other location is called the
Newfoundland Front in the Atlantic and this hunt is conducted by
Newfoundlanders.

As a point of interest there are no native people in Newfoundland. The last
member of the Beothuk nation, the indigenous peoples of Newfoundland, died
in 1912. The Newfoundlanders had a bounty on the Beothuk and most were slain
by MicMac Indian bounty hunters from New Brunswick and Quebec.
Newfoundlanders also drove the Newfoundland wolf, the walrus, and the
Labrador duck to extinction and extirpated the polar bear, and the pilot
whale from Newfoundland territory....

6) Is there a blackmarket for any seal products?
    A: With the exception of the seal penis bone market in Asia, there is
not really a black market for seal products because there is little demand
for them. However, whenever a sealer exceeds his quota, there are no legal
consequences. Sealers in Canada have a license to torture, mutilate, and
kill over quota without fear of repercussions.(see the Annual Slaughter page
for more details about the hunt)

7) If polls show that the majority of Canadian citizens are against the
hunt, why don't they just stop it with a vote?
    A: The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans is a bureaucracy run
primarily by Newfoundlanders. They set the policy. Politicians have
basically rubber-stamped the wishes of the bureaucrats. Most of the
Fisheries Ministers have hailed from Newfoundland.

Another problem is that there is much competition between the political
parties to control Newfoundland and any party that opposes the seal hunt is
out of the running. Therefore the parties have all agreed to support the
hunt, leaving no alternatives for people who are opposed to the hunt. Even
the Green Party of Newfoundland supports the seal kill for fear of losing
votes. (see the Politics, Propaganda, and Culture page for more insight)

8) What advantages or positive things does Canada get from the seal hunt?
    A: Canada receives a great deal of bad press because of the seal
slaughter. It does not receive much in the way of income and the seal hunt
contributes nothing to the Gross National Product of the country. On the
contrary, the hunt is a negative drain on the economy because of tax dollars
spent to subsidize it. (see the Politics, Propaganda, and Culture page for
more insight)

9) There's a war going on and other animal species going exctinct all around
the world. Why should I care about Canadian seals?
    A: There is always a war going on someplace. People are continually
fighting amongst themselves. There is also another war going on and that is
the war against nature and against wildlife. All marine mammals are faced
with extinction because of hunting, pollution and destruction of habitat and
carrying capacity. There is no justification for waging this, the world's
second largest slaughter of a mammalian species (second only to the
Kangaroo, in Australia) and the largest slaughter of any marine mammals.

In addition the hunt is cruel, vanity and greed driven by luxury, (pelts),
economically wasteful, propped up by subsidies and bolstered by propaganda.

10) What can I do about it?
    A: Get involved. Check out our "what you can do to help end the
killing" page for ideas on opposing the slaughter of seals...

Or, better yet, just cut to the chase and sign up now to help the seals!
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FOR MORE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE SEAL HUNT (asked by a Newfoundland
college student) click here

* Or, perhaps you have others? Feel free to send us one of your own and
we'll try and get you a solid answer.

 http://www.harpseals.org/hunt/faqs.html

<snip>

Did you see the "slaughter?"  Were people killing white coats?  If so,
did someone inform the authorities?  Did the authorities respond or
ignore it?  If they ignored your pleas, then you have a point.

There are a lot of sincere people who stretch the truth.

You can't reasonably return the favour and expect to be seen in a
favourable light.

Even when he's not on the boat?

There are always fingers pointing in all directions, and that's where
I tend to question both sides.

I certainly don't condone anti-abortionists shooting doctors who
perform abortions.  You can't pretend to protect life by taking life.
Many of these animal rights groups are prepared to hurt or kill people
in defence of animals -- the height of hypocrisy.

People have also hunted for millenia.  What is the real difference
between killing animals while hunting or killing livestock that you've
raised on your farm?  Killing is killing, isn't it?  If people want to
be true animal-helpers, they should be 100% vegetarians; the rest of
us are complicit in the killing and consumption of animals.  If you
only wear a leather coat, you're still complicit.

Koreans eat dogs.  I don't and wouldn't, but I respect their culture.

OK, but why don't you also consider deer?  They have big eyes, too,
and Walt Disney painted an evil picture of all hunters with "Bambi."
Reality isn't Disney.  FWIW, I'm not a hunter.

Well, I know of one Newfoundlander who recently returned home and
still works with us.  He's a very long-distance telecommuter, but many
in a conference call have no idea he's so far away.  I think that's
part of the answer for Newfoundland, since telecommunications gives us
the opportunity to work anywhere.

Why?  Are hunters doing and defending the wrong thing?  What wrong
thing?  Are fishermen evil, too?  BTW, I love fishing.  Fishermen and
hunters are amongst the biggest, most active conservationists in North
America.

I love being in the wilderness and fending for myself.  But I
eventually return to "civilisation," be that what it may.  We can't
claim that the world around us is 100% wild and has to be protected as
it is, since we've affected most of that world.  We have to be able to
protect and manage our resources, both seals and deer and all types of
flora and fauna.  There are very few places in the world where human
influence hasn't affected the environment.  E.g., we can't completely
protect forests from wildfires, when fire has become an integral part
of the forest's very existence; jack pines can't propogate without
fire, since its pine cones will only open after a fire.

In the same way, seal populations in the Gulf of St Lawrence have very
few natural predators and I understand that their populations have
rebounded and tripled since the 1970s.  We have to wisely manage the
population of all populations, unless you want to suddenly see them
starve and die en masse.  If we've done the wrong thing with seals,
I've yet to hear about it.  Bad press is not science.

---
Mike from Ottawa