Canada Increases Baby Seal Hunting Quota to 350,000, NYT Says

Bloomberg ^ | 04/05/04 | Bloomberg

[Pikamax]

Canada Increases Baby Seal Hunting Quota to 350,000, NYT Says April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's federal government has lifted the quota on the culling of baby harp seals to 350,000, an increase of more than 100,000 from recent years, as demand for baby seal fur from countries such as Russia and Poland grows, the New York Times reported.

[skinkinthegrass]

PETA is going to be PISSED. :)

The culling of birds, baby seals and helping the fish!...by the Canadians? What the world coming to?

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[P.O.E.]

So these folks are politically incorrect by elitist standards

More from the Fur Commission

[raynearhood]

Here's a joke that I love about baby animals and bars: "A baby seal walks into a club..." TEE HEE...

[Lokibob]

I don't want a pelt, but a carcass would be nice. MMMMM baby harp seal chowder.

[muawiyah]

"white pellets" or "white pelts"?

There's gotta' be some sort of difference here, right!

[katz]

If the sales are in Russia and Poland that will be OK.

[clintonh8r]

Gosh, The Peoples' Paradise of Canaduh is mean to animals?

[KarlInOhio]

Seals? If they're going to hunt overpopulated Canadian animals, here's the place to start:

[raynearhood]

Hilarious! Yet honest and well thought out. Hmmm.

[SurfsideBeachBaby]

I think this is awful, those poor baby seals. I love them and it isn't right to do this too them. It is cruel and wrong. I am not a PETA member, but I do believe that killing these poor defenseless pups are wrong. When I was a teenager I wrote to get this senseless killings stop, looks like I have to do more writing.

[corkoman]

those blood-thirsty baby seals had it coming.

[Porterville]

I love the feel of raw seal pup against my skin, oh, and the flavor of the meat- like butter....

[FlyVet]

The Canadian seal population has tripled in size since the 1970s to more than five million, the paper said citing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Fisherman argue that the abundance of seals has prevented the revival of cod stocks as each adult seal eats an estimated ton of sea life annually, the paper said.

It's all about balance. Good hunting, seal clubbers. Just watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow.

[vpintheak]

My guess is that the Canadien government makes a lot of money off this deal. What other reason could there be?

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

So these folks are politically incorrect by elitist standards

The baby seal pelts are sought for fashion only. Our northern natives take far fewer animals consuming only what they need whereas a relatively few men in mechanized mobiles kill by the thousands for the nouveau riche. I don't see any white baby seal pelts in this photo of these arctic natives. People living in industrial nations have far more options to cloth themselves not needing any such pelts. Our arctic neighbors use the whole animal whereas the pelts are the sole aim of the baby seal hunt.

I can see killing animals that pose a danger to people such as predators encroaching on densely populated areas. But, for the life of me, I can't see the value of mass slaughter especially where you have to go way, way out of your way to find your quarry. It's senseless. At some point their has to be an ethic for killing animals. That ethic should be limited to food just sufficient for your survival or for your safety. It's what the rest of the predators live by.

[freeangel]

The canucks won't take a stand against terrorism, but what the heck--baby seals are unlikely to fight back.

[budwiesest]

the culling of baby harp seals

You can find a friend in a harpseal.

[John H K]

So your criteria about how much you care about animals is solely determined by their cuteness?

There are animals that actually are endangered or well below their normal numbers, are crucial to ecosystems, but they're..well, not cute. You ever make an effort to help them?